Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829-1916)
"Washington Column, 2082 ft., Yosemite" Mirror view, 1865-1866
Mammoth plate albumen print
52.8 x 41.0 cm
Carleton Watkins (1829-1916) created an unparalleled visual legacy of the American West. His Yosemite photographs represent the largest group of photographs he made. He photographed in Yosemite Valley over a period of 30 years. This stunning mammoth plate print of the Washington Column was made under the auspices of the California State Geological Survey. The view looks northeast along the Merced River from a position near present day Ahwahnee Bridge. The reflection is of the Royal Arches.
Unknown British Photographer
British crowd viewing posters, 1856-1857
Salt print
19.5 x 13.5 cm, top corners rounded
Victorians were clearly fascinated by the proliferation of printed posters and playbills which began to appear on walls and hoardings of large buildings. Builders were legally required to erect temporary wooden hoardings, or fences, around construction sites which quickly became prime real estate for commercial bill-stickers, the people who posted bills or advertisements for passersby to see. The job was popular and lucrative because the ads were successful. The bill-sticker could be self-employed and no particular expertise was required. It did help if one could read so that the placards weren’t hung upside down.
The poster “Essay / Stereoscope / Sir David Brewster" is dated 1856. This was an Award of Sir David Brewster....who presented this Prize Essay on the Stereoscope to Mr William Lonie at St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews, January 5th, 1856.
“Bennett’s / 3 Guinea / Workman’s / Watch” began to appear around November 1856.
Advertisements such as “No Home / Without a Stereoscope” started in the UK press in 1857.
The appeal to “Englishmen!...Is Disraeli the Man?...” relates directly to the General Election of 1857, which circulated a patriotic address when Palmerston dissolved Parliament on 14 March.
The announcement for the Tom Thumb event would be 1857.
William Bell
"Perched Rock, Rocker Creek, Arizona," 1872
Albumen print
28.3 x 20.4 cm
A Civil War veteran of the Union Army who had fought at Antietam and Gettysburg, Bell was appointed chief photographer of the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. He set up a studio in Philadelphia and in 1872 was commissioned by Lieutenant George Wheeler, engineer of the fourth United States Geological Survey, to photograph an expedition into Arizona. Bell's experience as an expedition photographer resulted in later commissions for the Pennsylvania railroad and, further afield, an expedition to Patagonia.
Unknown Photographer
Monkey flying a kite, Connecticut coast, circa 1890
Toned silver print
7.8 x 11.8 cm mounted on 11.8 x 14.3 cm card with embossed decorative border
Willliam Henry Mills (American, born in England, 1835-1908)
Flint & Co. Emporium, Providence, RI, circa 1880
Albumen print
26.5 x 33.3 cm
In the 1850 U.S. census, William Henry Mills was listed as a resident of Providence, Rhode Island. The 1884 Providence City Directory records both he and his son, Thomas, as photographers. Print ads read “Wm. Mills & Son, the Leading View and Portrait Photographers.”
In this animated promotional photograph the proprietors and members of staff are shown posed on the sidewalk, balcony and popping out of the windows.
Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829-1916)
"City of San Francisco" View from the residence of Bishop Kip, Rincon Hill, 1864-1865
Albumen print
40.5 x 52.0 cm
Bishop Kip arrived in California as an Episopal missionary in 1854 and became the rector of Trinity Church (today Grace Cathedral). He laid the cornerstone for the building at Stockton and California Streets in 1854; it was consecrated in 1862. Future clients of Watkins workshipped there including Crocker, Stanford, Haggin, Hearst and Bancroft.
Arnold Genthe (American, born in Germany, 1869-1942)
"San Francisco" Fire, 18 April 1906
Gelatin silver print
20.2 x 34.0 cm
Arnold Genthe came to San Francisco from Germany in 1896. A failed draughtsman, Genthe acquired a camera and began photographing the streets of San Francisco. Genthe documented the rubble and the fires caused by the earthquakes that had consumed San Francisco in April of 1906. Genthe's images of the destruction are an extraordinary document of the country's first major 20th century urban disaster. This print is a striking example of Genthe's skill as a photojournalist, fusing his Pictorialist style with a resolute, documentary approach.
Unknown American Photographer
Guitar, piano, fiddle, flute and oboe, 1850s
Hand tinted, sixth plate daguerreotype, cased
As most daguerreotypes were portraits, a still-life made using this process is unusual.
Unknown American Photographer
Gentleman in a sulky with his dog, 1850s
Half plate daguerreotype, cased
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851) announced his daguerreotype process in 1839. Over the next decade, most daguerreotypes were portraits, as the complex procedures were best carried out under the controlled conditions of the studio. By 1850 America had become a formidable world power and as daguerreotypes captured the American way of life. Rural, urban and industrial scenes began to be featured, such as this 1850s half-plate of a Gentleman in a sulky with his dog. It’s worth noting that both horse and dog remained motionless during the making of the image.
Timothy Henry O'Sullivan (American, 1840–1882)
"Cañon de Chelle," 1873
Albumen print
20.3 x 27.7 cm
O'Sullivan was the first of the great postwar expeditionary photographers, his photographs included with official reports and issued in portfolios. He worked with two surveys administered by the Department of War: the King Survey (1867-1869 and 1872) and the Wheeler Survey (1871 and 1873-1874). The Wheeler Survey was organized to explore the vast region between Colorado and California. Its mandate was to map the region and collect information of benefit to travelers, miners, and farmers. In 1873, O'Sullivan photographed in Arizona and New Mexico, producing some of his most renowned views of Navajo life and of the "Cañon de Chelle." His view of the canyon's ancient cliff dwellings highlights O'Sullivan's compositional skills.
John Moran (American, born in England, 1831-1902)
"Darien Expedition, Tropical Scenery, The Terminus of the proposed Canal," 1871
Albumen print
20.0 x 28.2 cm
The “Darien Expedition” was a U.S. Naval expedition to the Isthmus of Darien in Panama led by Commander Thomas Oliver Selfridge. The purpose was to ascertain a canal route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at this location. Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) was hired to photograph the first expedition in 1870. John Moran was the official photographer for the second in 1871.
A prominent landscape and architectural photographer, Moran was an early advocate of photography as fine art. The painters Edward and Thomas Moran were his brothers. The 20 February 1902 New York Times obituary describes John Moran as “one of the pioneer photographers of this country.”
John Moran (American, born in England, 1831-1902)
"Darien Expedition, Tropical Scenery, Darien Harbor, Looking North," 1871
Albumen print from a glass negative with cliché-verre enhancements
20.3 x 27.5 cm
The “Darien Expedition” was a U.S. Naval expedition to the Isthmus of Darien in Panama led by Commander Thomas Oliver Selfridge. Its purpose was to ascertain a canal route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at this location. Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) was hired to photograph the first expedition in 1870. John Moran was the official photographer for the second in 1871.
A prominent landscape and architectural photographer, Moran was an early advocate of photography as fine art. The painters Edward and Thomas Moran were his brothers. It is highly unusual in a photograph to see the hand-drawn cliché-verre process included. It is an enticing speculation that one of his brothers applied the foliage enhancements to this negative.
The 20 February 1902 New York Times obituary describes John Moran as “one of the pioneer photographers of this country.”
William Henry Jackson (American, 1843-1942)
"Shoshone Falls," along the Snake River, Twin Falls, Idaho, circa 1880
Double mammoth plate albumen print
51.0 x 76.8 cm
William Henry Jackson was the official photographer for the Hayden Survey from 1870 to 1878, accompanying Hayden's team through Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The Hayden Survey became best known for its study of Yellowstone, and it was in Yellowstone that Jackson produced what were to become iconic views of the region. When the Hayden Survey disbanded in 1879, Jackson continued to produce photographs privately. In the course of his Survey work, Jackson came to know Denver, then a boom city on the edge of a vast scenic region. Jackson was to build up a large and profitable commercial practice in Denver, traveling to make views both on his own initiative and as commissions for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Jackson's photographs of the 1880s are extraordinarily accomplished and scenic in nature. Before long, Jackson became best known for his large-format western views, such as "Shoshone Falls," for tourists and wealthy collectors.