As one of America's most prominent nineteenth-century painters, Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) is justly renowned for his majestic paintings of the western landscape. Yet Bierstadt was also a painter of history, and his figural works, replete with images of Plains Indians and the American bison, are an important part of his legacy as well. This splendid full-color volume highlights his achievements in chronicling a rapidly changing American West. Born in Germany, Bierstadt rose to prominence as an American artist in the late 1850s and enjoyed nearly two decades of critical success. His paintings propelled him to the forefront of the American art scene, but they also met with reproach from his peers and critics in the press who viewed his painting style as outmoded. Bierstadt's star has both risen and fallen as modern art historians have reconsidered his complex oeuvre. This volume takes a major step in reappraising Bierstadt's contributions by reexamining the artist through a new lens. It shows how Bierstadt conveyed moral messages through his paintings, often to preserve the dignity of Native peoples and call attention to the tragic slaughter of the American bison. More broadly, the book reconsiders the artist's engagement with contemporary political and social debates surrounding wildlife conservation in America, the creation and perpetuation of national parks, and the prospects for the West's indigenous peoples. Bierstadt's final history paintings, including his dual masterworks titled The Last of the Buffalo - a special focus of this volume - stand out as elegiac odes to an earlier era, giving voice to concerns about the intertwined fates of Native peoples and endangered wildlife, especially bison. Along with its rich sampling of Bierstadt's diverse artwork, Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West features informative essays by noted curators, scholars of art history, and historians of the American West.

A remarkable testament to the enduring culture, power, and myth of the American West This handsome book displays an extraordinary breadth of masterworks dating from the 1790s to the present, including over 140 artists in some 320 beautiful color reproductions. In a variety of media and styles, iconic American artists including Frederic Remington, Thomas Moran, Charles M. Russell, and Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as under-explored artists such as Walter Ufer and Kevin Red Star, address the fascinating topics and themes of Native American culture, American politics, land conservation, and the implications of Manifest Destiny. The historical art featured here helped to shape our perceptions of Native Americans, cowboys, and western landscapes; the recent and contemporary pieces shed a modern light on western cultures and challenge long-held myths and assumptions about the American West. Art of the American West is timed to coincide with the opening of a new expansion to the Tacoma Art Museum, brilliantly designed to house these artworks and to connect with and contribute to the city's culture and history. Lavishly illustrated, the book also includes insightful essays written by some of the most important scholars working with this material today. This privately held collection is published here for the first time. Published in association with the Tacoma Art Museum