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CARLETON WATKINS (American, 1829-1916) ARCH AT THE WEST END, FARALLONS vintage albumen print on orig

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
CARLETON WATKINS (American, 1829-1916) ARCH AT THE WEST END, FARALLONS vintage albumen print on orig
CARLETON WATKINS (American, 1829-1916) ARCH AT THE WEST END, FARALLONS vintage albumen print on original mount 161/4 x 211/2 in. (41.3 x 54.6 cm) mount: 2013/16 x 267/8 in. (52.9 x 68.3 cm) 1868 ESTIMATE: $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE Fraenkel Gallery, SAN FRANCISCO LITERATURE CARLETON WATKINS: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1861-1874, San Francisco, 1989 pl. 71 (illustrated) Douglas R. Nickel, CARLETON WATKINS: THE ART OF PERCEPTION, San Francisco, 1999 (see pp. 157-164, pls. 73-77 for illustrations of others in this series) Traditional pictorial and text descriptions of the recently explored natural wonders of the American West were mistrusted by the rest of the world. Photographers such as Watkins provided more concrete evidence with their mammoth plate views, but even they were often greeted with skepticism, if not disbelief. This photograph, intended as a kind of industrial record of the rookeries on the Farallon Islands near San Francisco, conveys the impression of another world. The long exposure time has rendered the crashing surf an eery mysterious haze. The men, presumably there to collect birds' eggs, appear to be surrounded by birds which are barely distinguishable from the outcroppings.