Carleton E. Watkins
The Bridal Veil Falls, 900 feet, Yosemite, California

Public Domain

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Artist Carleton E. Watkins(American, 1829–1916)American, 1829–1916

Printer Isaiah West Taber (American, 1830–1912)American, 1830–1912

CultureAmerican

Titles

The Bridal Veil Falls, 900 feet, Yosemite, California

Date1865–1866, printed 1880s

(not assigned)Yosemite, United States

MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative

DimensionsImage: 16 × 21 5/8 in. (40.6 × 54.9 cm)
Sheet: 16 × 21 5/8 in. (40.6 × 54.9 cm)
Mount: 22 × 28 1/4 in. (55.9 × 71.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mike and Mickey Marvins

Object number2015.645

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Marvins Family Collections

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionLike William Henry Jackson and Ansel Adams, Watkins is best known for his landscape photographs of the American West, particularly those of what became Yosemite National Park. In 1861 and on seven subsequent trips to Yosemite, Watkins brought a custom-made camera that was capable of exposing eighteen-by-twenty-two-inch glass plates. The arduous task of sensitizing and processing these unwieldy plates in the field was offset by the plates’ capacity to capture the vastness and grandeur of Yosemite in exceptional detail. These mammoth-scale prints, along with hundreds of stereo views that he made during each trip to Yosemite, were sent to the East Coast and helped influence the U.S. Congress to pass, and Abraham Lincoln to sign, legislation protecting Yosemite Valley in 1864. This later view of Bridal Veil Falls was taken from the valley floor looking up at the massive, sheer-faced Cathedral Rock and its delicate falls. Adams as well as Watkins made dozens of photographs of the falls, Cathedral Rock, and the valley beyond.
Provenance Research Ongoing Exhibition History“A Photographer’s Collection: Gifts from Michael and Michele Marvins,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 4–July 5, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Imprinted in negative, recto, lower left edge: 14. The Bridal Veil Falls, 900 feet, Yosemite, Cal.
Imprinted in negative, recto, lower right edge: Taber Photo, San Francisco.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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