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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.
Moran felt a strong sense of obligation that American artists should paint their own country. He said that "there was little need of American landscape painters going abroad in search of the grand, the sublime, and the beautiful"."There is no phase of landscape in which we are not richer, more varied and interesting than any country in the world." The railroad help transform the West from a little known, inaccessible, and sometimes feared region, to a place where thousands of settlers and tourist sought to explore and visit. Through extensive publicity campaigns the railroads published many pamphlets, posters, and booklets encouraging Americans to see this most remarkable part of America. Moran was to travel by rail as a guest of the railroads to visually record the West many times in the years ahead. 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. To see more of his work go to the gallery... |
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(Try www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com if you looking for references listed above, or The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma)
