Then and Now
Scenes of Long Island and Yellowstone
Mount Moran in Wyoming was named after Thomas Moran by Dr Ferdinand Hayden who led a second Geological Survey in 1872 to Wyoming. The mountain is 12,605 feet high, the second highest of the Teton Range, now in Grand Teton National Park, just to the south of Yellowstone. The range was formed between 9 and 6 million years ago. This tribute goes some way in illustrating Thomas' impact on the American perception of its landscape.
Moran, one of Bolton’s most well-known sons, was born in the town in 1837. He, like his brothers Edward (1829-1901), John (1831-1902), and Peter (1841-1914) became a practising artist, and was the most famous of them all.
The Moran family immigrated to the USA in 1844, when Thomas was seven. They found a better standard of living and education in Philadelphia and after a short apprenticeship; Thomas Moran began studying with his elder brother Edward. Together they visited England in 1862 to see at first hand the works of old masters, and especially for Thomas, the work of JMW Turner. They travelled around England, visiting Bolton in June.
On their return, Thomas married Mary Nimmo (1842-1899), a Scot, whose family had similarly moved to Philadelphia for a better life. They had three children and visited Britain again in 1866 and 1882 – when there was a selling exhibition of both their paintings and etchings. The proceeds from the successful exhibition at Thomas Bromley’s Art Gallery in Bolton enabled the couple to buy land and build a new home in the village of East Hampton on Long Island.
The collection of their work in Bolton Museum and Art Gallery reflects this period in their lives very strongly and many of the images are from Long Island, but a small group by Thomas Moran reflect different states of the USA, such as Florida and Wyoming for which he is possibly better known. In 1871 Thomas accompanied the first geological survey expedition of Yellowstone.
It was his paintings of that spectacular region which conveyed the incredible and almost unbelievable colours of the geological features to the politicians in the East. This helped persuade them to make Yellowstone the world's first national park and Moran was thereafter nicknamed Thomas Yellowstone Moran and signed his name accordingly.
This exhibition features the whole Moran collection alongside contemporary photographs of places associated with the Morans taken by the museum’s Curator of Art, Fiona Salvesen, during her Winston Churchill Fellowship to the USA in 2006. Fiona’s trip was part of the Service’s strategic plan to develop Bolton as a centre for the study of the Moran family and other Bolton-born emigrant artists and their legacy in helping to develop the image of North America that has such powerful cultural resonance today.
Acknowledgements
Bolton Council is extremely grateful to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. The Trust is a living tribute to Sir Winston, whose example is the inspiration. He died in 1965 and many thousands of people, in respect for the man and grateful for his inspired leadership, gave generously to a public subscription to fund Travelling Fellowships. All British Citizens are eligible for the annual awards.
This was the last spot the Moran drew during his time with the 1871 Geological Survey expedition, before he went back East. At this point he wrote in his diary that he had eaten “4 biscuits a day for the last 5 days”, so one can understand why he was eager to return!
"I took this photo early in the morning when the steam rising from the mud pools, geysers and springs was most visible in the cold air. During the winter (which lasts from October till May) many animals warm themselves here, but humans are allowed only on the boardwalks. The enormous Yellowstone Lake is in the distance."
Fiona Salvesen
Thomas and Mary bought the land and built this home with the proceeds from the exhibition of their pictures in Bolton, held in 1882. The house has been listed as a National Historic landmark since 1966.
A charitable trust has recently been formed to take over the house which was previously in private ownership. It is in need of urgent repair and the long term aim is to restore it and open it to the public, and raise an endowment to cover future running costs.
