CLS: The West Coast — The Dome of Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt

After the tumult of the Civil War, there was widespread curiosity about the far reaches of the country. Albert Bierstadt’s large panoramic paintings made after his travels enjoyed tremendous popularity. Dubbed the “Grand Paintings,” these works evoked a passionate response. The creation and travels of one of these paintings, “The Domes of Yosemite," has it’s own adventure story. 

Rustin Levenson graduated with a degree in art history from Wellesley College and was trained in conservation at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum. She worked on the conservation staff of the Canadian Conservation Institute, the National Gallery of Canada and the Metropolitan Museum of Art before opening ArtCare Conservation, with studios in New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. Her studio teams treat paintings from museums, private and corporate collections. She is co-author of Seeing Through Paintings (Yale University Press), and several chapters in The Expert Versus the Object (Oxford University Press) and The Conservation of Easel Paintings (Routledge Press). In addition to her publications, Levenson lectures extensively to professional groups, at universities and public forums. She is a Fellow in both the American Institute for Conservation and the International Institute for Conservation. In 2015, she was honored with a Residency at the American Academy in Rome. She recently received recognition from the American Institute for Conservation; Honorary Membership (2021) and the Paintings Award (2023).