WATKINS CARLETON E (1829 1916) The Devils Canyon Geysers

Sale 2124 - Lot 46

Price Realized: $ 22,800

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000

WATKINS, CARLETON E. (1829-1916)
"The Devil's Canyon Geysers." Mammoth-plate albumen print, 15 1/2x20 1/2 inches (39.3x52.07 cm.), on the original mount with a penciled caption. Circa 1869

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Additional Details

Carleton E. Watkins, Photographer of the American West, pl. 39.

A description of this highly detailed mammoth plate, a print of which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, indicates the location was a "favored resort for pleasure seekers" in Sonoma County, California. The landscape's chief feature was a crevasse measuring six-feet in diameter, known as the "steam pipe," which resulted in an inferno from which steam bellowed, and blasted forth, in a manner exceeding the decibel level of a locomotive whistle! The misty quality of the image may be attributed to these thermal geysers.

The tiny figure at left (who appears to be holding a lens), a surrogate for the viewer, is rare in Watkins's work and is thought to be the photographer himself.