Mount Starr King, Yosemite 1866

Curator: The work before us is Albert Bierstadt's "Mount Starr King, Yosemite," an oil on canvas completed in 1866. Editor: It hits me with a pang of… well, yearning. It's like peering into a half-remembered dream, all that shimmering light on the water, the sheer scale of the cliffs. Makes me feel beautifully insignificant. Curator: Bierstadt was a leading figure of the Hudson River School, and this painting exemplifies many of the movement's key concerns: celebrating the sublimity of the American landscape and visually representing manifest destiny through the aesthetics of romanticism. Editor: Manifest Destiny with a soft, hazy filter! I see what you mean. But that small grouping of people down by the water...are they even real? It's as if he plonked them in as an afterthought. Curator: Their diminutive scale certainly emphasizes the overwhelming grandeur of nature. You see, paintings like this weren't just pretty pictures; they were potent ideological statements about America's unique, God-given landscape and the project of colonization. We have to ask ourselves, who has access to that landscape, and at what cost? Editor: Gosh, suddenly my idyllic dreamscape has become rather problematic! But that play of light—seriously, those sunbeams are practically theatrical. Curator: Bierstadt was known for this almost operatic use of light, creating dramatic and emotionally charged scenes. But the romantic aesthetic frequently overlooked very real and damaging political realities in depicting land ownership. Editor: It is pretty tough to escape the shadows of history lurking, or maybe in this case, beaming down, behind it. Well, after diving in, this has been unexpectedly enriching, thanks for bringing these insights. Curator: It’s essential to read these works with a critical eye, acknowledging the historical narratives while still appreciating their formal and technical mastery. Analyzing landscape painting through a social and political lens is, for me, profoundly important.