| 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. The noted wilderness photographer William Jackson, was also a guest on this trip to the West. Moran and Jackson would often wander afar to capture the beauty of the area in drawings and on film. Moran later wrote... "...Yellowstone retains its hold upon my imagination with a vividness of of yesterday...The impression then made upon me by the stupendous and remarkable manifestations of nature's forces will remain with me as long as memory lasts." |  |
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His daughter later spoke of Moran's fascination with Yellowstone saying..."To him it was all grandeur, beauty, color and light...nothing of man at all, but nature, virgin, unspoiled and lovely..." 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. Moran also started the large 7'x12' painting of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 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. A Scribners critic called his paintings the "most brilliant and poetic pictures that have been done in America thus far". Thomas Moran had established himself as one of America's foremost artists...and led to an invitation by Major John Wesley Powell to accompany his survey team on a trip to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado... |  |
