Items Similar to The Yosemite Valley No. 1 (sketch)

Craig Mooney - Craig Mooney, "Gentle Drift", 42x42 Boat Green Lake Tree Painting on Canvas

Tetiana Adamovich - The Feeding Flower. Series:The Non-Silent Plant.s

Shizico Yi - Original Triptych-Moonlit Jardin d'Hiver 1, 2, 3-British Awarded Artist-Impasto

Therese James - Happy Hippy Days-original London figurative cityscape painting-contemporary Art

Leslie Bruner Wulff - Water on the Rocks - 1930's Abstracted Landscape

Andres Lopez - Sailing to the Sun, Reflection in the Water, Oil , Abstract Landscape, Nature

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 6

James D. Smillie
The Yosemite Valley No. 1 (sketch)
1871

$48,500

£36,764.27

€42,925.96

CA$67,934.68

A$76,472.41

CHF 40,456.76

MX$948,546.29

NOK 499,886.63

SEK 478,097.37

DKK 320,248.99

Shipping

Retrieving quote...

The 1stDibs Promise:

Authenticity Guarantee,

Money-Back Guarantee,

24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

One of the high points in James David Smillie’s career came when he was commissioned to travel to California to both write and illustrate a chapter on the Yosemite Valley for William Cullen Bryant's monumental Picturesque America, which became one of the most popular illustrated books of the period. Smillie arrived in 1871, just two years after the driving of the last spike of the Transcontinental Railroad, connecting our nation from East to West. While at Yosemite, Smillie witnessed a striking horse race that would become one of his signature subjects for the next two decades. He completed this sketch of the subject either during the 1871 trip or immediately thereafter. He describes the experience in detail in Picturesque America: "One Sunday morning I strolled to the upper end of the valley; a quiet like that of languor filled the air; the roar of the Yosemite Fall had died out, and now but a slender stream down the face of the cliff marked its place. In the hush I walked under the pine-trees, whose pendulous branches and long, tremulous needles vibrated into an Aeolian melody upon the slightest provocation; a scarcely perceptible breeze brought whispers, to be caught only by the attentive ear; that swelled through faultless crescendos into volumes of harmony, rich and deep, yet ever sounding strangely far away. From the shadows and music out to the sunlighted meadow was but a step. At the other extremity of the open space, four or five hundred yards away, was a group of men. Drawing nearer, it was plainly to be seen that they were intent upon the preliminaries of a horse-race. There were Indians, Chinamen, Mexicans, negroes, and very dark-colored specimens of white men. There was a confusion of tongues, through which came the clear ring of clinking gold and silver coin, for all were betting—many of them their last dollar. Several horses were getting ready for the race; the favorites were a sorrel and a roan, or ‘blue horse;’ all were very ordinary animals, and without the slightest training. There were no saddles; the riders, stripped of all superfluous clothing, bareheaded and barefooted, rode with only a sheepskin or a bit of blanket under them; over the drawn-up knees around the horse’s body a surcingle was tightly drawn, binding horse and rider into one. Judges, starters, and umpires, were selected and positions taken. The word was given; the horses plunged, started, ‘bucked;’ again they started; again the sorrel bucked. An unlimited amount of profanity expressed the impatience of the crowd. The ‘blue horse’ was now largely the favorite. At last they came—a cloud of dust, rattling hoofs, and frantic riders playing their whips right and left over the struggling brutes under them; on they came; the squatting crowd sprang to their feet, and up went one simultaneous yell; on they came, the crowd capering, screaming, and ‘hollerin’, like so many madmen—all alike infected, the stoical Indian as well as the mercurial Mexican. The ‘blue horse’ led, and, in a cloud of dust, all dashed by. It was a whirlpool of excitement, the stake being the vortex. Round and round they went; shouts, laughter, and profanity—one wild, incoherent Babel —losers and winner alike indistinguishable. Their hot temperaments found the excitement they craved, and the losers were rewarded in its drunkenness." In around 1875 Smillie painted Rough Sport in the Yosemite Valley (now at the Crocker Art Museum), which was based on the 1871 sketch. He widely exhibited the painting from 1876 to 1879. Both the finished painting and the oil sketch document the rich ethnic and cultural heritage of Early California. Smillie deftly captures the action of the race against the majestic landscape. In the sketch he suggests the roar of the horse race with quick and fluid brushwork. He was likely aware of Eadweard Muybridge's photography revealing the fact that a galloping horse did indeed have all four feet off the ground simultaneously, as seen most notably here in the rider to the far left. This oil sketch provided the basis for the subject that Smillie would return to throughout his career in oil, watercolor, and etching. It is not only a dynamic painting but also a fascinating record of a long-lost cultural tradition set against the distinctly American landscape of the Yosemite Valley.

Creator:
James D. Smillie (1833 - 1909, American)
Creation Year:
1871
Dimensions:
Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 22 in (55.88 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Movement & Style:
Abstract Impressionist
Period:
1870-1879
Condition:
Excellent condition. The canvas is unlined. There is no sign of restoration or inpaint.
Gallery Location:
Bryn Mawr, PA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU2773215828422

$9,500

View Of Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Located in Bryn Mawr, PA

An artist staunchly independent from prevailing modes of expression and a complex personality, Edwin Dickinson seems to have explored a wide range of styles based on his own intuitio...

Category

1940s American Modern Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Located in London, Chelsea

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. "Happy Hippy Days Kings Road" by Therese James invites viewers...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Therese James
Happy Hippy Days-original London figurative cityscape painting-contemporary Art, 2025

$1,921

Free Shipping

Water on the Rocks - 1930's Abstracted Landscape

By Leslie Bruner Wulff

Located in Soquel, CA

Gorgeous painterly landscape oil painting of waves crashing against the rocky shore near a cave by California artist Leslie Bruner Wulff (American, 1890-1968). Signed "Leslie Wulff" ...

Category

1930s Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Leslie Bruner Wulff
Water on the Rocks - 1930's Abstracted Landscape, 1937

$1,200 Sale Price

20% Off

Sailing to the Sun, Reflection in the Water, Oil , Abstract Landscape, Nature

Located in Houston, TX

Sailing into the Sun is an abstract landscape painting. It is oil on canvas. It is gallery wrapped so there is no need for a frame. On a summer morning in 1993 a 22 years old young came to Florida from a small old town in the central area of Cuba called Santa Clara. In his bag, he brought no more than two valuable things, his worn-out brushes and a great dream. The dream to one day become a professional artist in this new land that welcomed him with open arms. Captivated by his love for the beauty of the Landscapes, his last works are what he sees even in the most common scenes: the close relationship of life and who we are with the natural world around us that asks us to respect and care for it. Artist Statement: " I like to scrutinize in the simple things, sometimes it is there where the lost painting is waiting to be found by the painter's eyes. The landscape painting gives me the opportunity to establish a close relationship with the natural world and humbly capture on a canvas a little of its beauty listening to its voice that reminds us how valuable we are and how much we should love it". U.S Education: Art Florida Academy Abdon J. Romero Art Studio Chiaroscuro Atelier / Now MIFA Miami Workshops received: . Landscape painting workshop with Ramiro Sanchez director of advanced painting on Florence academy of art. . Plein Air painting workshop with the artist Allen Kriegshauser at 7th Annual Plein Air Festival Lighthouse Art...

Category