For the past few months we’ve been staring a lot at Albert Bierstadt’s painting, Valley of the Yosemite, the painting we chose to show on our picture frame television. The other night, my husband and I started to talk about the painting, and it got me going onto Google to find out more information.
Bierstadt first visited Yosemite in 1863 and as a result painted Valley of the Yosemite, an oil on paperboard artwork based on sketches. His work is considered part of the luminism school, in which paintings are painted in a romantic, almost glowing light. This glow is what draws me to Bierstadt’s work as well as the broad lens through which he views his subject matter. The towering rock walls that dwarf the trees and wildlife draw the eye further into the painting. Because this specific painting was done on paperboard, many experts believe this was a sketch for another larger painting, Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, however, nearly a century after Bierstadt painted the smaller Valley of the Yosemite, a collector, A. F. Mondschein, acquired the painting, a surprising move in the 1940s, since Mondschein primarily dealt with Old Masters paintings. The painting was later acquired by Maxim Karolik, and then was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on June 12, 1947.
While Bierstadt’s luminism style fell out of favor in the late 1800s, it was his vision to draw the west as it was. Bierstadt is known for including Indigenous people in his paintings, which also drew the ire of his customer base, and he subsequently stopped at their request, which is an outright shame. The rhetoric at the time resulted in continued oppression of Indigenous peoples and fulminated the idea that the western lands of the United States were empty, unused, and available for consumption.
I can appreciate Bierstadt’s vision now, and be severely disappointed in him for catering to the market. I must, however, consider how the falsified idea of an “empty” West destroyed entire cultures, murdered and abused multiple populations of Indigenous groups, and led so many of us (yes, it’s me) who are descended from “pioneers” to ignore and whitewash this sordid part of our history. Reminder: Art is powerful and can influence people to empathize, to understand, and to use their imaginations, for better or for worse. I think we can do better.
Just this week, the Seattle FIFA organization partnered with the Puyallup Tribe, in the first-ever international host city cultural sponsorship of the World Cup 2026. This excites me greatly. I am honored and blessed to see Puyallup tribal members dedicate soccer fields and announce partnerships, but this one felt big. I myself live on unceded Duwamish land, and it is only right that all are included in any events held in our community, which will flow monetary profits to the rightful owners of the land from these massive sporting events.
This reminds me of another piece of US history that I had to unlearn. We were taught that the Puritans came to America seeking religious freedom, but the real reason was that they’d been kicked out of England and (I think) the Netherlands because of their cultish practices.