Every painting in this exhibit is inspired by my emotional connection with the varied and dramatic beauty of America’s threatened landscape. I hope my interpretation of these scenes will heighten awareness and incite action to preserve our vanishing treasures.
Bradley Stevens

Bradley Stevens’ landscape paintings reflect his deep appreciation and awe of America’s natural environment, particularly wilderness areas. He says nature’s beauty humbles and sustains him, reminding him just how good it is to be alive. Not surprisingly, Stevens has become increasingly alarmed as controversy over global warming and the need to protect and preserve America’s natural treasures continues to rage. Concerned that few Americans have seen, yet alone actually stood within these environmentally fragile wilderness regions, Stevens set out to create an inspired collection of works designed to heighten awareness of these threatened landscapes.

“What Remains: The American Landscape” draws from the spirit of famed artist Thomas Moran whose western wilderness images encouraged the U.S. Congress and the American people to preserve Yellowstone, which became the first National Park in 1872. Stevens hopes his collection of landscape paintings will similarly incite action to preserve America’s vanishing treasures.

Recognized as one of America’s leading realist painters, Stevens has enjoyed national acclaim for his powerful and moving landscapes, portraits, and cityscapes. His landscapes are found in corporate and private collections throughout the United States, and patrons of his portraiture work include Governor Mark Warner of Virginia and the family of John D. Rockefeller, IV. Stevens’ portrait of attorney and civil rights leader Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. hangs in the National Portrait Gallery as part of the museum’s permanent collection. His historical mural commemorating the Connecticut Compromise of 1787 for the U.S. Senate is installed in the Senate Reception Room, adjacent to the Senate Chambers in the U.S. Capitol.

He and his artist wife, pastelist Patricia Skinner, maintain studios on both coasts and travel the country extensively, exploring wilderness areas and big skies. The couple’s home base is their residence in the Virginia countryside where they live with two frisky kittens and a beagle foxhound named Rosie.