Epic Vistas

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents a new exhibition related to a recent Thomas Moran acquisition.

When the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, received a stunning Thomas Moran work for its permanent collection, it could have put it on display and called it a day. But the work had such a fascinating story that it was turned into an exhibition. Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Valley of Babbling Waters, Southern Utah, 1876, chromolithograph. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1971.59.3.The Moran work is the rare watercolor Mount Superior, as viewed from Alta, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, and the exhibition it spawned is Thomas Moran’s Mount Superior, now on view at the Texas museum. The exhibition will highlight the major Moran painting (see it in our museum section starting on Page 68), but it will also draw attention to work that Moran created around that time. The exhibition loosely follows the story of the artist’s westward journey along the transcontinental railroad. Peter Moran (1841-1914), Walpi. Arizona, 1881, watercolor and graphite on paper. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1965.81.In addition to important works by Moran, including Cliffs of Green River and Valley of Babbling Waters, Southern Utah, the exhibition will also feature work by his brother Peter Moran and his wife, Mary Nimmo Moran, as well as photography and other documents related to their adventures west.

But the real star of the show is Mount Superior, as viewed from Alta, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, which has not been publicly exhibited in more than a century. Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Hot Springs of Gardiner’s River, Yellowstone National Park, 1875, chromolithograph. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1971.59.14.“The acquisition of Moran’s Mount Superior perfectly complements the Carter’s collection of the artist’s etchings and watercolors and exemplifies our commitment to preserving American masterworks and the stories they tell,” says Amon Carter executive director Andrew J. Walker. “Celebrating this new acquisition in a dedicated exhibition demonstrates our unique ability to share these stories, drawing from both our extensive Moran holdings and the museum’s unparalleled archives and 19th-century photography holdings to provide meaningful context for the artist’s formative impact on American visual culture.”