The Ruby Range, Nevada (1879): Art, History and Details

The Ruby Range, Nevada (1879) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Thomas Moran (American, born England, 1837–1926).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Thomas Moran is especially well known for his sweeping views of remote areas in the American West. A gifted watercolorist who was deeply influenced by J. M. W. Turner, Moran found a realistic equivalent for the Englishman’s art in the strange hues of the mountains of Wyoming and Nevada, the bubbling springs and vaporous geysers of Yellowstone, and the fantastic rock formations of Arizona. Although he enjoyed dramatic effects, Moran did not exaggerate the spectacular landscapes of the American West; watercolors such as Ruby Range are accurate even in their surprising palettes, achieving an almost visionary intensity.

Object facts

• Title: The Ruby Range, Nevada
• Date: 1879
• Creator attribution: Thomas Moran (American, born England, 1837–1926)
• Culture: America
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: watercolor, gouache and graphite
• Dimensions: Sheet: 19.6 x 36.2 cm (7 11/16 x 14 1/4 in.)
• Collection: DR - American 19th Century
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1938.67

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of pictures of Thomas Moran, N.A.; exhibited under the auspices of the Denver Art League, Christmas, 1892, 1892, File A, No. 88 (C-4), Moran Collection, East Hampton Library, East Hampton, New York.
• The Milch Galleries, New York, NY. Memorial Exhibition: Water Color Sketches by Thomas Moran, N.A. December 20 - January 8, 1927. No. 21.
• The Biltmore Salon, Los Angeles. CA. Water colors by Thomas Moran, N.A., 1837-1926. January 2 - January 29,1927. No. 22.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.