American portrait and landscape photographer, pioneer of color photography and engraver. He was a brother of the painter Albert Bierstadt, and made a number of engravings of his brother's work. He opened his own studio in New York City in 1860. He also held an 1876 patent for an improvement to the Stereoscope Viewer, used for the extensive body of stereographs created by the Bierstadt brothers.

He was hired by William West Durant to take a series of photos for an advertising brochure entitled The Adirondacks, Artotype Views Among the Mountains and Lakes of the North Woods to publicize Blue Mountain Lake and Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks.

Bierstadt was also a pioneer of color photography. He exhibited color photographic prints at American Institute in New York City in 1877. His color photographs gained attention in the 1890s when he exhibited prints of oil and watercolor paintings, portraits from life, floral studies, and other subjects. Bierstadt has the earliest known claim for a color portrait photograph, a now lost picture of a woman said to have been made in July 1890. The only surviving color portrait made by Bierstadt is that of his brother, Albert Bierstadt, made in 1895 or earlier.

Much of his work is simply signed "E. Bierstadt NYC."

Name: Edward Bierstadt
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 15 Jun 1906
Event Place: Manhattan, New York, New York, United States
Address: 205 W 85 St
Gender: Male
Age: 81
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Occupation: printer
Birth Year (Estimated): 1825
Birthplace: Solingen, Prussia
Burial Date: 18 Jun 1906
Cemetery: Woodlawn
Father's Name: Henry Bierstadt
Father's Birthplace: Prussia
Mother's Name: Christina Titman
Mother's Birthplace: Prussia

Reference ID: cn 19276
GS Film Number: 1323121

Citing this Record
"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:271S-753 : 10 February 2018), Christina Titman in entry for Edward Bierstadt, 15 Jun 1906; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,323,121.

Name: Edward Bierstadt
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 14 Mar 1850
Event Place: Massachusetts, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Birth Year (Estimated): 1825
Father's Name: Henry Bierstadt
Spouse's Name: Adeline Rex
Spouse's Gender: Female
Spouse's Age: 22
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated): 1828
Spouse's Father's Name: Hale

Reference ID: p 619
GS Film Number: 001432876
Digital Folder Number: 004279731
Image Number: 00050

Citing this Record
"Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4Z1-1LJ : 24 May 2018), Hale in entry for Edward Bierstadt and Adeline Rex, 14 Mar 1850; citing Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 1,432,876.