Author: | David M. Delo | ISBN: | 9780463459928 |
Publisher: | David M. Delo | Publication: | November 1, 2018 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
Author: | David M. Delo |
ISBN: | 9780463459928 |
Publisher: | David M. Delo |
Publication: | November 1, 2018 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
Language: | English |
The life of Albert Bierstadt is the story of a talented, "larger-than-life artist" who appeared out of nowhere, rose to the top of the art world in New York City, then crashed and burned because he lost his way to earthly glamour. At age twenty-one, he traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany, and in a single decade was trained as an artist, returned home, rose to the top, and became the highest-paid and most controversial landscape artist in America. Before that 1850s decade closed, he had explored the Rocky Mountains and sold astonishing western landscapes for up to $15,000 each. At his peak, he sold 6' x 10' drawing room paintings for up to $30,000, stole his friend's wife, and became a "bourgeois." His name was more familiar then the President's. Then the art world began to change in the early 1870s. Unable to change with it, Bierstadt lost everything: income, reputation, his mansion with hundreds of his paintings to fire, and, over a seventeen-year period, his wife to tuberculosis. This is a historically-accurate, enthralling historical biography who found his niche as the Hudson River School of art made its debut in America.
The life of Albert Bierstadt is the story of a talented, "larger-than-life artist" who appeared out of nowhere, rose to the top of the art world in New York City, then crashed and burned because he lost his way to earthly glamour. At age twenty-one, he traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany, and in a single decade was trained as an artist, returned home, rose to the top, and became the highest-paid and most controversial landscape artist in America. Before that 1850s decade closed, he had explored the Rocky Mountains and sold astonishing western landscapes for up to $15,000 each. At his peak, he sold 6' x 10' drawing room paintings for up to $30,000, stole his friend's wife, and became a "bourgeois." His name was more familiar then the President's. Then the art world began to change in the early 1870s. Unable to change with it, Bierstadt lost everything: income, reputation, his mansion with hundreds of his paintings to fire, and, over a seventeen-year period, his wife to tuberculosis. This is a historically-accurate, enthralling historical biography who found his niche as the Hudson River School of art made its debut in America.