Biografie von Carleton Eugene WATKINS (1829-1916)

Birth place: Oneonta, NY

Addresses: San Francisco, CA, from c. 1850

Profession: Landscape photographer

Studied: with daguerreotypist Robert Vance, California

Exhibited: Era of Exploration" Exh., MMA, 1975"

Work: MMA; Amon Carter Mus.; Boston Pub. Lib.; IMP LOC; Univ. New Mexico; NYPL; Oakland MA; Stanford; UCLA

Comments: One of the most important of the early Western landscape photographers, he is best known for his "mammoth-plate" views of Yosemite, 1861-70s and Oregon coast, c.1868. He also made huge photos in Hawaii in 1861. He also made stereoviews, which are rare. About 60 of his 115 large landscape views are known. Most of his work was lost in the San Francisco fire, 1906. Many of his negatives were later printed by I.W. Taber. Publications: Yo-Semite Valley.

Sources: WW*; Carleton E. Watkins: Pioneer Photographer, intro. by Richard Rudigill (1978); Forbes, Encounters with Paradise, 94; Witkin & London, 265; Baigell, Dictionary