NEW YORK — A piece by celebrated painter of the American West Thomas Moran sold for $2.228 million at a Christie’s auction of 19th Century American and Western Art on Thursday, Jan. 18.
“Afterglow, Green River, Wyoming,” completed in 1918, won the second-highest total of the 100 works at auction, topped only by Martin Johnson Heade’s “Cattleya Orchid with Two Brazilian Hummingbirds,” which went for $3.438 million.
Moran’s piece is 20 by 30 inches in size and is signed by the artist. Alive from 1837 to 1926, Moran was known as one of the most notable painters of the West, and his work contributed to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Grand Teton National Park’s Mount Moran is named in his honor.
“By conveying the grandeur of an entire region to the American public for generations, Moran transformed the allure of the West into an appreciation of it as an integral part of the American identity—a feat which is considered the finest accomplishment of his career,” reads Christie’s description of the work.
Another of Moran’s depictions of the Green River hangs in the National Gallery of Art. His best-known piece, “The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone,” resides at the Smithsonian. When that seven-by-12-foot painting was displayed before Congress in 1872, the first national park was born.
“Chief among his grand subjects were the remarkable cliffs found surrounding the railroad depot of Green River, Wyoming,” the Christie’s description reads. “Like Yellowstone, Moran’s images of this subject would become virtually synonymous with the American fantasy of the West.”
