Evening, Owens Lake, California 

Albert Bierstadt captured the light and landscape of Evening, Owens Lake, California, using oil paint on canvas. The work required a complex layering of pigments, skillfully applied to create the illusion of depth and atmosphere. Bierstadt was known for his large-scale landscapes, and although this piece is more modest in size, you can still appreciate his masterful handling of the medium. Consider the materiality of oil paint itself, ground pigments suspended in oil, capable of capturing the subtle gradations of light on water, the textures of foliage, and the vastness of the sky. These materials have their own inherent qualities – viscosity, opacity, and sheen – all brought to life by the artist's technique. Bierstadt's paintings were popular during a time of westward expansion in the United States, romanticizing the landscape and encouraging settlement. While seemingly celebrating the natural world, the painting also indirectly promotes a certain kind of relationship with the land, one of resource extraction and economic opportunity. By appreciating the physical properties of the paint, and the techniques used to apply it, we can better understand the layers of meaning embedded in Bierstadt's landscape.