- Willamette Falls, Oregon City
Sheet: 15 13/16 × 20 5/8 in. (40.2 × 52.4 cm)
Mount: 21 5/8 × 27 in. (54.9 × 68.6 cm)
Explore Further
Carleton Watkins’s mammoth photographs of Yosemite and other
sites in the American West are among the most masterful and influential examples
of 19th-century landscape photography. Since glass negatives had to be coated,
exposed, and processed onsite, producing such photographs was an arduous task,
requiring an enormous camera, tripods, spare lenses, a darktent, 18 x 22-inch
glass plates, chemicals, and processing trays.
This view of Willamette Falls shows steamboats, mills,
landings, railroads, and residences clustered where rapids interrupted river
navigation. Such pictures were not condemnations of man’s intrusion upon
nature, but rather expressions of civilization’s ability to harness the vast
resources of a bountiful region and to live in harmony with nature.
ProvenanceUnidentified individual; purchased by [Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco]; purchased by Brian Little, New York /Montecito, California; by inheritance to Mrs. Brian Little, New York / Montecito, California; [Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco]; purchased by MFAH, 2017.
Exhibition History"Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 28–September 07, 1999; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 5, 1999–January 9, 2000; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., February 20–May 7, 2000.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Printed on applied label verso, upper center of frame backing board: Fraenkel Gallery // 49 GEARY STREET SAN FRANCISCO 94108 // CARLETON E. WATKINS // Willamette Falls, Oregon City [underlined] // 1867 // mammoth-plate albumen print on original mount // 15-3/4 x 20-5/8 inches (image & sheet) // [40.0 x 52.4 cm] // 21-5/8 x 27 inches (mount) // [54.9 x 68.6 cm] // Exhibited: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Carleton // Watkins: The Art of Perception, [italicized] // and traveling exhibition to the Metropolitan Museum, NY // and the National Gallery of Art, // Washington, DC, 1999-2000 // calligraphic title recto on mount in ink // from the album Photographs of the // Columbia River and Oregon [italicized] // [CEW.0483.YR]
Printed on applied label verso, lower left corner: TRU VUE OPTIUM 99% // ALTHOUGH PLEXI PRODUCT, USE // NON-AMMONIA GLASS CLEANER // SPOT DESIGN
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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