Charles B. Betts
A Remarkably-Created Album Remembering a Camping and Fishing Trip in Oregon, 1900s
Photo album (30 leaves); silver prints illustrated with pencil, ink, and watercolor; illustration to both side of leaf
10 x 12 inches overall
With Betts's credit to album cover.
With Betts's credit to album cover.
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A remarkable and singular album commemorating a wilderness trip to the Oregon / Washington border in the early 20th-century. The album contains rich and beautiful scenes of fishing, hunting, logging,...
A remarkable and singular album commemorating a wilderness trip to the Oregon / Washington border in the early 20th-century. The album contains rich and beautiful scenes of fishing, hunting, logging, and camping as well as smartly-composed still-lives, landscape shots, portraits of the artist, his wife, and other “anglermaniacs” and more.
As well, the book is lovingly and profusely-illustrated with sketches of fishes, birds, rabbits, bears, and other wildlife; designs for backcountry shelters such as a “thatched bog ken”, and one for “the author’s proposed log cabin; sketches of the campers; and more. It is further embellished with writings including poems (both existing and original); short bits of thoughtful prose, such as “The Rejuvenation of a Fisherwoman,” composed by the artist’s wife; and other words of wisdom (“Don’t sneer at the Pickerel”).
Another incredible aspect of the album is that the photographs are not collaged onto the pages, but seamlessly printed on. On one page, for example, a drawing of a leaf hangs delicately over a circular still-life of fish and, further down, a photo captioned “venison for dinner” is partially-obscured by the body of an egret. Most amateur photo-artists would achieve such an effect by trimming the photos and pasting them onto the page but here, the drawings were rendered first, then the entire sheet was photo-sensitized and the images printed on it - a technique which requires an incredible amount of forethought and precision.
We have not found much information about the artist, Charles C. Betts. He was based in Oregon, listed in some records as a painter, and was a champion archer. A man of many talents!
As well, the book is lovingly and profusely-illustrated with sketches of fishes, birds, rabbits, bears, and other wildlife; designs for backcountry shelters such as a “thatched bog ken”, and one for “the author’s proposed log cabin; sketches of the campers; and more. It is further embellished with writings including poems (both existing and original); short bits of thoughtful prose, such as “The Rejuvenation of a Fisherwoman,” composed by the artist’s wife; and other words of wisdom (“Don’t sneer at the Pickerel”).
Another incredible aspect of the album is that the photographs are not collaged onto the pages, but seamlessly printed on. On one page, for example, a drawing of a leaf hangs delicately over a circular still-life of fish and, further down, a photo captioned “venison for dinner” is partially-obscured by the body of an egret. Most amateur photo-artists would achieve such an effect by trimming the photos and pasting them onto the page but here, the drawings were rendered first, then the entire sheet was photo-sensitized and the images printed on it - a technique which requires an incredible amount of forethought and precision.
We have not found much information about the artist, Charles C. Betts. He was based in Oregon, listed in some records as a painter, and was a champion archer. A man of many talents!