Nov 21 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2687 -
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Sale 2687 - Lot 231

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(WEST--ARIZONA.) Pair of photographs of Thomas Moran at the Grand Canyon, one of them signed. Silver prints, each about 4½ x 6½ inches, on original plain mounts, captioned in mount, one signed "TMoran"; very light mat toning, mount remnants on left edge of sketching photo, one with original mounting instructions in pencil on verso. [Arizona, 1901]
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Additional Details

These photographs were taken circa June 1901, during a tour of the Grand Canyon arranged for several prominent artists by Century Magazine and the Santa Fe Railway. The first photograph shows a guide named John Howell with Thomas Moran (1837-1926), a New York artist who was already by then virtually synonymous with the Grand Canyon. He is here accompanied by two other well-known artists, George H. McCord (1848-1909) and George Inness Jr. (1854-1926), both making their first trips to the canyon. This photograph is signed by Moran in the mount, with the other men identified in manuscript. The other photograph is a well-known pose with Moran sketching at the canyon, accompanied by two young women usually described as his daughters. However, only his daughter Ruth Moran accompanied the expedition. It is captioned "Thomas Moran," apparently not in his hand. This image was later engraved for a Santa Fe Railway advertisement published in the Fine Arts Journal, January 1909.

These photographs are uncredited. The Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, NM holds a copy of Moran and his daughters which it attributes to William H. Simpson, who was the railroad's promotional agent on the tour. See Kinsey, "The Majesty of the Grand Canyon: 150 Years in Art," pages 28-29; and an article in the Coconino Sun of Flagstaff, AZ, 1 June 1901.

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