id: 154278 accession number: 1988.87 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.87 updated: 2024-03-26 02:00:04.040000 Davoncastle Butte, Sierra Nevada, c. 1866–1870. Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829–1916). Albumen print from wet collodion negative; image: 40.5 x 54.8 cm (15 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.); matted: 55.9 x 71.1 cm (22 x 28 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1988.87 title: Davoncastle Butte, Sierra Nevada title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1866–1870 creation date earliest: 1861 creation date latest: 1875 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: America, 19th century technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative department: Photography collection: Photography type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829–1916) - artist Carleton E. Watkins American, 1829-1916 Born in Oneonta, New York, Carleton Watkins traveled west to California in the early 1850s, shortly after the gold rush. He learned photography in 1854 from Robert Vance, one of the earliest and best of San Francisco's daguerreotypists. Vance's landscape photography, unusually skilled for the time, may have influenced Watkins's work. Watkins was among the first photographers in the Yosemite valley, shooting there in 1861, and his mammoth-plate landscape photographs of the area are believed to have contributed to Yosemite's early designation as a national park. His Yosemite Art Gallery opened in San Francisco in 1867, but unlike most photographers of the time, Watkins is not known to have done much portrait work. His subjects included topographical, scenic, survey, agricultural, and urban views of California and surrounding states, including Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Through his friendship with railroad magnate Collis Huntington, Watkins photographed along railway lines and was able to reach distant sites. Huntington later bought him the farm where he retired. Watkins's landscapes were well received; he was awarded an international medal at the Paris Exposition (1867) and a medal of progress at the Vienna International Exposition (1873). The numerous commissions and the work produced for the public market by Watkins combine clarity of vision with technical expertise. His work set the standard for subsequent photographers of western views, such as William Henry Jackson, Timothy O'Sullivan, and John K. Hillers. Although his life was difficult and his business sense lacking, his photographic efforts were protracted and indefatigable. Watkins's negatives were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. He died several years later blind and insane. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 40.5 x 54.8 cm (15 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 71.1 cm (22 x 28 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: "CEN1900"; "9 [circled]" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection opening date: 2000-08-12T00:00:00 Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 12, 2000-January 3, 2001). title: BIG: Photographs from the Collection opening date: 2016-06-04T04:00:00 BIG: Photographs from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 12-October 9, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 369 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.87/1988.87_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.87/1988.87_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.87/1988.87_full.tif