Rock Towers of the Rio Virgin

Maker Thomas Moran (American, 1837 - 1926)

Collections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1908

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions23 x 30 in. (58.4 x 76.2 cm.) frame: 30 1/2 × 37 1/2 × 3 in. (77.5 × 95.3 × 7.6 cm.)

Signedl.r.: T Moran 1908, S. Utah

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

On view

Label TextIn 1873 Thomas Moran explored the Southwest with Major John Wesley Powell's geological survey team. Using sketches he made in Utah during that voyage, Moran created this painting in 1908. It depicts the north fork of the Rio Virgin in the region that became Zion National Park. Merging a detailed, realistic foreground with an ethereal background, this painting demonstrates that Moran's works were not literal records of what he saw, but personal, spiritual visions, inspired by nature.

The Southwest trip was but one of Moran's series of artistic explorations in the West. In 1872, Moran had sketched in Yosemite and other parts of California. A year before that, he had accompanied the federally sponsored Government Exploration of the Upper Yellowstone, led by the geologist Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden. On that trip, Moran befriended the photographer William Henry Jackson, and their photographs and paintings helped persuade Congress to make the Yellowstone region a national park.

Object number83.8.34