How 19th-Century Artists Shaped America's National Parks

The creation of the US National Park system was deeply influenced by 19th-century artists who documented the American West. Yellowstone became the first National Park in 1872, and the park system formally began in 1916. Artists like Carleton E. Watkins, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, William Henry Jackson, and Grafton Tyler Brown produced paintings and photographs that introduced eastern audiences to western landscapes, generating public support for conservation. Watkins's 1861 photographs of Yosemite helped persuade President Lincoln to protect the area in 1864. The Hayden Expedition of 1871, led by geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden, included Moran as official painter and Jackson as official photographer; their work helped inspire Congress to designate Yellowstone as the first National Park six months later. Bierstadt's large-scale, idealized paintings brought the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite to east-coast viewers. Brown, a commercially successful Black artist, created highly detailed, topographically faithful paintings of Yellowstone popular with wealthy tourists. The conservation movement, advocated by figures like John Muir and Ralph Waldo Emerson, was bolstered by these artistic images. Today, over 400 US National Parks are preserved for public enjoyment.