- San Francisco Fire, April 18, 1906, 9 a.m.
Sheet: 7 9/16 × 13 1/8 in. (19.2 × 33.3 cm)
Mount: 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm)
Explore Further
Spectators watched in horror as fires ripped through San
Francisco over several days in 1906, leaving most of the city in ruin. One
victim of the devastating fires, which resulted from a massive earthquake that
shook Northern California early on the morning of April 18th, was Arnold
Genthe’s portrait studio. Nevertheless, the photographer was on hand with a 3A Kodak
to capture the impact of the natural disaster as it unfolded. This view down
Sacramento Street toward the billowing smoke preserved the same first-hand view
of history that onlookers witnessed that day. Fortunately, many of Genthe’s
photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown were stored in a bank vault and
survived the fire.
Provenance[David Mancini Gallery, Houston]; purchased by MFAH, 1982.
Exhibition HistoryExhibited "Evocative Presence: Twentieth Century Photographs in the Museum Collection", The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston February 27 - May 1, 1988
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
bottom left 193-1976-14 "
bottom center ' San Francisco / April 18th 1906 9A.M. "
bottom right " $ 1,500 "
bottom center a printed label " From / ARNOLD GENTHE / 41 East 49th Street / New York "
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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