The Devil's Slide, Weber Canon, Utah
San Francisco: Taber Photo, [1873]. Large format. Albumen photograph [30 cm x 20 cm] not mounted. Title and studio mark in the negative. Upper right corner chipped and repaired on the reverse with tape. Although not credited, this image is a known Watkins image. Item #11034
Striking image of the Devil's Slide, an unusual limestone slab formation in Weber Canyon, Utah. This view was commissioned by the Union Pacific and made as a souvenir for railroad tourists. Watkins likely traveled aboard this U.P. train, which was clearly posed for the photograph. Despite the steam that continues to escape from the engine, the engineer stands in the locomotive's doorway beside the wood supply, far from the controls and looking directly at the photographer.
Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916) was one of the finest photographers of the nineteenth century. Between 1854 and 1891 he documented the American West from southern California to British Columbia and inland to Montana, Utah, and Arizona. He was a sympathetic and masterful recorder, whose pictures possess a clarity and strength equal to the magnificence of the land. His photographs of Yosemite so captured the imagination of legislators that Congress moved to preserve the area as a wilderness.
I.W. Taber (1830-1912) who primarily photographed the West Coast, and Northern California in particular. After assisting in a photographic studio in San Francisco from the mid-1860s until 1871, Taber opened his own business, which quickly became one of the premier studios in the city. In addition to his own photographs, Taber printed, published, and distributed the work of other photographers, including Carleton Watkins. Taber acquired Watkins's negatives in 1881 as a result of Watkins's bankruptcy. He also sold photographic supplies and manufactured dry plates.
Price: $250.00