Famous Artists of Yosemite

Mirror Lake

More of This Feature

The Early Development of Yosemite
John Muir
Galen Clark
'Wild Child' Florence Hutchings
Early Entrepreneurs
Scenic Landscapes of Yosemite

Share This Page






Follow This Site

Follow SocStudies4Kids on Twitter


Part 1: Thomas Ayres and Thomas Hill

One of the first artists famous for depicting scenes of nature from the Yosemite Valley was Thomas Ayres.

Yosemite Falls

Like so many in the mid-19th Century in America, Ayres went to California in the wake of the Gold Rush. He had worked as a draftsman in the Wisconsin Territory and put those skills to good use on an 1855 trip to Yosemite with journalist and later hotel owner James Hutchings, whose i>Hutchings' California Magazine popularized the Valley. Ayres spent five days sketching Yosemite Falls, Inspiration Point, and other famous scenes. Some of those sketches appeared in Hutchings' magazines. Ayres also wrote up his own account of the trip, which appeared in the Daily Alta California newspaper in 1956. Part of what Ayres wrote is this:

"Every hour of the day varies the effect of light and shade upon the cliff, which rises with picturesque outlines, surmounted with sentinel pines, dwindled in their majestic proportions to mere straws by the height and distance, while ever and anon comes the roar of the cataract falling upon the ear, now in fitful lower tones—the lonely voice—the solitary hymn of the valley."

Ayres was back the following year, by himself, making more sketches. He traveled to New York to display his sketches and gained a commission from noted publisher Harper's Illustrated Weekly to return for more. Ayres died in a shipwreck before he could publish more.

Another famous 19th-Century painter of Yosemite scenery was Thomas Hill. An Englishman by birth, Hill came to the U.S. in 1844. He studied in Pennsylvania and with some of the famous landscape painters in the Hudson River School. He had his own exhibition in Boston 1858 and then moved to California three years later.

Hill made his first visit to the Yosemite Valley in 1865. He returned many times thereafter, feeling very much at home amid the spectacular scenery. He was also successful selling what he painted.

Thomas Hill Yosemite Valley

After an interlude that included stints in Europe and in Boston, Hill moved back to San Francisco and went again and again to Yosemite. In the late 1880s, he was known to spend entire summers in Wawona. He sold more than 160 paintings in a three-year stretch. He continued to paint, mostly Yosemite landscapes. He died in 1908 in Raymond, Calif., his winter headquarters. His studio, which is on the grounds of what is now the Wawona Hotel, is a visitor center run by the National Park Service.

Next page > Ansel Adams > Page 1, 2

Search This Site

Custom Search


Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2024
David White