[Yosemite National Park, California]
ca. 1878
![[Yosemite National Park, California] by Carleton E. Watkins](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/yosemite-national-park-california-732767.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular Album page: 24 x 25.1 cm (9 7/16 x 9 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.556 (61)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Carleton E. Watkins, pioneering 19th-century photographer, captured the majestic beauty of Yosemite National Park in this circa 1878 albumen silver. Titled *[Yosemite National Park,]*, the image presents a circular vista blending sweeping landscapes with subtle human presence—likely homesteads or structures nestled amid the valley's dramatic cliffs and forests. Watkins' work in Yosemite during the 1860s and 1870s played a crucial role in raising public awareness, helping advocate for the area's preservation as a federal grant in 1864 and later a national park in 1890. Printed from a glass neg...
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 ...