Thomas Moran: Grand Canyon Paintings Notecard Folio

Thomas Moran was the premier painter of the American West; his geological epics are the standard by which all other efforts to capture natural drama must be judged. Moran (1837–1926) accompanied two groundbreaking expeditions: the United States Geological Survey of the Yellowstone area and John Wesley Powell’s famous survey of the Colorado River. On each journey, awed by what he saw, Moran filled his sketchbooks with watercolor roughs. When he returned to his studio in New York State, he worked in transparent oil glazes to convey the subtlety of the canyons’ colors and the vastness of their water-carved landforms. Like Grand Canyon with Rainbow, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone reproduced here is a product of a later trip West. Moran made many such trips; he loved his subjects, and it shows in these paintings’ power. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) is the city’s largest public arts institution. Comprising the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor, FAMSF is also one of the largest art museums in the United States.