Richard Norris Brooke, Yellowstone Geyser

Richard Norris Brooke (1847-1920) was born in Warrenton, Virginia and came of age during the Civil War. Following the war, he studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Edmund Bonsell and James Lambdin, graduating in 1871. He taught art in Philadelphia before becoming the United States Consul at La Rochelle from 1873 to 1877. Brooke later settled in Washington D.C. where he became intertwined with the artistic life of the town as well as a founder-instructor of the Art Students League of Washington.

While Brooke was best known for his oil paintings depicting African-American life, he also produced many genre scenes and landscape paintings, including this ink wash entitled “Yellowstone Geyser.” Though Brooke did not specify which geyser was featured, a black and white reproduction of the artwork was included in the May to October, 1884 publication of The Popular Science Monthly (Vol. XXV) in a section is written on “The World’s Geyser-Regions” by A. C. Peale, M.D. (p.494-508). Beneath the image (p. 507) is the caption: “Fig. 6 - Eruption of the Union Geyser in the Yellowstone National Park, August 1878.” Union Geyser is one of the larger features in the remote Shoshone Geyser Basin, though it’s been dormant since 1977.

Original Artist: Richard Norris Brooke

Year Published: N/A. Possibly c.1884

Poster Size: 20in x 28in

Price Per Print: $42