Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite

Artist Albert Bierstadt American, born Germany (Prussia), 1830–1902

Datecirca 1871–1873

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions36 1/8 × 26 3/8 in. (91.8 × 67 cm)
Frame: 52 1/4 × 42 1/4 × 5 in. (133.4 × 106.7 × 12.7 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) and various donors, by exchange

Object number87.9

On View

On view

Provenance**Created United States, ca. 1871–1873; collection of the artist. Private collection, England; [Christie’s, South Kensington, U.K. May 29, 1984, no. 69 (as The Po-Ho-Ho Falls or Bridal Veil, Yosemite)]; [Don Heald; re-sold to Christie’s]; [Alexander Gallery, New York]; Wayne Lewis, Villanova, PA; [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1987.Published ReferencesThe Magazine Antiques 127, no. 2 (February 1985), illus. (color) 487 (inside back cover).

Steven Litt, "Generosity Conquers Stagnation," Raleigh: News and Observer [date?], discussed and illus. [p.?].

"Recent Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Autumn 1987), 16-18, illus. (color) cover, (b-w) 16.

Principales Acquisitions des Musées en 1987," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1430 (March 1988), listed no. 234 and illus. (b-w).

Nancy K. Anderson and Linda S. Ferber, Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise (exhibition catalogue) (New York: The Brooklyn Museum in association with Hudson Hills Press, 1990), cat. no. 62, illus. (color).

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) vi, also 232.

Nancy Friedman, California: Art of the State (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998), 23, illus. (color).

John W. Coffey, entry for Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 202, illus. (color).

M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 289, no. 15 (April 16, 2003), discussed 1894, illus. (color) 1885, 1894, and cover.

America! (exhibition catalogue) (Treviso: Linea d'ombra Libri, 2008), illus. (color) 61 (catalogue only, not in exhibition).

“Highlights of the American Collection,” in North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Spring 2009), briefly discussed 7, illus. (color) 6.

John W. Coffey, entry for Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 420, illus. (color) 421.

Kenneth Chamlee, “Composition,” in North Carolina Literary Review no. 27 (2018), illus. (b-w) 125.

Karl Kusserow and Alan C. Braddock, Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment (exhibition catalogue) (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), discussed 26, 28, illus. (color) 27, fig. 10.

Helena Feder, ed., “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art" (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) cover.

Lee Zacharias, “Albert Bierstadt, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite,” in "You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art," edited by Helena Feder. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021, illus. (color) 102.

Alan C. Braddock, Karl Kusserow, et al, Nature's Nation: American Art and Environment (exhibition catalogue), (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2018), illus.
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, The Brooklyn Museum, "Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise," February 8-May 6, 1991; San Francisco, CA, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, June 8-September 1, 1991; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, November 3, 1991-February 17, 1992, no. 62, illus. (color).

Wilmington, NC, Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum, "18th and 19th Century American Art from the Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art," June 20, 2003-February 22, 2004.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Highlights of the American Collection, February 15-August 2, 2009.

Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Art Museum, “Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment,” October 13, 2018–January 6, 2019; Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, February 2–May 5, 2019; Bentonville AR, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, May 25–September 30, 2019.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Becoming the NCMA: 10 Decades of Collecting, 1924-2022," June 11-August 21, 2022.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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