The Western Sublime: Majestic Landscapes of the American West

The Western Sublime: Majestic Landscapes of the American West examines works of art of the American West that interpret, reinvent, and transform the idea of the sublime: an aesthetic ideal with an emotional or spiritual charge that instills awe or inspires fear. 

In a range of art from the mid-1800s to today, this exhibition includes paintings, drawings, photography, prints, textiles, and basketry that consider ways that the sublime landscape is understood and its effect on the peoples, histories, and cultures of the American West in the past and present. This exhibition seeks to bring the sublime landscape into contemporary contexts and create new conversations from different perspectives and artistic styles.​

Featured Artists:

Ansel Adams

Jack Balas

Shonto Begay (Diné)

Albert Bierstadt

Ralph Albert Blakelock

George Elbert Burr

Howard Russell Butler

Jay Dusard

Chuck Forsman

Jody Forster

Tony Foster

Sanford Robinson Gifford

John Edward Glannon

Hermann Ottomar Herzog

Thomas Hill

Shawn Huckins

Terrol Dew Johnson (Tohono O’odham)

Marlowe Katoney (Diné)

Karen Kitchel

James Lavadour (Walla Walla)

Ed Mell

Thomas Moran

Eadweard Muybridge

Ethan Murrow

A. Nisbet

Gerry Peirce

Henry Cheever Pratt

Cara Romero (Chemehuevi)

Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi)

Lone Wolf / Hart M. Schultz (Blackfoot)

Eric Sloane

Don Stinson

Bobb Vann

Willem Volkersz

Ellen Wagener

Kay Walkingstick (Cherokee)

Carleton Watkins

Bobby “Dues” Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota)

Steven J. Yazzie (Diné)

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website