36 Views of Mt. Rainier, Dawn

Kristina Hagman

Mount Rainier National Park is a 369-square-mile state reserve southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington. The glacier-capped, 14,410-foot Mount Rainier is an active volcano and is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A. From glaciers and volcanic peaks to river valleys and old growth forest, Mount Rainier creates a wide diversity of environments. For millennia, the ancestors of modern tribes came to the mountain seasonally to hunt and gather resources. Each of the tribes associated with the mountains have their own names for this peak: Tahoma, Takhoma, Tacoma, Ta-co-bet, Taqo ma, Tkobed, Tago bid, Tkomen, Nutselip, and Pshwawanoapami-tahoma. Archaeological evidence traces human use of the area back 9,000 years.

In 1893, the Pacific Forest Preserve was formed covering thirty-five square miles with Mount Rainier’s summit on the western edge. The area was renamed the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve in 1897 and the boundaries were greatly enlarged to the west and the south. Many groups understood the benefit of protecting Mount Rainier as a National Park and scientists, mountaineers, conservation groups, local businesses, and large railroad companies began a lobbying campaign in 1893. The bill passed in 1899 and Mount Rainier became the nation’s fifth national park.

Mount Rainier inspired Kristina Hagman to become a wood block artist, and her36 Views of Rainier is an homage to the great Japanese printmaker Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji, created between 1830 and 1835. Here Hagman depicts the light of the sun coloring the cloudbank as it rises behind Mt. Rainier. Hagman placed Mount Rainer in the center of her image honoring both the mountain and the magic of sunrise. Her colors lend the woodcut a quiet serenity which belies the fact that Mount Rainier is an active and dangerous volcano.