Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829-1916) Selected Yosemite landscape studies (5 works), 1861 Mammoth-plate albumen prints Each approximately 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm) (images/sheets) Each signed in ink, one with printed title, mount recto. Titles include: Sentinel View of the Valley, 3270 ft., 1861; Yosemite Fall, 2637 ft., 1861; Outline View of the Half Dome, 4967 ft., 1861; Camp Grove, near Sentinel, 1861; Piwac, Vernal Falls, 300 ft. Carleton Watkins (1829–1916) was the consummate photographer of the American West. Born in Oneonta, New York, he moved to California in 1849, taught himself the new medium of photography, and established his reputation in 1861 with an astonishing series of views of Yosemite Valley. It was partly due to the artistry and rugged beauty of these photographs that President Lincoln signed a bill on June 30, 1864, declaring the valley inviolate and initiating the blueprint for the nation's National Park System. In the middle of the brutal Civil War and its destruction of man and land, Lincoln saw the preservation of a small but extraordinary piece of America's wilderness as a progressive goal to share with the republic. Watkins was a virtuoso practitioner of the difficult wet-collodion process, and the remarkable clarity of his "mammoth" prints (18 by 22 inches) was unmatched. He rendered with exquisite finesse the vastness and grandeur of Yosemite's glacial valleys, dramatic waterfalls, massive rock faces, and majestic trees. Watkins produced this work wrangling a dozen or more mules carrying roughly two thousand pounds of equipment, including his oversize camera, large glass plates, and flammable chemicals. It is in itself a miracle that any photographs survived these travails. (The Metropolitan Museum, New York, Carleton Watkins, Yosemite, November 2014-February 2015.) This lot includes 5 images made by Watkins during his first visit to Yosemite in 1861 (he visited the region again in 1865 and 1866 working for the California State Geological Survey). HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

Each a warm toned print on semi-gloss paper, trimmed to edges and mounted on board (this signed in ink.) Each sold unmatted and unframed. Additional images are available on request. Sentinel View of the Valley, 3270 ft. Few minor and typical surface flaws - unobtrusive fading at edges; warming of highlights; oxidation in darker areas; minor scuffs and one or two minute specks of foxing(?), all visible under close inspection only. Mount brittle with some minor losses at edges. A wonderful image, with decent tonality, in good/very good condition overall. Yosemite Fall, 2637 ft. Minor typical surface issues; warming of highlights; oxidation in darker areas; tiny areas of retouching/soiling, all visible under closest inspection only. Mount brittle with some soiling and paper losses at edges. Good/very good tonality, in good/ very good condition overall. Outline View of the Half Dome, 4967 ft.: Minor surface issues -- scuffs, scratches, warming of highlights, oxidation; tiny areas of soiling etc. -- all visible under closest inspection. Mount brittle with some wear and paper loss at edges, particularly evident on the left side. Good brown-purple tonality, in good/very good condition overall. Camp Grove, near Sentinel Few very minor and typical surface concerns -- warming of highlights; oxidation in darker areas; tiny areas of retouching (lower right corner), all visible under closest inspection only. Mount brittle with substantial tears (top left and bottom edges) and minor paper losses at edge. Good/very good tonality, in good/ very condition overall. Piwac, Vernal Fall, 300 ft.: Substantial crack lower right to center image with emulsion loss; hairline fissure top right edge; other typical surface flaws -- scuffs, stains, scratches; warming of highlights, oxidation in darker areas; minor fading -- all visible under inspection. The mount is the most brittle of the group substantial paper losses and repaired tears (using tape verso.) A wonderful image with generally decent tonality but because of the mount losses can be considered only in moderately good condition overall. Each mount measures approximately 21 x 25 inches or the reverse.