North Side of California Street
1864, printed ca. 1876
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Carole and Irwin Lainoff, Ruth P. Lasser and Joseph R. Lasser, Mr. and Mrs. John T. Marvin, Martin E. and Joan Messinger, Richard L. Yett and Sheri and Paul Siegel, 1986
Accession Number
1986.1189.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling heart of 1860s San Francisco with Carleton E. Watkins's *North Side of California Street* (1864, printed ca. 1876). This albumen silver print from a glass negative captures the north side of one of the city's key thoroughfares during a time of explosive growth following the Gold Rush. Watkins, a pioneering photographer of the American West, masterfully documented the rapid urbanization of California, turning his lens on both majestic landscapes and evolving cityscapes like this one. The albumen process, popular in the mid-19th century, produced richly toned images with ...
About the Artist
Carleton E. Watkins · 1829–1916
Carleton E. Watkins (1829–1916), one of America's pioneering landscape photographers, was born on November 11, 1829, in Oneonta, New York, the eldest of eight children to carpenter John Watkins and innkeeper Julia. Drawn by the Gold Rush, he arrived in San Francisco in 1851 at age 22 alongside childhood friend Collis Huntington, who later became a railroad tycoon. Initially working as a carpenter ...