As explained in this wonderful book of his images of western America, Bierstadt's gift was to portray America at a time before the images reflected were the subject of quality photographs. His abilities to convey the magnificent grandeur of America "speak" for themselves. Hendricks' commentary is most interesting in detailing the biography of this great artist, as he came from Germany to the United States. A plug is called for regarding the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, which co-published this work and which is a must-see for all who come to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and are interested in Western art.

I became introduced to the artist "Albert Bierstadt," in my art history class a few years ago, and I have been a fan of his work ever since.
Having trained in Europe, like many American artists of the 19th century, Bierstadt embarked upon a series of expeditions to the far west of America in his late twenties. It was as if he felt a need to know the full scope of his adopted country before he could settle down and paint. What he discovered on these adventures in the West revealed to him the extraordinary majesty of an untouched America. The west was still a wilderness, where native Americans lived without polluting or disrupting the natural majesty of the land. For those cities in the cities of the East, who, until then had had no concept of what the non-industrialized heartland of their country looked like, Bierstadt's work was astonishing and uplifting.
Bierstadt's paintings of the American wilderness also have an implicit spiritual significance. The land he painted was a paradisiacal world, a world of great simplicity and purity, into which human beings were privileged to enter, and must do so aware of the responsibilities of their inheritance.

It's a shame that this book commands such high prices in used bookstores. It's certainly time for the publisher to reintroduce this fine book for the general book trade. The last few years has seen a resurrgence of interest in the Hudson River School and Bierstatd has always been my favorite American landscape artist. His works are monumental and part and parcel of the American experience. Think about it, before photography, Bierstadt's paintings went on national tour and were extremely popular as people got their first glimpse of the grandeur of Yosemite, the Rocky Mountains, and the Western landscape in general. Sure his works were embellished but only to elevate the subject matter, but in nature these sights transcend the human moment, which you can only describe by seeing it for yourself.