Looking South into the Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Sheavwitz
Medium
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions
image: 27.5 × 20.3 cm · matted: 61 × 50.8 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
2002.48
Tags
About this artwork
From 1871 to 1873, General George M. Wheeler led the government-sponsored survey of lands west of the 100th meridian. Philadelphian William Bell served as the new staff photographer for the expedition into Arizona. Bell used dry plates of his own manufacture instead of the popular wet collodion process, thus freeing himself from the necessity of having a darkroom nearby whenever he wanted to expose a negative. The photographer's style was to create dramatic compositions emphasizing verticality. ...