Artist: Albert Bierstadt Place/date of birth: Solingen, Germany 1830 Place/date of death: New York, New York 1902 Title: View of Donner Lake, California Date of completion: 1871 or 1872 Materials: Oil on paper mounted on canvas Dimensions: 29 1/4 x 21 7/8 inches Signed lower left: A Bierstadt Collection:Gift of Anna Bennett and Jessie Jonas in memory of August F. Jonas, Jr. Accession number: 1984.54 Introduction This painting, a sketch for part of a larger work, shows Donner Lake as seen from the summit of Donner Pass in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains. Made famous by the tragic story of the Donner family and their companions who perished there, Bierstadt captures the treacherous beauty of the area that was finally made accessible by the railroad. Discussion View of Donner Lake, California was commissioned by Henry Huntington, the president of the Central Pacific Railroad, who lived in Northern California. Huntington wanted this painting to celebrate the dramatic scenery of the area as well as the Central Pacific Railroad's triumph over technical problems of laying track and establishing a route in the steep mountains and harsh weather. One of the greatest challenges was the snow drifts in the High Sierras which in wintertime could reach as high as sixty feet -- too high for a locomotive equipped with a snowplow to pass through. The solution devised by the designers of the railroad was to build miles of wooden tunnels (snowsheds) in snowy areas; at the right of the picture is a stretch of snowshed. Donner Pass is the highest point along the route over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Much of the painting is given over to the exhilarating panorama that would unfold before a passenger or mountain climber as he came over the top of the mountain. Looking Closely One undeniable aspect of this painting is the poignant remembrance of the namesake of Donner Pass. In the winter of 1846 a wagon train of settlers, the Donner Party, were heading to California and were snowed in at the pass. Many members of the party died there during that winter. Much had changed at Donner Pass in the twenty-five years that separated this painting from the Donner tragedy. The tall thin cross in the center of the composition may commemorate the loss of life at this location. The cross does not appear in the final painting, now in the collection of the New York Historical Society. The fallen trees scattered throughout the landscape attest to the harsh weather patterns in the area. Style The painting's unusual vertical format and a composition which takes the viewer along a spiraling path to the back of the scene are two devices the artist used to project the viewer forward into the dizzying space of the picture. Artist Although he is famous for his paintings of the western United States, Albert Bierstadt lived in the New York area for most of his career. He made four extended trips to the West, where he made sketches for paintings which he completed in his New York studio. Most of Bierstadt's clients lived in the East and his pictures helped give many people an idea of what the West looked like. Links to American History Curriculum
SLIDE 21
VIEW OF DONNER LAKE, CALIFORNIA
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