Oct 15, 2007 - Sale 2124

Sale 2124 - Lot 45

Price Realized: $ 12,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000
WATKINS, CARLETON E. (1829-1916)
"Golden Gate Entrance to Harbor of San Francisco." Mammoth-plate albumen print, 12 3/4x20 1/2 inches (32.4x52.1 cm.), with the title, photographer's name and numeric notations "281," in pencil, on the original mount recto, in an unknown hand. Circa 1868
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Additional Details

Carleton E. Watkins: Photographs 1861-1874, 64.


This photograph is also titled "The Golden Gate from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco."


The great American photographer Carleton Watkins lived in San Francisco from 1853 to 1906, when his studio was destroyed in the earthquake. His photographs show the quick growth of the city, which at that time was the largest in the American west, and the surrounding Bay Area.

In 1861, Watkins asked a cabinetmaker to build a camera large enough to create an 18x22-inch image (or "mammoth plate"), that could depict the vastness and scale of the western landscape. Watkins transported this large and heavy camera with its tripod, glass plates, and a portable darkroom to the heights of the city for the best vantage point.

In this panoramic view, a new coastal community is being constructed with hillside architectural townhouses, clipper ships in the distance and the sprawling development of a modern city. The only pictorial element missing is the Golden Gate Bridge.