Carleton Watkins 1829-1916
Royal Arches, Yosemite, 1865-66
Albumen print on a carte-de-visite mount
2 3/8 x 4 inches overall
With a manuscript title verso.
Watkins No. 1029
With a manuscript title verso.
Watkins No. 1029
Sold
This group of photographs represents a lesser-seen aspect of Carleton Watkins' output: the carte-de-visite. These are among the earliest published views from his 1865–66 trip to the Yosemite Valley. His...
This group of photographs represents a lesser-seen aspect of Carleton Watkins' output: the carte-de-visite. These are among the earliest published views from his 1865–66 trip to the Yosemite Valley. His prior expedition, in 1861, produced 100 stereoviews and 30 mammoth plates—images that captured the very essence of the landscape and were a catalyst in Lincoln's 1864 designation of Yosemite as a protected reserve.
Each print bears a letterpress imprint of the "Bank of California, San Francisco"—one on the verso, while the rest evidence the impression beneath the mounted albumen print. The presence of this credit speaks to the close institutional relationship Watkins maintained with the bank and its founders—the very same institution that collapsed in 1875, resulting in the catastrophic loss of his studio and early negatives. Prior to the financial crisis Watkins was deeply engaged with the circle of bankers, wealthy businessmen, and California's elite, whose commissions and collections formed a significant part of his working income. In light of the printed credits, uncommon format, and exceptional condition, we believe these prints were produced as part of a private album commission for a collector who preferred the intimate viewing experience over the spectacle of the stereoview and the portability over the size of a mammoth plate.
Each of these prints is derived from a stereoview negative. Watkins, who often photographed the same scene in multiple formats, fitted his stereo camera with an oversized negative. This afforded him the flexibility to produce alternatively cropped stereoviews, and could yield landscape-format prints slightly larger than half of a stereo. That said, his early landscape CDVs of Yosemite are almost nonexistent with the vast majority of his CDV output dating to the latter part of his career: mostly portraits taken in his San Francisco studio.
In contrast to Watkins' awe-inspiring mammoth plates, designed to evoke the sheer scale of the American West, these small photographs invite a different kind of looking. Held in the hand or slipped into an album, they
offer the same landscape at human scale: private and jewel-like. They are a testament to Watkins' sheer understanding of the medium and the way in which format can change a viewer's experience and the language of the photograph.
Each print bears a letterpress imprint of the "Bank of California, San Francisco"—one on the verso, while the rest evidence the impression beneath the mounted albumen print. The presence of this credit speaks to the close institutional relationship Watkins maintained with the bank and its founders—the very same institution that collapsed in 1875, resulting in the catastrophic loss of his studio and early negatives. Prior to the financial crisis Watkins was deeply engaged with the circle of bankers, wealthy businessmen, and California's elite, whose commissions and collections formed a significant part of his working income. In light of the printed credits, uncommon format, and exceptional condition, we believe these prints were produced as part of a private album commission for a collector who preferred the intimate viewing experience over the spectacle of the stereoview and the portability over the size of a mammoth plate.
Each of these prints is derived from a stereoview negative. Watkins, who often photographed the same scene in multiple formats, fitted his stereo camera with an oversized negative. This afforded him the flexibility to produce alternatively cropped stereoviews, and could yield landscape-format prints slightly larger than half of a stereo. That said, his early landscape CDVs of Yosemite are almost nonexistent with the vast majority of his CDV output dating to the latter part of his career: mostly portraits taken in his San Francisco studio.
In contrast to Watkins' awe-inspiring mammoth plates, designed to evoke the sheer scale of the American West, these small photographs invite a different kind of looking. Held in the hand or slipped into an album, they
offer the same landscape at human scale: private and jewel-like. They are a testament to Watkins' sheer understanding of the medium and the way in which format can change a viewer's experience and the language of the photograph.