Object Details
- Artist
- Orlando Rouland, 1871 - 27 Jun 1945
- Sitter
- John Muir, 21 Apr 1838 - 24 Dec 1914
- Exhibition Label
- Born Dunbar, Scotland
- The influential naturalist John Muir helped establish the National Park System, believing that exposure to wilderness would encourage people to preserve it.
- For him, the exploitation of natural resources in the late nineteenth-century United States was a tragedy. Muir’s advocacy and writing played a decisive role in protecting such areas of the American West as the Yosemite Valley, the Grand Canyon, and the Petrified Forest. He published numerous articles and books, notably Our National Parks (1901). In recent years, the Sierra Club, an environmental organization that Muir helped found in 1892, has acknowledged Muir’s marginalization of Native Americans and his exclusion of people of color from conservation efforts.
- This portrait’s pensive quality reflects Muir’s life-long preference for solitude. Of the urban environment, he once said, “Often I thought I would like to explore the city, if, like a lot of wild hills and valleys, it was cleared of inhabitants.”
- Nacido en Dunbar, Escocia
- El influyente naturalista John Muir participó en la creación del Sistema de Parques Nacionales, pensando que el contacto con las áreas silvestres estimularía al público a preservarlas. Para él, la explotación desenfrenada de los recursos naturales en Estados Unidos a fines del siglo XIX fue una tragedia. Su activismo y sus escritos fueron decisivos en la protección de áreas del oeste del país como el Valle de Yosemite, el Gran Cañón y el Bosque Petrificado. Publicó numerosos artículos y libros, tales como Nuestros parques nacionales (1901). En años recientes, el Sierra Club, organización ambientalista que Muir ayudó a fundar en 1892, ha reconocido que éste marginó a los nativos americanos y excluyó a las personas de color en los esfuerzos de conservación.
- El carácter meditativo de este retrato refleja el gusto de Muir por la soledad. Del entorno urbano dijo una vez: “He pensado que me gustaría explorar la ciudad si, como muchas colinas y valles silvestres, careciera de habitantes”.
- Provenance
- Mrs. Mary Williamson Averell Harriman [Mrs. Edward Henry Harriman, 1851-1932], New York; gift December 1919 for National Portrait Gallery; transferred from NCFA 1965.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of Mary W. Harriman, 1920
- c. 1917 from a 1909 photograph
- Object number
- NPG.65.79
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 92.7 x 72.4 x 2.5cm (36 1/2 x 28 1/2 x 1")
- Frame: 106 x 85.4 x 6.4cm (41 3/4 x 33 5/8 x 2 1/2")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Printed Material\Book
- Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
- Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Beard
- John Muir: Male
- John Muir: Science and Technology\Explorer
- John Muir: Arts & Culture\Literature\Writer\Magazine article writer
- John Muir: Social Welfare and Reform\Reformer\Environmentalist
- John Muir: Arts & Culture\Literature\Writer\Novelist
- John Muir: Science and Technology\Scientist\Naturalist
- John Muir: Arts & Culture\Literature\Writer\Nature writer
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.65.79
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm434670a4d-06ac-43bf-9a07-b1abf9efa8e6
