Albert Bierstadt
Indians Spear Fishing

Public Domain

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Artist Albert Bierstadt American, born Germany, 1830–1902

CultureAmerican

Titles

Indians Spear Fishing

Date1862

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 19 1/4 × 29 1/4 in. (48.9 × 74.3 cm)
Frame: 29 1/8 × 39 × 3 in. (74 × 99.1 × 7.6 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the family of Joseph S. Cullinan, and Mr. and Mrs. David R. Wintermann, by exchange, and by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment Fund, with additional funding from Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Wiess; Mrs. E. L. Perry; Mr. and Mrs. John H. Blaffer in memory of his father, Robert Lee Blaffer; Edith A. and Percy S. Straus; Grand Central Art Galleries; Miss Ima Hogg; General and Mrs. Maurice Hirsch; the Allied Arts Association; Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Bybee; Nan Greacen Faure; Helen M. Turner; Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Levine; the Axson Club, Houston; William Best; Sarah Campbell Blaffer; Mrs. Willimina Borland; Mrs. Evan W. Burris; the Houston Art League through the bequest of George M. Dickson; Miss Katherine S. Dreier; George Wharton Edwards; Parker Edwards; Mrs. William Stamps Farish; the Houston Friends of Art; Angela MacDonnell; Mrs. Justine Franklin McGuire; the Smithsonian Institution; Harmand Teplow; the University Club of Houston; Robert C. Vose, in memory of Seth M. Vose; Nelson Waggener; Emile Walters; and Irene Weir, all by exchange

Object number2008.226

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

108 Hevrdejs Gallery

On view

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Department

American Art

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionBest known for his paintings of the American West, German-born Albert Beierstadt's landscapes became symbols of American grandeur. Even in this small-scale painting, Bierstadt infuses the scene with a sense of drama, highlighting the rock formations, crystalline water, and crashing waterfall. The three Native American figures in the canoe--the only human life in the painting--are dwarfed by the scenery, a strategy designed to create a sense of the sublime. The romantically rendered view ignores the reality of the period, which saw the displacement of many Native Americans from their tribal lands, nearly decimating their population.
ProvenancePrivate collection, New York, N.Y., c. 1873; by descent to private collection, New York, N.Y.; Christie's Sale 2003, May 21, 2008, Lot 94, New York, N.Y.
Exhibition History"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

"Once Upon a Time in America," Wallraf-Richartz Museum and Foundation Corboud, Cologne, Germany, November 23, 2018–March 24, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed (with conjoined initials) and dated recto lower right: "ABierstadt / 62"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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