Yellowstone Geyser
1890
Grafton Tyler Brown captures the raw power of nature here, showing a massive geyser blasting a column of white steam and water high into a hazy blue sky. The rocky, terraced base looks almost like a fortress, surrounded by calm water and a dark line of pine trees in the distance. Brown was actually the first African American to establish a lithography business in California, and he later traveled the West as a topographer before turning to painting full-time. This 1890 piece is a fantastic example of his landscape work, showing the American West through the eyes of a pioneering Black artist who mapped the very terrain he painted.
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