In the Rockies c. 1863

Editor: Here we see Albert Bierstadt's oil on paper, "In the Rockies." I'm struck by how the small figures of the riders are dwarfed by the monumental landscape. What can we learn from the production of this scene? Curator: Well, the Hudson River School, to which Bierstadt belonged, romanticized the American landscape but consider the labor involved. The materials, canvases, paints, all connected to industry and extraction. What does it mean to represent the 'sublime' through capitalist means? Editor: So, the painting isn't just about nature, it's about the consumption of it? Curator: Precisely. And the exploitation required to both produce the artwork and to ‘open up’ the American West. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about. Thanks for sharing that perspective.