Yellowstone as “Landscape Idea”: Thomas Moran and the Pictorial Practices of Gilded-Age Western Exploration

Abstract

Between 1869 and 1872, Yellowstone's Upper Valley was explored and transformed from a terra incognita into the world's first national park. While locally organized exploration played an integral role in the emergence and diffusion of incipient geographical knowledge about Yellowstone, it was the “official” and “authoritative” 1871 expedition by Ferdinand V. Hayden, including photographer William H. Jackson and landscape painter Thomas Moran, which confirmed the region as worthy of federal protection. Integrating work in human geography, American western history, art history, and social theory, this article points to the important role landscape imagery played in the exploration and establishment of Yellowstone National Park.