[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-732768.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 (60)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Carleton E. Watkins, pioneering American photographer, captured the majestic beauty of Yosemite National Park in circa 1878 albumen silver print Titled *[Yosemite National Park,]*, the circular image—measuring just 12. x 12.5 cm—showcases the park's towering mountains and dramatic landscapes, evoking the sublime wilderness that captivated 19th-century viewers. Watkins' work from the Yosemite Valley helped popularize the area, influencing President Lincoln's signing of the Yosemite Grant Act in 1864, which protected it as the nation's first federally managed wilderness area. Rendered as an alb...
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 ...