Outline View of the Half Dome, 4967 Feet
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 20 1/16 × 16 5/16 in. (51 × 41.5 cm) Mount: 21 1/4 × 26 3/8 in. (54 × 67 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.1265
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the majestic *Outline View of the Half Dome, 4967 Feet*, a stunning 1861 albumen silver print by pioneering photographer Carleton E. Watkins. Capturing the iconic granite monolith of Yosemite Valley from a dramatic vantage point, this image reveals the sheer scale and rugged beauty of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Measuring over 20 by 16 inches, the print's crisp details—rendered from a large glass negative—transport viewers to the untamed wilderness of California, where Half Dome rises dramatically to its precise measured height. Watkins, a master of 19th-century landscape photography,...
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 ...