Existing comment:
Thomas Moran
Yellowstone River, ca 1871-72
Making his first western sojourn in 1871, Moran accompanied the US Geological and Geographical Survey, led by Ferdinand V. Hayden, to Wyoming's Yellowstone region. During the expedition, he produced numerous watercolor sketches of the dramatic terrain, including this river vista. The following year, Moran's detailed and awe-inspiring images, along with the team's scientific reports and documentary photographs, helped convince Congress to pass legislation setting aside Yellowstone as America's first national park.
In subsequent decades, Moran continued his far-ranging journeys, visiting other western wilderness sties; he also made sketching trips to Great Britain, Venice, Cuba, and Mexico. However, the artist's fame and fortune remained forever linked with his early Wyoming travels. Indeed, by the 1880s, he had assumed the popular moniker Thomas "Yellowstone" Moran. |