Oxen, Boats and Fishermen

Mathias Alten was born in Germany in 1871 and immigrated to America near the end of the century. First coming to settle in west Michigan, he also spent a lot of his time on the west coast in California, both locations being large inspirations for his landscape work. Alten is renowned for capturing the expansion and development of Grand Rapids, Michigan; acting as an expressively visual historical record of the city's progression from rural roots and riding the train into industrialization with the turn of the century.