Bierstadt’s painting The Last of the Buffalo served as a final, desperate call to save a species from near-certain annihilation. But he was not the first—nor the last—to use an artist’s tools in support of environmental conservation. Throughout the 19th century and beyond artists shaped perceptions of the American bison and voiced early concerns about […]
In 1888, the year Bierstadt joined the Boone and Crockett Club, he began work on two major paintings, both titled The Last of the Buffalo. These canvases glorified historical subjects and people but spoke metaphorically to modern issues, especially the decimation of bison in Yellowstone National Park. They depict an earlier chapter in the American […]
Past Exhibition Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West June 9, 2018 – September 30, 2018 The Buffalo Bill Center of the West and Gilcrease Museum partnered to present a groundbreaking exhibition titled Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West. Bierstadt (1830–1902) is best known as America’s premier western landscape artist. He was also a renowned […]
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Fall 2011 The Last of the Buffalo by Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt’s painting The Last of the Buffalo gives us a glimpse into the past. During the last half of the nineteenth century, herds of bison that once reached into the millions were nearly exterminated. Bierstadt witnessed these […]
Last of the Buffalo By Michael Coleman 2006 Location: Front of the building, on hillside Michael Coleman’s lasting goal has always been to exist in harmony with both nature and art. The representation of a wolf evokes many emotions. On the one hand it can be a symbol of the wild West, evoking the decimation of […]
In 1832, artist George Catlin appealed to Americans to pay attention to the West, and its exceptional people and resources. He feared that the bison that ranged in teeming millions might be exploited and that the Indians who depended on them could be decimated as a result. His plea was prescient. On Thursday, May 22, […]