The Yosemite Valley has been admired for hundreds of years. Each year, more than 3 million people visit the park to experience some of the most beautiful views that nature has to offer. Amy Scott, curator of visual arts at the Autry National Center’s Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, says in her essay “Yosemite Calls,” from the companion book created for the exhibition, that what visitors see is not only nature, but art—some of nature’s best work. According to Scott, noted preservationist John Muir, who dedicated his life to the protection of the Sierran landscape, often described how Yosemite’s “strikingly perfect” design was “sculpted” from glaciers that impacted the valley over 250,000 years.
This is the basis for Yosemite: Art of an American Icon. The exhibition, organized by the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, explores art inspired by Yosemite and how that art has played a role in making the park an American icon. Artists like David Hockney, Richard Misrach, Wayne Thiebaud and others traveled to Yosemite to seek inspiration and the resulting works “…sold promises of spiritually and culturally important experience…,”according to Scott. Yosemite became the visual embodiment of the westward expansion of America.
In fact, it was the inspiring beauty of art depicting Yosemite that helped Congress understand the importance of protecting this area for everyone. In 1864, President Lincoln signed a bill conserving Yosemite as a federal trust. It was the first time the federal government had moved to protect land.
Thirty years later, Yosemite was established as a national park. By then, it was one of the most recognizable landscapes in America. According to Scott, painting and photographs of the area appeared in homes and business all across the country.
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© 2008
