2-741-238 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Smelting Works at Denver, 1892. Thomas Moran became famous for applying the dramatic style of the British painter Turner (1775-1851) to the spectacular scenery of the American West, particularly the Grand Canyon and the Yellowstone and Green River regions of Wyoming. In 1892 he made this watercolour sketch of the smelters on the outskirts of Denver. Quickly executed, the drawing reveals a masterly observation. Moran seems to have viewed these factories with enthusiasm, for in his letters he wrote positively about the growth of Denver as a city.