Lot 120
  • 120

Carleton E. Watkins 1829-1916

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
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Description

  • Carleton E. Watkins
  • 'yosemite falls from glacier point'
mammoth-plate albumen print, mounted, signed 'C. E. Watkins' and numbered 'no. 99' by the photographer in ink and titled by him in pencil on the mount, 1865-66 (Era of Exploration, pl. 17; Photographer of the American West, p. xiv, alternate croppings printed by Taber)

Provenance

Presumably, the Gardner Collection of Photographs, Harvard University

To the present owner, 1965-66

Condition

Grading this albumen print on a scale of 1 to 10 - a 10 being an albumen print with deep brown dark tones and highlights that retain all of their original detail - this print rates a 10. The few areas of dark tonality in the image, which are primarily confined to the shadows and dark foliage on the left - are a deep and intense brown/black. The highlights are a light cream color. The print is in excellent condition. When it is examined closely in raking light some faint surface soiling can be seen in the sky area, but this is inconsequential. The faint blurred streak that appears below the center of the image is likely due to an imperfection in the negative. The mount is lightly age-darkened and soiled.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The promontory known as Glacier Point rises 3,200 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley, and provides, in the direction from which this picture was made, a stunning view of both Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, and a large expanse of the Valley's north rim. 

In his article, 'Carleton E. Watkins in Yosemite Valley, 1861-66: Geological Theory and Photographic Practice' (cf. Lot 48), to which this entry is indebted, Paul Hickman posits that the famous name of Glacier Point came from Watkins himself.  As Hickman points out, Glacier Point appears on the mounts of Watkins photographs as early as 1865 and 1866, and no prior reference can be found--not in the works of early Yosemite chronicler J. M. Hutchings, on the mounts of the photographer Charles Leander Weed, in the maps or reports of geologist Clarence King, or in the letters of California State geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney and William Henry Brewer.  Indeed, the next reference to Glacier Point that Hickman locates is in Whitney's text for The Yosemite Book, published in New York in 1868. As Hickman notes, the use of the name Glacier Point soon became universal, appearing in successive guidebooks to the Valley published from the late 1860s through the 1870s. 

A number of Watkins scholars have demonstrated that Carleton Watkins was a highly informed photographer, keenly interested in the scientific developments of his day. Hickman points out that Watkins's knowledge of Clarence King, and King's theory of the glacial formation of Yosemite Valley, was likely what inspired the photographer to call the promontory Glacier Point--a point from which evidence of an ancient glacier and its movement through the valley could be seen.  Watkins's photographs in Yosemite, especially ones made from a high vantage point, offered support to King's theory, which, at that time, was in direct contradiction to those who favored a 'catastrophic event' formation of the Valley.  John Muir, as Hickman comments, also promoted a glacial history for Yosemite, but this was years after Watkins had named Glacier Point

Weston Naef and the Carleton Watkins Mammoth Plate Catalogue RaisonnĂ© Project locate 16 prints of this image, almost all in institutional collections, and further note that the image was included in a group of Watkins photographs at the 1867 Paris Exposition.