Entrance to Natural Bridge, No. 16 from the series "Imperial Gems"
1875/99
Medium
Albumen print, stereo
Dimensions
Each image: 10.2 × 7.3 cm (4 1/16 × 2 7/8 in.); Card: 11 × 17.8 cm (4 3/8 × 7 1/16 in.)
Classification
photography
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
199703
Art Historical Context
H.D. Udall’s “Entrance to Natural Bridge, No. 16” from the series “Imperial Gems” captures a celebrated geological wonder through the popular format of a stereoscopic albumen print. Created between 1875 and 1899, the paired photographs on their distinctive card mount were designed to be viewed in a stereoscope, producing a striking three-dimensional effect that brought distant landscapes into intimate focus for nineteenth-century audiences. Albumen prints, made with egg-white emulsions on paper, offered the sharp detail and tonal range that made stereo views a commercial and educational pheno...