Oakland, from Military Academy
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
1986.1189.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
Carleton E. Watkins a pioneering 19th-century photographer renowned for his sweeping landscapes of the American West, captured *Oakland, from Military Academy* 1864. Thisen silver print, made from a glass negative around 1876, offers a panoramic vista of Oakland California, as seen from the vantage point of the Oakland Military Academy. At the time, Oakland was a burgeoning port city in the San Francisco Bay Area, fueled by the Gold Rush aftermath and Civil War-era growth, with ferries linking it to the bustling metropolis across the bay. Watkins's image exemplifies the technical marvels of w...
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 ...