Thomas Moran

Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 - August 25, 1926) was an artist of the Hudson River School. Born in the city of Bolton, Lancashire, England on 12 January 1837, Thomas Moran was destined to become one of America's greatest landscape artists. He and his family sailed from Liverpool, England in April 1844 to America. Thomas Moran Sr., a weaver by trade, settled the family in Philadelphia...one of the textile centers of the country. Thomas showed an early interest in art, and at the age of 15 he sought employment in an engraver's shop...the chosen occupation of young aspiring artist of that day. Never really mastering the engravers trade, his drawings drew the attention of his employer. Noting the quality of his work, he was kept busy sketching designs on the engraver's blocks for others to engrave. Moran began to spend his spare time doing watercolors and drawing, which he easily sold for $10 to $15 apiece. In 1856, Tom and his brother Edward, who was also an aspiring painter, rented a studio in Philadelphia. There, they could study and apply their craft full time. Thomas was to show a growing interest in the works of H.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), an English painter of note. His early works reflected much of the style of Turner. Thomas Morans' first extended trip in search of the scenic wonders was to the Lake Superior region in 1860..."to the shores of Gitchee Gumee". No artist at that time had visited this area. In 1861, he and his brother sailed for the British Isles where Tom spent months studying the pictures of his idol, Turner. Moran would learn much from Turner about color and light, and would be referred to later as "the American Turner". Upon his return to America in 1862, Moran married Mary Nimmo. Mollie took an activity interest in his art and later developed her own skills as an artist...and became his most trusted critic. They travelled together on many of his trips across the country and to Europe in the years to come. A boyhood friend of Thomas' , an editor at Scribner's Monthly, began to publish wood engravings of his work. Eastern readers where hungry for information about the West, so articles by those who had been there and seen this primitive country was the fare of magazines and newspapers of the day. After the final tracks were laid to the first trans-continental railroad in 1869, the government sponsored several survey teams to explore and map this new land. Moran's first trip with a geological survey team would be to Yellowstone. Moran joined the government survey team led by Dr. F.V. Hayden in the summer of 1871, for the historic exploration of Yellowstone. He rose to national prominence after his first great painting of the American West, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872), which later was sold to, and hang in the halls of Congress. Upon returning to his studio in New York, he worked intensively for months on his Yellowstone material. Moran's illustrations began to appear in Harper's Weekly, The Aldine, and other publications. He acquired the nickname "Yellowstone" in 1872 and began to sign all his paintings with the monogram shown at the bottom of these pages...Tom "Yellowstone" Moran. The Chasm of the Colorado, another 7'x12' canvas would become a companion piece to "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" now hanging in Congress. Thomas Moran joined Major John Wesley Powell's expedition in 1873 at Salt Lake City, where the group would proceed southward through Utah's canyon country into Arizona...to the Grand Canyon. He was to produce many paintings and drawing of the Grand Canyon in the years to come...returning again and again to this natural wonder. His work was used by publishers and the railroads to promote tourism to these remote regions. The "Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe" railroad was for many years the only direct route to the Grand Canyon, and used many of Moran's illustrations in their brochures. Late in 1873 Moran was commissioned to illustrate an article on the Rocky Mountains for Picturesque America. Moran was most intrigued by an unusual landmark called Mountain of the Holy Cross. In August of 1874, Moran joined the Hayden survey team in Denver, Colorado to explore a region that few had seen. The Mountain of the Holy Cross, which lay in an especially rugged range, had remained largely unknown because of being obscured by the Notch Mountains to the East, and was inaccessible to most travelers. Not until the late 1860's was there any written reports of this religious symbol carved by nature into stone. The upright fissure reached approximately 1,100 feet, with arms at least 200 feet long. Through the years, part of the right arm of the cross has eroded the clarity of the image. Although Moran is known by a few enormous canvases depicting spectacular scenes from the West, there are over 1,500 oils, 800 watercolors, and countless drawings from Lake Superior, Tetons, Yosemite, Sierras, Old Mexico, Europe, and the region around East Hampton, Long Island, where he and Mollie spent many summers. Thomas was a prolific artist, working an average of 13 hours a day throughout his life ...with age doing little to slow him down. His only relief was the periodic travel to the scenic vistas of this country, and study in Europe. During the later years he and Mollie spent more and more of their time in California. The West dominated most of his work, and the subject to which he returned most frequently was the Grand Canyon...paying his last visit in May of 1922. In the fall of 1922 the Morans left East Hampton and moved to the warmer climate of Santa Barbara, California. Thomas Moran would died at the age of 90, on August 25, 1926.

Bibliography: Ellen's Place

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