Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park

April 16 - October 2, 2005
Special Exhibitions Gallery

"I have wandered over a good part of the Territories and have seen much of the varied scenery of the Far West, but that of the Yellowstone retains its hold upon my imagination with a vividness as of yesterday ... "
- Thomas Moran *

Famous for its rainbow-colored hot springs and geysers that spew boiling water into the air, Yellowstone National Park also contains lakes, mountains, streams, canyons, and wildlife within a landscape rich in both scenic beauty and environmental significance.

Seemingly a place apart from civilization, Yellowstone's exotic appeal also has lured generations of artists. Their work, seen in the exhibition Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park, invites you to explore the park's visual history, changing identity, and impact as a cultural phenomenon. This spectacular exhibition hangs through October 2, 2005 in the Special Exhibitions Gallery of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

The first national park in the world, Yellowstone has been perceived as a vast visual spectacle from the moment of its inception in 1872. By the 1890s it was known as "the Nation's Art Gallery." Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park traces the artistic history of the park from its earliest explorers to the present day and includes sixty paintings and drawings loaned from public and private collections.

Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, J.H. Twachtman, and dozens of other artists have braved difficult conditions to capture the splendors of Yellowstone in many media, from delicate watercolors and pen-and-ink sketches to powerful oils and popular lithographs. They have portrayed the animals that lived there, the humans who passed through, and above all the remarkable natural features that have made Yellowstone a wonderland to so many artists and observers.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center, on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park, is proud to present this acclaimed special exhibition. Please join us for Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park - the perfect complement for your family's summer trip to view the actual sights and sounds of Yellowstone.

Organizer

Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park was organized by the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, California.

Sponsorship

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center venue is sponsored in part by generous contributions from Nielson & Associates, Inc., the Mary A.H. Rumsey Foundation, and Yellowstone National Park Lodges operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts®.

Publication

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication, Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park, by Peter H. Hassrick, published by the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in association with University of Washington Press, 2002.

More Information

You may be interested in our Thomas Moran, William Henry Jackson and Yellowstone National Park bibilography compiled by the Whitney Gallery of Western Art.

* Quoted in Thurman Wilkins, Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), p. 65.

IMAGES

1. Thomas Moran (1837-1926). Golden Gate, Yellowstone National Park, 1893. Oil on canvas, 36 ¼ x 50 ¼ in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. 4.75
2. James Everett Stuart (1852-1941). Splendid Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, 1885. Oil on canvas, 18 x 30 ¼ in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. 33.73
3. Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). Yellowstone Falls, 1881.Oil on canvas, 44 ¼ x 30 ½ in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Taggart. 2.63
4. Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939). Cove in Yellowstone Park, c. 1938. Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Gift of Fred and Sara Machetanz. 2.82
5. Gunnar Widforss (1879-1934). Yellowstone Canyon, 1924. Oil on canvas, 19 ¾ x 17 ¼ in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Gift of Mrs. Horace M. Albright. 25.61
6. John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902). Waterfall in Yellowstone, 1895. Oil on canvas, 25 1/3 x 16 ½ in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney. 22.69
7. James Everett Stuart (1852-1941). Looking Down Yellowstone Canyon From Point Defiance, 1887. Oil on canvas, 54 ¼ x 36 in. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Harold McCracken Special Acquisition Fund Purchase. 32.73