Yosemite Falls
Photograph
ca. 1865 (photographed)
ca. 1865 (photographed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Carleton E. Watkins was the foremost American landscape photographer of his day. He is best remembered for his majestic images of the American West, which he took using a ‘mammoth-plate’ camera that held glass negatives the same size as this print. This photograph and others taken by Watkins helped persuade the United States Congress to make Yosemite Valley a national park.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Yosemite Falls (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Albumen print |
| Brief description | 'Yosemite Falls', photograph by Carleton E. Watkins, California, about 1865 |
| Physical description | Black and white photograph of Yosemite Falls seen at the distance through trees in the foreground. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Acquired by exchange with the Wilson Centre for Photography, London |
| Object history | Historical significance: When Watkins visited the Yosemite Valley he made thirty mammoth plate and one hundred stereograph views that were among the first photographs of Yosemite seen in the East. Partly on the strength of Watkins's photographs, President Abraham Lincoln signed the 1864 bill that declared the valley inviolable, thus paving the way for the National Parks system. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | Carleton E. Watkins was the foremost American landscape photographer of his day. He is best remembered for his majestic images of the American West, which he took using a ‘mammoth-plate’ camera that held glass negatives the same size as this print. This photograph and others taken by Watkins helped persuade the United States Congress to make Yosemite Valley a national park. |
| Associated object | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.3001-2004 |
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| Record created | May 26, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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