PLEIN AIR HERITAGE
Thomas Hill was an English-born American who painted in California, particularly in the Yosemite Valley; in the White Mountains of New Hampshire; and in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. This painting of the Hetch-Hetchy Valley in Yosemite shows the landscape before it was flooded to create a reservoir — in 1923, the O’Shaughnessy Dam was built to harvest water from the Tuolumne River. It is speculated that Hill painted his own image in the lower left-hand corner of the canvas. During a 1903 visit to Yosemite, President Theodore Roosevelt met Hill at his studio, and the artist gave him a painting of Bridalveil Fall that the president admired. It returned with Roosevelt to the White House. Hill’s studio, on the grounds of the Wawona Hotel, is now a Yosemite National Park…