This document compares two 19th century landscape artists, Albert Bierstadt and John Constable. It provides biographical details on each artist, including that Bierstadt was a German-American painter known for his landscapes of the American West, while Constable was an English painter who found inspiration in the countryside near his home. Both artists painted en plein air, with Bierstadt traveling west and Constable making sketches near his home, and they helped establish landscape painting as a genre through their realistic depictions of nature. While their work was not fully appreciated in their lifetimes, Bierstadt and Constable are now considered two of the most important landscape artists of the 19th century.
2. Albert Bierstadt
• German-American painter
• Best known for his
luxurious, sweeping
landscapes of American
West
• Was among the most
energetic, hardworking,
and internationally
honored American artists
of the 19th century.
3. Albert Bierstadt
• Was born in Solingen, Germany, on January 8, 1830
• Emigrated at age of two to America with his parents and
two brothers
• Settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1833 where
his father became established as barrel maker
• Early developed a taste for art and made clever crayon
sketches in his youth
• When he was 21 years old, he began to paint in oils
5. Albert Bierstadt
• At the age of 23, returned to Germany to study in
Dusseldorf
• Painted Alpine landscapes which advanced his technical
abilities
• Studied painting with the members of the Dusseldorf
School in Dusseldorf, Germany for 4 years
• Taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting
himself to painting
7. Exploring West
• At the age of 27, returned to America
• To get to the places he wanted to draw, had to travel west with
explores
• Was painting parts of the country that most people had not
seen
• Journeyed into the mountains and the wilderness, carrying his
paints and canvasses by horseback
• 1859 joined an overland survey expedition traveling west
across the country
• Along the route, he made a lot of photographs and sketches
of the majestic mountain ranges and dramatic rock
formations, which resulted in numerous finished paintings
9. Albert Bierstadt:
Yosemite Valley - 1866
• Yosemite Valley was created by Bierstadt on location
when he visited this incredible valley in the high Sierras
• First visited the Yosemite Valley in 1863
• Painted it in all seasons, climates, and moods
13. Albert Bierstadt
• His landscapes of the West used a lot of detail and
drama.
• His paintings brought record prices and he enjoyed
tremendous success and recognition
• He became internationally famous for his paintings of
newly accessible American West
• His works were purchased by public and private
collections at extremely high prices at that time
16. Albert Bierstadt:
• Died in 1902, and people seemed to forget his work until
the 1960s
• People became more interested in preserving the
national lands of the USA, and his paintings began to be
shown again
• Because of his interest in mountain landscapes, Mount
Bierstadt in Colorado in named in his honor
17. John
Constable (6)
• Was one of the major
European landscape
artists of XIX century
• Now is among the most
popular and valuable in
British art
• Became established only
at age of 52
• Sold more paintings in
France than in his native
England
18. John Constable
• Born in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England, on 11 June 1776
• Died on 31 March 1837 (age 60) London, England
• Started painting as a young boy in school
• At 17 years old, his father decided to train him as a miller
o Constable spent a year working on the family mill
o Which helped him to determine his course of life: he would be an artist
• He would take his watercolors and sketchbook along when he
went hiking, one of his favorite activities
• Became one of the best-known landscape artists of his time
because he painted the places he knew best: fields, hills and
farms near his home
• When asked what inspired him most, he said: “The sound of
water escaping from mill dams, willows, old rotten planks,
slimy posts and brickwork, I love such things. These scenes
made me a painter.”
19. John Constable (7)
His most famous paintings:
o Dedham Vale of 1828 (Left) –
“Constable Country”
o The Hay Wain of 1821 (Below)
“I should paint my own
places best, painting is but
another word for feeling.”
21. John Constable
• When he was 23 years old – took lessons from some
famous artists of his time
• 1800 he entered Royal Academy Schools where he
studied and copied Old Masters
• As a student, he was inspired by the paintings of Old
Master landscapes such as Thomas Gainsborough,
Claude Lorrain, and Peter Rubens
• He read a lot of poetry and sermons, and later was
recognized as articulate artist
23. John Constable’s early art
• Constable deeply believed that the actual study of nature
was more important than any artistic model
• Refused to “learn the truth second-hand”
• To a greater degree than any other artist before him,
Constable based his paintings on precisely drawn
sketches made directly from nature
• One of the most notable picture of his early works was
“Dedham Vale” (1828)
25. Constable’s Philosophy
• “No two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were
there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of
all world; and the genuine productions of art, like those
of nature, are all distinct from each other”
27. Avant-garde (innovative)
Artist
• Before he painted a scene, he made a simple sketch to
show him how the colors needed to work together in a
final painting
• These large sketches used bold brush strokes, which
were new at that time. For many years, most painters
used delicate, detailed brush strokes to show their
subjects
29. He created a new style
• The oil sketches – made him avant-garde painter, one
who demonstrated that landscaping painting could be
taken in totally new direction
• In addition to the full-scale oil sketches, Constable
completed numerous observational studies of
landscapes and clouds, determined to become more
scientific in his recording of atmospheric conditions.
31. Discovered after his death
• His paintings are among the most popular and valuable
in British art
• But he was never very successful financially during his
lifetime
• His paintings sold for a lot of money only after he had
died
I would like to introduce you two artists who loved to paint landscapes.
They were both great masters of their time and now internationally known for their beautiful landscape art but their lives and careers were very different.
Albert Bierstadt was German-American painter. He was best known for his luxurious, sweeping landscapes of American West. To get to the places he wanted to draw, Bierstadt had to travel west with explores. He was painting parts of our country that mots people had not seen.
He was among the most energetic, hardworking, and internationally honored American artists of the 19th century
Born in difficult circumstances in Solingen, Germany, he emigrated at age of two to America with his parents and his two brothers. The family settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where his father became established as a barrel maker.
Show Germany and Massachusetts on the globe.
He early developed a taste for art and made clever crayon sketches in his youth.
When he was 21 years old, he began to paint in oils.
This picture is an example of oil painting. It is oil on paper mounted on canvas.
At the age of 23, Bierstadt returned to Germany to study in Dusseldorf, where he refined his technical abilities by painting Alpine landscapes.
He studied painting with the members of the Dusseldorf School in Dusseldorf, Germany, from 1853 to 1857
He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting.
This picture has so much detail that you feel you are there with the artist looking at the stream on mountains.
Look at the colors on this picture. What do you think is the time of the year? (Fall?)
Bierstadt returned to America when he was 27 year old.
In 1859, he joined an overland survey expedition which allowed him to travel westward across the country.
Along the route, he made a lot of photographs and sketches of the majestic mountain ranges and dramatic rock formations, which resulted in numerous finished paintings.
I would like to show you this beautiful painting of Bierstadt “Surveyor’s Wagon in the Rockies.” Although it is a small sketch, this work is considered one of the talismanic paintings of the West. What do you think the travelers would feel when they saw these endless plains and mountain ranges of the west for the first time? It seems that the wagon, the horses, and the rider are suspended in space somewhere in the open-ended plains. The travelers move through a land without leaving a trace.
It is impossible to measure how many miles the travelers traveled. Only by looking at a contour and color, we can guess how far they might need to go.
Look at this wonderful pleasant park bordered by quickly rising mountains. It looks like that it is a beautiful place for a picnic or rest.
Look at these towering cliffs make the two people and their horses appear tiny.
Then the towering clouds make cliffs themselves seem small.
Notice how Bierstadt painted the clouds, with light streaming down between huge thunderheads
The light falls in patches on the landscape, lightning up some areas brightly and leaving other parts in shadow
What time of the day it can be? (Morning?)
Bierstadt was one of the founders of the Hudson River School of Painters, a school that romanticized the America landscape. Please, look how the dramatic use of light and shadow and attention to detail make this picture so realistic. The diagonal view of the buffalo and the clouds make their movement very powerful. The buffalo escapes from the terrific storm coming from the right. The tall trees with steep peaks stop the eye flow from continuing to the left and brings the viewer back to the central point of the lead buffalo, and the rainbow mists behind him.
Questions:
1. Is there any action going on here? What is happening in the mountains in the right background? Do you think the painter could sit in a field and paint this whole picture before the storm reached him?
2. Which buffalo is most important? How do we know? (Largest, most detail, surrounded by light, placed forward in the center of the painting). This buffalo is called the “focal point”. Why didn’t the artist make the other buffalo the same size? (Wanted them to see farther away).
3. Does this painting look almost like a photograph? (Realism)
… whose art was admired by some influenced masters of his time.
Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful and did not become a member of establishment until he was elected to the Royal Academy at the age of 52. He sold more paintings in France than in his native England.
Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as “Constable Country” – the country he loved very much.
“ I should paint my own places best,” he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, “painting is but another word for feeling.”
In his youth, Constable was making trips in the surrounding Suffolk countryside. The sketches that he made there became the subject of a large proportion of his art.
This is another view of the city where he was born. You may probably could notice that Constable art has more green in them than Bierstadt’s. The country he was painting was different than what Bierstadt was painting.
The Vale of Dedham, 1828, shows Dedham Church in the middle distance and Harwich in the far distance. The church is in the middle ground but the town is so far back that it is v-e-r-y difficult to see. Things in the distance are smaller the farther away they are from the viewer. That town is so very small because it is so very far away.
Constable's dramatic landscape leads your eye across the Suffolk countryside, along the winding River Stour, to Dedham village and the estuary beyond. This view from Gun Hill looking towards Dedham church, near his father's watermill, was a favorite subject. The cloudy sky and details are, however, based on Constable's close observation of nature. He applied paint thickly with touches of white to enhance the effect of shimmering light. This painting prompted his election to the Royal Academy in 1829
Notice how color, light, and shade work very well on this picture.
What time of the year (May be spring?)
It is obvious morning.
What is happening on this picture. (People are probably going to milk cows. What else?)
What do you think about this picture?
What transportation people were using in that time? Did they have cars and buses? Why is the wagon moving through the water? (May be there was flood and water came too close to the place they live)
What is happening on this picture?
It looks like for me it is a beautiful day may be a little windy. And two boys just got a fish.
What do you most of meals was coming from at that time? People probably milk cows for milk and other dairy products, they were fishing to have fish for dinner, and worked all year to make harvest to make bread.
