Bierstadt: Early Western Expeditions

Bierstadt traveled west in 1859 and 1863. These early expeditions offered the artist his first encounters with the region’s Native peoples, wildlife, and scenery.

Bierstadt’s initial trip was in the company of Col. Frederick W. Lander. They followed the Oregon Trail to South Pass, in present-day Wyoming. That summer, around 19,000 emigrants trekked along the Oregon Trail, yet Bierstadt was not much interested in pioneers as subjects. It was the Native Americans and the land that attracted his attention.

Upon his return from these early adventures, Bierstadt set to work on large-scale paintings, working from photographs and sketches he made on the trail.

Mathew B. Brady, Frederick West Lander, ca. 1857. Half-plate ambrotype. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; purchase funded by the photography acquisitions endowment established by the Joseph L. and Emily K. Gidwitz Memorial Foundation. NPG.2016.53