[First View of the Valley]

about 1866

Current Collection

Los Angeles, United States

Medium: Albumen silver print
Dimensions: 41.1 × 52.4 cm
Status: In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID: C24-691267

Carleton Watkins positioned his camera in what appears to be midair, capturing the breathtaking effect of the view of Yosemite Valley on first-time visitors. The wonder and amazement led one spectator to proclaim, ''I can tell you nothing of the beauty and grandeur of the scenery--I could not speak, my breath was gone . . . .It is truly the great work of God." Such a remark reveals that Watkins's photographs confirmed the sense of wonder celebrated in America's grand wilderness.

Provenance

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Registry history

about 1866 — Recorded in the collection of J. Paul Getty Museum — photographs

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Auction history

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