Photography by Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Indian Encampment
Albert Bierstadt encountered many Plains tribes on his first journey west in 1859. This painting, completed later in his New York studio, is not a scene he witnessed firsthand, but rather one created from his imagination and informed by cultural attitudes of the mid-nineteenth century. This type of image of Plains Indians bathed in sunset was so widespread that it conveyed a misconception that American Indians were a vanishing race—an erroneous belief that continues today.
ArtistAlbert Bierstadt(1830-1902)
Date1862
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions31 1/2 x 39 3/4 x 4 in.
Signedl.r.: ABierstadt / 1862
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2010.69
ClassificationPainting
ProvenanceHugh N. Camp [1827-1895], New York, NY; to John McKesson Camp (his son), New York, NY; to Gregory N. Camp [1898-1973] (his son), Watch Hill, RI; to Edith S. Campbell Camp (his wife); to (Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, NY), April 25, 1980, lot 142; (O'Meara Gallery, Santa Fe, NM); (Jim Fowler's Period Gallery West, Scottsdale, AZ); to William C. Foxley [b. 1935], Denver, CO, 1982; John F. Eulich, Dallas, TX; (Sotheby's, New York, NY), The American West: The John F. Eulich Collection, May 20, 1998, lot 46; purchased by Richard A. Manoogian [b. 1936], Detroit, MI, 1998; purchased by a private foundation for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2004
On ViewYes
This artwork's face covers about 172× the area of a tennis ball.Drawn to the same scale.