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Lot Essay
Carleton Watkins' 1860s photographs of Yosemite established his legacy as one of the most important and intrepid nineteenth century American landscape photographers. With Yosemite as a magnificent backdrop, he created harmonious compositions in which the monumental landscape forms create stunning structure and balance.
Watkins' acute formal aesthetic and advanced technical prowess; using the largest and most difficult of all cameras, the mammoth plate camera, established his international reputation and influenced the U.S. government's decision to proclaim Yosemite a National Park in 1890. Watkins also served as an important reference for a number of subsequent Yosemite photographers, notably his contemporary, Eadweard Muybridge and, later, Ansel Adams, who photographed many of the same magnificent vistas.
Watkins' acute formal aesthetic and advanced technical prowess; using the largest and most difficult of all cameras, the mammoth plate camera, established his international reputation and influenced the U.S. government's decision to proclaim Yosemite a National Park in 1890. Watkins also served as an important reference for a number of subsequent Yosemite photographers, notably his contemporary, Eadweard Muybridge and, later, Ansel Adams, who photographed many of the same magnificent vistas.