Natural Bridge
Artist
Oscar Edmund Berninghaus
(American, 1874 - 1952)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1914
MediumOil on board laid on panel
Dimensions21 × 42 7/8 in. (53.3 × 108.9 cm)
SignedLower right: "O.E. Berninghaus"
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2020.17
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 218
Label TextOscar Edmund Berninghaus American, 1874–1952 Natural Bridge, ca. 1914 Oil on board laid on panel How do you make a rock formation that is millions of years old seem new again? Oscar Edmund Berninghaus likely created this view of Virginia’s iconic natural wonder as part of an advertising campaign for the AnheuserBusch Brewing Company. Natural Bridge, a sacred site to the Monacan Indian Nation, was once owned by Thomas Jefferson and had been a popular subject for artists in the nineteenth century. Berninghaus pictured the area as it appeared in the twentieth century, with tiny tourists dotting the valley floor. He employed a bold style well-suited to modern advertising, though it is not certain if this image was ever used in any ads. Museum purchase 2020.17ProvenanceCommissioned from the artist by August A. Busch, Sr., St. Louis, Missouri. By descent to August A. Busch, Jr., St. Louis, Missouri, 1976. Gift to the St. Louis Art Museum, December 1976. Deaccessioned and transferred to Christie's, New York. Purchased by the Chrysler Museum of Art from Christie's, American Art Online, sale 18433 (lot 34), August 7, 2020.Published ReferencesSaint Louis Art Museum, “1976 Acquisitions,” Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 3, June 1977, p. 106. G.E. Sanders, _Oscar E. Berninghaus, Taos, New Mexico: Master Painter of American Indians and the Frontier West_, Taos, New Mexico, 1985, p. 128. To be included in the Kodner Gallery Research Project on the artist, Oscar Edmund Berninghaus, 1874-1952.
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