South Dome, 6,000 feet
ca. 1872, 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
1986.1189.32
Tags
Art Historical Context
**South Dome, 6,000 feet** (ca. 1872, printed ca. 187) captures the majestic scale of Yosemite's iconic granite monolith—known today as Half Dome—in a stunning albumen silver print from glass negative by pioneering photographer Carleton E. Watkins Taken during Watkins' expeditions into California's Sierra Nevada mountains, this image exemplifies his role as one of the first to document American West's wild beauty with unprecedented clarity and grandeur. Watkins, a master of large-format photography, hauled massive cameras and glass plates into remote wilderness to produce detailed views that ...
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 ...