Thomas Moran Highlights, 1870s

18 Items

The Giantess

“Standing near the fountain when in motion, and the sun shining, the scene is grandly magnificent; each of the broken atoms of water shining like so many brilliants, while myriads of rainbows are dancing attendance. No wonder, then, that our usually staid and sober companions threw up their hats and shouted with ecstasy at the sight.”¹
—General Henry D. Washburn on “The Giantess"

First Sketch Made in the West at Green River, Wyoming

In 1871, Thomas Moran traveled to the western United States to join geologist Ferdinand Hayden’s expedition to the Yellowstone region. Through careful editing and a judicious use of color, Moran recorded his first impression of the West on a piece of paper measuring a mere 3 3/4 by 8 1/4 inches. To capture the panoramic sweep of the Plains as they stretched out to meet the distant mountain buttes, the artist used a limited palette applied in bands of brown, white, and blue, sparingly highlighted with lavender and pink. Absent in the image, however, is any indication of the train that brought Moran to the area or of the railroad town of Green River.

The Castle Geyser, Firehole River, Yellowstone, Wyoming Ter U.S.A.

It could be the moon or some distant planet that Thomas Moran depicted in The Castle Geyser, so fantastical are the geological features of Yellowstone.¹ Geysers that shoot water hundreds of feet in the air, and the steam that rises from boiling cauldrons of sulfurous water suggest a place not of this world. Yet Moran’s use of soft pastels and rich jewel tones temper any of the more ominous aspects of the scene, transforming it into a wonderland. Moreover, the rainbow in the distance suggests a sense of hope and the promise of treasures to be found in this strange landscape.

The Yellowstone Range, near the Crow Mission

Thomas Moran’s watercolor The Yellowstone Range, near the Crow Mission presents a breathtaking view of a broad valley, the expansiveness of which is only limited by the mountains that rise majestically in the distance.¹ A group of what appear to be Anglo-Americans on horseback enters the scene in the lower right, although they may be the Crow from the nearby reservation. Moran, however, portrays the area as he and his Anglo-American contemporaries wanted to see it—an essentially unoccupied land, free from the crowds in the cities of the eastern United States and the Old World of Europe. Nonetheless, the title of the work suggests that there were others who lived here, hinting at the region’s troubling history.

The Upper Falls of the Yellowstone

In The Upper Falls of the Yellowstone, Thomas Moran portrayed the sparkling, eye-catching quality of the cataract through the skillful application of pure white pigment over the soft gray and light tan hues of the torrent. The patch of rich russet on the cliff face, the silvery gray rocks opposite, and the dusky blue water below provide a striking contrast to the effervescent white of the falls. As our eye is drawn downward with the cascading water, we note a tiny figure perched on the rock in the foreground. This diminutive figure provides a sense of scale and invites the viewer into the scene. The towering falls dwarf us and we stand awestruck before the power of nature. The explosion of the cataract as it plunges downward activates our senses, and we can almost hear the deafening roar of the waterfall and feel the spray on our faces as the mist wafts through the air. Moran portrayed all of this in a surprisingly small painting: the watercolor measures around 10 1/4 by 8 1/4 inches, probably not much larger than the artist’s hand.

Tower Fall

“Just below our camp the creek makes a semicircular turn and flowing in a succession of cascades for a short distance suddenly dashes over the edge of the precipice and falls one hundred and fifty-six feet to the bottom of the canyon. . . . The rocks, from the action of the weather and the water, have been eroded, so as to leave high towers standing along the banks. . . . as though stationed there to guard it.”¹ —Albert Charles Peale, 1871

Eddy on Rangeley Stream

An avid angler, Thomas Moran visited Maine’s Rangeley Lakes in 1873, creating this ink wash and several other sketches to record his visit.¹ As was sometimes the case, it was only later that he could capitalize on his field work when he secured a commission to illustrate the article “Trout-Fishing in the Rangeley Lakes” for the February 1877 issue of Scribner’s Monthly.² The Rangeley Lakes were popular with anglers in the northeastern United States, particularly those who enjoyed fly-fishing.³ In fly-fishing, according to the article, the best results were obtained when the artificial fly was cast “in the eddy,” the whirlpool that formed in swiftly flowing waterways, such as that depicted in Moran’s Eddy on Rangeley Stream.⁴

The Grand Canyon

“The gorge is black and narrow below, red and gray and flaring above, and crags and angular projections on walls which, cut in many places by side cañons, seem to be a vast wilderness of rocks. . . . We strained our ears for warning of the falls and watched for rocks, or stopped now and then in the bay of a recess to admire the gigantic scenery.”¹ —Major John Wesley Powell on the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River

In the Narrows, Zion Valley, the Gate Keeper

Thomas Moran depicts the extraordinary colors of the American West in this watercolor and pastel sketch, In the Narrows, Zion Valley, the Gate Keeper.¹ Dazzling whites, dusky reds, rosy pinks, and even hints of lavender highlight the dove grays, soft tans, and rich chocolate browns of the cliffs. White quartz sand fused with calcium carbonate, silica, and red iron oxide in varying combinations produces the startling array of colors seen in the sandstone bluffs.² A brilliant blue sky provides the backdrop for the cliffs that rise precipitously from the pale grayish blue of the waterway.

Grand Canyon of the Colorado

Thomas Moran created this sketch when he accompanied Major John Wesley Powell’s 1873 expedition to the Grand Canyon of Arizona.¹ The watercolor admirably captures some of the extraordinary hues of the area, such as the dusky blue gray of the rocks, the brilliant red striations of the canyon walls, and even a touch of bright blue for a pool of water, perhaps left over from a recent rainfall. The most striking feature, however, is the black boulder in the foreground that sits precariously close to the edge of the rock shelf. Although this is a field sketch and probably what Moran observed, the artist’s portrayal of the boulder is intriguing.

Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior

In 1860 Thomas Moran took his first sketching trip outside his home base in Philadelphia, to Michigan’s Lake Superior. Moran may have been drawn to the area because of the popularity of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, first published in 1855.¹ Pictured Rocks was the setting for the poem’s fictive account of the Ojibway leader Hiawatha’s life, including his marriage to Minnehaha of the Dacotah, a union that brought peace to the two warring tribes.²

Springville Cañon

In 1873, Thomas Moran accompanied Major John Wesley Powell’s expedition to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. The group departed from Salt Lake City but before heading to Arizona, they explored the area in southwest Utah that would become Zion National Park. Moran was one of the first Anglo-American artists to visit and depict the Virgin River region and the many canyons of Zion Valley.¹ The artist later used his sketches to work up illustrations such as this one of Springville Cañon, which appeared in the January 1874 issue of The Aldine.² This was one of five³ based on his Utah sketches that appeared in The Aldine.

Hiawatha and the Serpents

And Nokomis, the old woman,
Pointing with her finger westward,
Spake these words to Hiawatha:
“Yonder dwells the great Pearl-Feather,
Megissogwon, the Magician,
Manito of Wealth and Wampum,
Guarded by his fiery serpents,
Guarded by the black pitch-water.
You can see his fiery serpents,
The Kenabeek, the great serpents,
Coiling, playing in the water;
You can see the black pitch-water
Stretching far away beyond them,
To the purple clouds of sunset!”¹

Upper End of Cottonwood Canyon

Here, the chilly blue grays, dull browns, and soft tans of the mountains provide a striking backdrop to the rich olive greens of a ragged group of trees and the gleaming white boulders strewn across the hillside. The largest of these boulders dwarfs two diminutive figures huddled at its base. These tiny figures were perhaps intended to represent Thomas and his brother, the artist Peter Moran (1841–1914), as this was their first trip together to the West.¹

Tahoe

When Thomas Moran arrived at Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border in 1879, the area was well on its way to becoming an important site of the region’s leisure industry.¹ As art historian Anne Morand has pointed out, although Moran generally avoided any suggestion of human presence in his images of the American West, this watercolor sketch of Tahoe provides ample evidence of a rapidly developing vacation community.²

West Time, 1/2 Past 6 O'Clock

“That landscape painter that does not make his sky a very material part of his composition, neglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids.”¹ —John Constable

Fort George Island

Thomas Moran’s depiction of Fort George Island evokes the spirit of a cheery, sunny day of relaxation in Florida. The curve of the palm tree suggests its rhythmic sway in warm, tropical breezes; a palette of pale blues and greens creates a lighthearted mood; and the low horizon line allows for a vast expanse of sky to preside over the tranquil landscape.

Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite Valley

The vertical format of this sketch allows us to imagine we are standing in front of Bridalveil Fall, in perhaps the same place Thomas Moran stood when he applied the ink wash.¹ With a limited palette of black, white, and browns, the artist deftly captured the fluid, sweeping lines of the mountains as well as tonal variations suggestive of mass and depth. Moran applied white gouache in varying degrees of viscosity to create the impression that the water of the falls has some solidity, which then evaporates into mist as it cascades downward.

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