Landers Peak 

Albert Bierstadt made this oil on paper evoking Landers Peak. Bierstadt was one of the foremost painters of the American West, and this landscape reflects the romantic and expansionist mood of 19th-century America. The composition is a masterful arrangement of foreground, middle ground, and background, leading the viewer's eye towards the majestic peak. The painting's drama and grandeur resonated with a public eager to celebrate the vastness and beauty of the American frontier. We can explore the history of mountaineering, of American railroads, of tourism, and of settler colonialism in order to contextualize the image and its subject. What social and political meanings might this painting have had? How does it reflect the spirit of its age? As art historians, we draw on diverse sources to better understand the contexts that shape the production and reception of art.