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Instructions
You are now going to learn more about two of the paintings from the gallery. Please take careful notes on these two paintings. You will be the expert and will need to share what you have learned with your group.
Image 3 - Mount Corcoran
This painting was created by Albert Bierdstadt in 1876 or 1877. It was originally titled Mountain Lake, but the artist renamed it Mount Corcoran in the hopes of convincing a wealthy art collector, William Wilson Corcoran, to buy it and put it in his museum. He was successful - Corcoran bought his painting!
Bierstadt's paintings - called landscapes because they focused on nature - often blended real-life details to create imaginary scenes.
These landscape artists represented the idea of Manifest Destiny through their paintings of America's geography
Bierstadt would travel with expeditions to the American West and then return to the East to create his paintings. He would then travel with his paintings to towns in the Eastern United States and charge people who were curious about the American West a small fee to view his paintings.
What are your thoughts about his paintings being slightly imaginary?Â
Follow this link to learn more about this painting.
Here is a photograph of the real Mount Corcoran. It is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. This photograph was taken in 2020 by Eggbones
Image 4 - Green River Cliffs, Wyoming
This painting was created by Thomas Moran in 1881. When Moran visited Green River, Wyoming, it was a busy railroad town with a school, a hotel, and a brewery. Moran didn't want to include any of these in his painting. He even included a fictional Native American tribe to make this scene more of what he wanted it to look like!
Why do you think he chose to include the tribe of Native Americans?
Do you think it matters that this painting is not an exact representation of Green River?
Are paintings today always accurate?
Follow this link to learn more about this painting.
Take a look at the photograph below - this is a photograph of Green River at the time Moran created this painting. Look for similarities and differences.
When all three of you are done, you will start the discussion by sharing what you have learned about these two paintings
Each of you should refer to the paintings as you discuss them by returning to the complete art gallery page
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