POWELL
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The Chasm of Colorado, one of his most famous works, was painted after Moran participated in John Wesley Powell’s (1834-1902) geographical and topographical survey, in the summer of 1873. This was one of the four ‘Great Surveys’, funded by Federal Government during the early 1870s. Their main goal was to estimate the natural resources of the Western territories, putting great emphasis on the areas’s geology and topography. The Surveys brought together scientists, artists and photographers. Moran had already taken part in the Hayden Survey (1871), an experience that resulted in another famous canvas – The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone . Under the influence of John Wesley Powell, Thomas Moran embraced the geological theories of Charles Lyell who argued that our planet was constantly evolving, experiencing continuous cycles of erosion, deposition and uplift at an infinitely gradual pace. Such views were presaged by Cosmos (1845-47) the epochal book of Alexander Von Humboldt, whose American fame was reaching its zenith at this time.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1893-1901) by Thomas Moran. Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone brings Moran’s interest in Earth-shaping processes to the fore. By this time, Moran had already seen photographs of the Grand Canyon from George Wheeler’s recent expedition, and he clearly recognised that the western landscape would offer rich material for his pictorial gift. Contrary to The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, whose subject was fire, The Chasm of Colorado deals rather with the action of water. Some elements hint at the work of water – the pools in the foreground, and the low-lying clouds. Most impressive is the threatening thunderstorm, which dramatises the work of subaerial aqueous erosion. The geologic province depicted is the Colorado Plateau, known for its well preserved, mainly sedimentary sequence of Palaeozoic and younger Mesozoic rocks. The rocks represent a range of depositional environments from deep water to marginal marine limestones and desert sandstones. The painting suggests that the processes responsible for the chasm cut through them were more gradual than catastrophic. Moreover, the downcutting channels clearly meander, winding around in large curving patterns and suggesting slower development. This picture is all about erosion, and its almost timeless work over millions of years. In Moran’s time, it was generally accepted that our planet was much older than Biblical Scholars claimed. As early as the mid 18th Century, geological prophets like James Hutton had already contemplated an Earth millions of years old. In this picture, the painter seeks to show us the transitory nature of the ‘timeless’ scene, and emphasises the changes continually wrought by natural processes. We can see this represented in the moving storm clouds and the balanced boulders in the right foreground.
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