Multnomah Falls, Oregon

Carleton E. Watkins

1867, printed later · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

Watkins's uncommon technical virtuosity and artistic talent won praise at home and an award at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. That year, he opened the storefront Yosemite Art Gallery to sell his prints in San Francisco, and he also made new pictures, the most glorious of his career, in Oregon and along the Columbia River. He made two views at Multnomah Falls: one describes the falls as a sheer straight plunge of uninterrupted verticality; this one uses the distance between upper and lower falls to play hide-and seek with the towering trees, cascading water, and hidden pool.

Artist

Carleton E. Watkins

Date

1867, printed later

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005