Cañon of Kanab Wash, Colorado River, Looking South
1872
Medium
Photography-Photoprint
Classification
Photography-Photoprint
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Accession Number
1994.91.9
Tags
About this artwork
From an awkward position under a massive overhang, William Bell maneuvered his large unwieldy camera to capture the dramatic play of light and shadow on the limestone wall of the opposite cliff. Bell made this photograph while working on Lieutenant George Wheelerâs Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. His photographs can often be distinguished from those of other survey photographers by the contrast between a strong dark element in the foreground and lighter tones that recede into ...