Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran
Born	February 12, 1837(1837-02-12) Bolton, Lancashire, England
Died	August 25, 1926 (aged 89) Santa Barbara, California, United States
Nationality	American, born in England, and raised in Pennsylvania, USA
Field	Landscape painting
Movement	Hudson River School, Rocky Mountain School

Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 - August 25, 1926) from Bolton, England was a painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Thomas Moran along with Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, and William Keith are sometimes referred to as belonging to the Rocky Mountain School of landscape painters because of all of the Western landscapes made by this group.

[edit] Biography

Moran's family emigrated from England in 1844 and settled in Pennsylvania. He began his artistic career as a teenage apprentice to the Philadelphia wood-engraving firm Scattergood & Telfer. After two years of training, he produced illustrations and works in watercolour and began developing lithographs of landscapes around the Great Lakes in the 1860s. Moran was introduced to the work of J. M. W. Turner while studying in England in 1862, and acknowledged Turner's influence on his use of color and choice of landscapes. During the 1870s and 1880s Moran's designs for wood-engraved illustrations appeared in major magazines and gift oriented publications.

Moran was married to Scottish born Mary Nimmo Moran (1842-1899), an etcher and landscape painter. The couple had two daughters and a son. His brothers Edward (1829-1901), John (1831-1902) and Peter (1841-1914) were also active as artists. He died in Santa Barbara, California on August 26, 1926.

[edit] Yellowstone images

Thomas Moran's vision of the Western landscape was critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Moran's pencil and watercolor field sketches and paintings captured the grandeur and documented the extraordinary terrain and natural features of the Yellowstone region. Moran's artwork was presented to members of Congress by park proponents.

At the request of American financier Jay Cooke, and at his own expense, Moran agreed to join the survey team of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 in their exploration of the Yellowstone region. During forty days in the wilderness area, Moran visually documented over 30 different sites and produced a diary of the expedition's progress and daily activities. His sketches, along with photographs produced by survey member William Henry Jackson, captured the nation's attention and helped inspire Congress to establish the National Park System in 1916.

[edit] Legacy

The Thomas Moran House in East Hampton, New York is a National Historic Landmark.

Mount Moran in the Grand Teton National Park is named for Moran.

Tower Creek, 1871

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, 1859

1912

[edit] See also

• Edward Moran
• History of painting
• List of Hudson River School artists
• New York Etching Club
• Western painting

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thomas Moran

• The United States National Gallery of Art page on Thomas Moran
• Gallery of Moran's Paintings
• www.thomas-moran.org Hundreds of images by Thomas Moran and more.

[edit] Reference

• Wilkins, Thurman; Hinkley, Caroline L; Goetzmann, William H. (1998). Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains. University of Oklahoma Press. LCC N6537.M6443 W55 1998. ISBN 9780806130408. 

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