Howe Sound, Above Vancouver (from Sketchbook) 1890

Albert Bierstadt sketched "Howe Sound, Above Vancouver" in pencil sometime during his career spent painting the American West. This work provides insight into how Bierstadt saw the landscape as a resource. Bierstadt capitalized on a romanticized vision of the West. His paintings often obscured the realities of Indigenous displacement and resource exploitation that coincided with westward expansion. The artist's work must be viewed critically, acknowledging the complex relationship between landscape art, national identity, and colonial history. Here, the minimal sketch feels like a ghostly premonition of what is to come, hinting at the magnitude of change inflicted upon the land. In this light, the work offers a moment to reflect on the narratives we construct about land, ownership, and progress.