{"id":1144,"date":"2016-03-08T09:19:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T14:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2016-03-08T09:19:57","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T14:19:57","slug":"james-niehues-passes-the-torch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/03\/james-niehues-passes-the-torch\/","title":{"rendered":"James Niehues Passes the Torch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"niehues-sugarloaf\"<\/a>
James Niehues, Sugarloaf, Maine<\/cite>, 2000.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Aspen Daily News<\/em> has a profile<\/a> of map artist James Niehues<\/a>, who’s painted hundreds of different aerial views of ski resorts and recreational areas since the late 1980s. (If you’ve seen a poster of your local ski resort, odds are Niehues was the one who\u00a0painted it. He sells prints of them<\/a>, too.) \u00a0The article\u00a0names\u00a0Niehues as heir to an artistic tradition of alpine cartographic art whose practitioners included Hal Shelton and Bill Brown.<\/p>\n

Without knowing it, Niehues had become heir to an American artistic dynasty. Shelton was trained as [a] U.S. Geological Survey cartographer and produced a large number of famous trail maps in the 1960s and 1970s. In the \u201970s, Shelton passed the torch to Brown, and by 1988, Brown was ready to pass the torch off to someone else.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, though, it seemed that the storied line of American mountain illustrators would end with Niehues. His maps, many of which had faithfully represented ski trails for decades, began to be replaced by digitally rendered pieces whose production values placed speed above quality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But there’s a twist: one of the digital illustrators, Rad Smith, ended looking to Niehues for inspiration and mentorship. Demand for painted maps turns out to be more resilient; Niehues, who I believe is in his late sixties and has described himself as semi-retired,\u00a0may have someone to pass the torch to after all. It’s a fascinating read. [via<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Previously: James Niehues\u2019s Ski Resort Maps<\/a>; James Niehues Profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Aspen Daily News has a profile of map artist James Niehues, who’s painted hundreds of different aerial views of ski resorts and recreational areas since the late 1980s. (If you’ve seen a poster of your… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,342],"tags":[345,343,346,344,347],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-art","category-sport-recreation","tag-alpine","tag-niehues","tag-painting","tag-ski-resorts","tag-trail-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1786817,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/12\/crowdfunding-a-book-of-james-niehuess-ski-resort-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":0},"title":"Crowdfunding a Book of James Niehues’s Ski Resort Art","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 December 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"We've talked about James Niehues before: the legendary artist has painted hundreds of maps of ski resorts and recreational areas since the late 1980s. I was excited to learn that he's producing a coffee table book that includes all of his maps. It's being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Pledging $75 or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/niehues-big-sky-1024x507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/niehues-big-sky-1024x507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/niehues-big-sky-1024x507.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/niehues-big-sky-1024x507.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6201,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/a-video-profile-of-james-niehues-ski-resort-map-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":1},"title":"A Video Profile of James Niehues, Ski Resort Map Artist","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 November 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Umy6lyjDDdg Earlier this year\u00a0Great Big Story did a short video piece about legendary ski resort map artist James Niehues, whom I've blogged about here on several previous occasions. Though this 2\u00bd-minute video is obviously less in-depth than, say, the Aspen Daily News\u2019s profile of him from last year, I don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Umy6lyjDDdg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1788354,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/james-niehues-creates-an-amtrak-network-map-full-of-ski-hills\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":2},"title":"James Niehues Creates an Amtrak Network Map Full of Ski Hills","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 February 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"James Niehues is legendary for his pictorial maps of ski resorts\u2014a collection of them was published last year\u2014so it\u2019s no surprise that when Amtrak approached him to create a route map for their on-train magazine, The National, he remained true to his particular idiom, \u201ctaking a few liberties to highlight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/niehues-amtrak-1024x640.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/niehues-amtrak-1024x640.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/niehues-amtrak-1024x640.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/niehues-amtrak-1024x640.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791835,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/niehues-moves-on-from-ski-resort-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":3},"title":"Niehues Moves On from Ski Resort Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Legendary ski resort map artist James Niehues has announced on his blog and on Twitter that he will be \u201cstepping away from creating ski resort trail maps\u201d after more than three decades. He plans to work on other projects, including the American Landscape Project, and will, for the first time,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"James Niehues","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/niehues-steps-away-1024x567.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/niehues-steps-away-1024x567.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/niehues-steps-away-1024x567.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/niehues-steps-away-1024x567.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787917,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/book-of-niehues-ski-resort-art-now-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":4},"title":"Book of Niehues Ski Resort Art Now Available","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 October 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"The Man Behind the Map, the coffee table book of Jim Niehues\u2019s ski resort maps whose crowdfunding campaign I told you about last year, is now available for sale. The book is nearly 300 pages long, contains more than 200 ski resort maps, and costs $90. That seems high, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Man Behind the Maps (cover)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/niehues-cover-300x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1789995,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/01\/atlas-obscura-interviews-james-niehues\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":5},"title":"Atlas Obscura Interviews James Niehues","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 January 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"In an interview with Atlas Obscura\u2019s Max Ufberg, legendary ski resort map artist James Niehues (no stranger to us here at The Map Room: previously) discusses some of the challenges involved in creating his paintings. For example: What\u2019s the most challenging aspect of the work? Showing all the trails in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}