Oakland Museum Shows 'Yosemite ~ Art of an American Icon'

Written by Isadore Niebold Wednesday, 06 October 2010 23:41

Oakland, CA - The sheer majesty of Yosemite has inspired painters and photographers for ages.  The power of art to shape how the national park has been viewed, used, and protected is vividly captured in YOSEMITE: ART OF AN AMERICAN ICON, at the Oakland Museum of California May 19–August 26, 2007.  Organized by the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, in Los Angeles, the exhibition looks at Yosemite’s changing visual identity and cultural role as a national and international destination, and the response by artists to its transition from an ideal of wilderness to a commercial and often congested venue.

The comprehensive exhibition spans artwork—more than 150 paintings, baskets, and photographs—from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, Arranged in four chronological sections, Yosemite: Art of an American Icon examines Yosemite’s ongoing relevance as a contemporary Western landscape and natural wonder.

I. 1855–1890: Nature’s Cathedral
Propelled by a spirit of discovery, America’s long search for cultural prowess refocused on the West. Urged by writers, critics, and intellectuals to become directly involved with nature, artists sought out Yosemite, portraying it as a bastion of pristine wilderness and evidence of America’s divine providence.

This section includes a selection of early baskets, mammoth-plate photographs by Carleton Watkins and Eadweard J. Muybridge, and grand landscape paintings by Albert Bierstadt, William Keith, and Thomas Hill.  These artworks document the presence of Miwok and Paiute native peoples in Yosemite as central to its early identity as an exotic and distinctly Western destination.

II. 1890–1916: The People’s Playground
As the 1890 census declared the close of the American frontier, Yosemite achieved national park status and made its official transition from remote locale to popular resort. With the opening of the Yosemite Valley Railroad in 1905, the park became widely accessible.

This area, with photos by Isaiah Taber and George Fiske showing visitors frolicking on overhanging rocks, explores the impact of tourism and changing ideas regarding conservation.  By the late nineteenth century native baskets has been transformed from a utilitarian tool to a fashionable collectible.  In 1916 the newly established National Park Service instituted Indian Field Days, an annual fair/rodeo/marketplace, which continued until 1929.

The failed efforts of William Keith and John Muir to save the Hetch-Hetchy Valley from becoming a reservoir for San Francisco’s water needs signaled the end of Yosemite as a scenic preserve and its future as a tourist mecca.  The resulting dam is still under debate.

III. 1917–1969: An Icon Comes of Age
Thanks to America’s newfound love of the auto, Yosemite visitation doubled between 1915 and 1919. Its patrons became intent on development and anticipating the needs of the masses.  From impressionists Maurice Braun and Colin Campbell Cooper to the pictorialists Alvin Langdon Coburn, William Dassonville, and Anne Brigman, Yosemite artists shaped a fresh identity for the park as an aesthetically stylish venue.  Chiura Obata first visited the park in 1927, when he created more than 100 watercolors and sketches, some later turned into woodblock prints.

Ansel Adams created the iconic images that soon dominated the public’s imagination.  As Yosemite’s audience widened, the relationship between the park and its artists also became a more intimate one, as modernists from Edward Weston to Charles Sheeler explored its abstract potential.

IV. 1970–Present: Revisiting Yosemite
Yosemite faces overcrowding and unrest. Focusing on a landscape long removed from its frontier roots, artists now deal with a place of contradictions, where urban development abuts raw nature.  Photographers Roger Minick, Ted Orland, Thomas Struth, John Divola, and Richard Misrach have looked past the romantic legacy of Adams.  Major artists Wayne Thiebaud and David Hockney have also cast Yosemite in a modern light.

Beginning in the 1980s, painting returned with vigor.  The diverse approaches from Greg Kondos, Wolf Kahn, Jane Culp, and Tony Foster close the exhibition on an optimistic note, looking to the future of the park through the eyes of its artists past and present.

The Oakland Museum of California is at Oak @ 10^th Streets in Oakland, one block from the Lake Merritt BART.  Museum is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10 to 5; Sunday, noon to 5; first Friday of the month open until 9.  Admission is $8 for adults, $5 seniors and students with ID, free for kids five and under, members, and Oakland City employees.  Admission is free the second Sunday of the month.  For information, call 510/238-2200 or visit www.museumca.org