Thomas Moran

by Nancy K. Anderson, Thomas Moran, National Gallery of Art (U. S.)
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Editorial Reviews

Thomas Moran hiked through the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone in 1871, when most folks back East thought that stories of hundred-foot-high geysers, thousand-foot-deep canyons, and such were probably hogwash. After he submitted his glorious paintings of cliffs, rapids, and sun-struck vistas, Americans were finally persuaded that the West was as real as it was wild. It is largely because of Moran's glowing, oil-painted testimony that a formerly skeptical U.S. Congress soon preserved those spectacular lands. This book is the catalog of the 1998 retrospective of Moran's work, which opened on the 125th anniversary of the dedication of Yellowstone National Park. Anderson's essays cover every phase of Moran's life and career, from his work as an illustrator and printmaker to his success as one of the gentleman painters of New York City. It contains scores of archival photographs of the rather theatrical Moran as he aged, with his ever-lengthening, ever-whitening chin whiskers, and such treasures as a long letter he wrote from Yellowstone to his beautiful wife, Mary, in which he blithely describes rattlesnakes, tarantulas, and wolves observed at close range. The letter is signed "Your loving Hub." Along with Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church, John Frederick Kensett, and other 19th-century landscape painters, viewers often associate Moran with what he called "a wonderful age," the optimistic years between the Civil War and the Great War. This book contains plates of every quintessentially American scene he painted--the pulsing sunset over the pristine wilderness, the windswept mountain pass, the misty, rushing stream. A scholarly book, it nonetheless captures much of the wonder Moran and his peers felt for the vast Western landscape and the glowing future it represented. --Peggy Moorman

Customer Reviews

Great Historical Resource, Underwhelming Art Book, 2008-08-26
by Wildness (Colorado Plateau)
As a resource on Thomas Moran, this book, published for the exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., is invaluable. It contains four biographical essays by Nancy K. Anderson, associate curator at the National Gallery, that do an excellent job of fleshing out Moran and his life. The appendices further enlighten the reader on Moran and his time in the west, including a first hand account from the 1873 Grand Canyon expedition. As a biographical reference on Thomas Moran, there is no better resource.

But, as an art book of Thomas Moran's work, this book just doesn't delivery. Yes, the color reproductions are stunning; but, for a book of its size, the prints are tiny. Panoramic images that should span two pages are smaller than the postcards I sell in my bookstores.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.
stunning paintings, 2007-11-02
by AH Art lover UK
The paintings are revelatory, the reproductions are sharp and beautifully reproduced, and the colors simply shine. Unfortunately, they are also very small, often not much larger than a big postcard, and even where a whole page has been devoted to a painting, artful layout with large white borders has reduced the actual reproduction to 70% of the size it could have been. With such monumental landscapes, I think that this is a great drawback that leaves me squinting in frustration. These are the sort of paintings which should be reproduced in large format, with plates showing details of sections of the painting. Such a pity when the quality of the book is superb in every other sense, and a missed opportunity. Needless to say, the layout and font is also perfect.
An Amazing Book, 2000-07-20
by Joe Hank (Bartlesville, OK USA)
My wife and I were looking for a Thomas Moran book with LOTS of reproductions of his pictures. This book appeared to be what we were looking for. I had Amazon find a copy for me and I gave it to my wife as a birthday present. It was perfect. Lots of reproductions. Lots of good information. Well-organized.
Moran is a favorite, 2000-04-26
by A. Manocchia (New Rochelle, NY)
This book is the next best thing to seeing a Moran in a Museum. I'm a landscape artist and love his work. The book took me out West where Moran painted and made me feel the experience. A fantastic experience!