Art that provoked an act of Congress comes to the Eiteljorg Museum March 21, 2008

Yosemite: Art of an American Icon opens March 22
INDIANAPOLIS—Beginning March 22, adventurers can visit Yosemite National Park right in downtown Indianapolis as Yosemite: Art of an American Icon opens at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Guests to the museum can explore Yosemite National Park’s visual legacy through approximately 100 paintings, photographs and Native American baskets. The exhibit includes the work of 56 artists, including Ansel Adams, Albert Bierstadt, Edward Weston, Eadweard Muybridge and others. Also, included in the Eiteljorg’s presentation of Yosemite is a camping and climbing adventure right inside the museum!
“We are very excited to have the Yosemite exhibit at the Eiteljorg for a rare five months,” said John Vanausdall, Eiteljorg president and CEO. “We have developed a unique experience involving art, artist demonstrations, workshops, family activities and music. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Yosemite Valley interpreted quite this way.”
Experience the majesty of Yosemite National Park
The Yosemite Valley has been admired for hundreds of years. Each year, more than 3 million people visit the park to experience some of the most beautiful views that nature has to offer. Amy Scott, curator of visual arts at the Autry National Center’s Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, says in her essay “Yosemite Calls,” from the catalogue created for the exhibition, that what visitors see is not only nature, but art—some of nature’s best work. According to Scott, noted preservationist John Muir, who dedicated his life to the protection of the Sierran landscape, often described how Yosemite’s “strikingly perfect” design was “sculpted” from glaciers that impacted the valley over 250,000 years.
This is the basis for Yosemite: Art of an American Icon. The exhibition, organized by the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, explores art inspired by Yosemite and how that art has played a role in making the park an American icon. Artists like David Hockney, Richard Misrach, Wayne Thiebaud and others traveled to Yosemite to seek inspiration and the resulting works “…sold promises of spiritually and culturally important experience…,”according to Scott. Yosemite became the visual embodiment of the westward expansion of America.
In fact, it was the inspiring beauty of art depicting Yosemite that helped Congress understand the importance of protecting this area for everyone. In 1864, President Lincoln signed a bill conserving Yosemite as a federal trust. It was the first time the federal government had moved to protect land.
Thirty years later, Yosemite was established as a national park. By then, it was one of the most recognizable landscapes in America. According to Scott, painting and photographs of the area appeared in homes and business all across the country.
Go camping…at the Eiteljorg Museum
Yosemite National Park has long been a symbol of rugged, outdoor adventure.
The Eiteljorg will bring a little bit of that adventure to guests with Camp Yosemite. Designed with families in mind, the adventure begins with a horizontal climbing wall simulating the challenge of rock climbing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Visitors can learn how to “cook” acorn soup in a basket, add a story to the “bear journal” then go inside a family tent set up at a camp site similar to what travelers might find while hiking through Yosemite today. While at the camp, be sure to look up. We have re-created the night sky as it looks in July at Yosemite.
Don’t miss a chance to experience the awe-inspiring pieces that provoked an act of Congress. Yosemite: Art of an American Icon will be open at the Eiteljorg Museum through Aug. 3.

Creation of Yosemite: Art of an American Icon is made possible in part by the generous contributions of Southern California Automobile Club, The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation, Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, Van Wagner Communications, Wells Fargo, Yellow Book USA, The Yosemite Fund.
Co-presented locally by Eli Lilly and Co. and Capital Group Companies, the home of American Funds.