This Fort Worth Museum Will Unveil a Long-Lost Painting Not Exhibited for Over a Century

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For the first time in over 100 years, a rare Thomas Moran watercolor will finally be available for public view.

And in Fort Worth, too.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art will showcase Moran's "Mount Superior, as viewed from Alta, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah (ca. 1879)" from Aug. 28 through Dec. 12. The painting will accompany some of Moran’s other pieces, including oil paintings, prints, and watercolors. This exhibition will explore the origin of the work which, unlike his other paintings tied to early geological surveys, shows the encounter the artist had with the western space as industry and access were expanding.

John Ruskin, a Victorian art critic, added this piece to his personal collection before it remained in a private British collection following his death in 1900. It wasn’t until 2018 that it resurfaced on the market. 

According to the Carter, the piece is representative of the Pre-Raphaelite style and "serves as a key touchstone within the museum’s American Pre-Raphaelite holdings."

“The acquisition of Moran’s 'Mount Superior' perfectly complements the Carter’s collection of the artist’s etchings and watercolors and exemplifies our commitment to preserving American masterworks and the stories they tell,” executive director Andrew J. Walker said in a statement. “Celebrating this new acquisition in a dedicated exhibition demonstrates our unique ability to share these stories, drawing from both our extensive Moran holdings and the museum’s unparalleled archives and 19th-century photography holdings to provide meaningful context for the artist’s formative impact on American visual culture.”

The "Mount Superior" exhibit is part of the Carter's ongoing calendar of programming celebrating the museum's 60th anniversary. The full schedule and other information is available at cartermuseum.org.