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Artists›Carleton E. Watkins

Carleton E. Watkins

Carleton E. Watkins

Artist

WA-00029996

PrintmakingPhotography

Representation

None documented

9

Institutional Exhibitions

282

Works in Collection

294

Assets Indexed

1

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ2939083 ULAN500002731

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Self Portrait: The Photographer's Persona, 1840�1985

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1985–1986

No image

From the Gilman Collection: Photographs Preserved in Ink

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1984–1985

No image

American Landscapes

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1981

No image

Photography for Collectors

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1976

No image

Steichen Gallery Reinstallation

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1967

No image

Recent Acquisitions: Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1965–1966

No image

The Exact Instant

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1949

No image

Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1944

No image

Photographs of the Civil War and the American Frontier

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1942

Field Verification (1 fields)

1 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓

Source Registry (2)

Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/carleton-e-watkins
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/6260
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Carleton E. Watkins was an American photographer who pioneered large-format landscape photography in the nineteenth century, creating monumental albumen prints that documented the American West with unprecedented technical precision and compositional grandeur. Working with mammoth plate cameras, he produced iconic images of Yosemite Valley, the Columbia River Gorge, and railroad routes that shaped visual perceptions of westward expansion. His photographs combined commercial enterprise with aesthetic ambition, establishing landscape photography as a major artistic medium in the post-Civil War era.

Source: Christies Artsy · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Photography

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum of Modern ArtNew York National Gallery of Art

Canonical record

Artworks (282)

Putting in Elevator, Golden Feather, Oroville

Putting in Elevator, Golden Feather, Oroville

1891 · albumen print

image/sheet: 38.3 × 54.5 cm (15 1/16 × 21 7/16 in.) mount: 43.7 × 58.6 cm (17 3/16 × 23 1/16 in.)

National Gallery of Art

Late George Cling Peaches

Late George Cling Peaches

1889 · Albumen silver print

12 15/16 × 19 13/16" (32.8 × 50.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

George Davidson's Earth Measuring Apparatus, Yolo Base Line Project, near Davis, California

George Davidson's Earth Measuring Apparatus, Yolo Base Line Project, near Davis, California

1881 · Cyanotype

8 5/16 × 11 7/8" (21.1 × 30.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Alcatraz Island and San Francisco Bay, Looking North

Alcatraz Island and San Francisco Bay, Looking North

1880 · albumen print

image: 9.3 x 16.2 cm (3 11/16 x 6 3/8 in.) mount: 10.7 x 16.5 cm (4 3/16 x 6 1/2 in.)

National Gallery of Art

Seal Point, Farallon Islands, Pacific Ocean

Seal Point, Farallon Islands, Pacific Ocean

1879 · albumen print

image/sheet: 12.1 × 20.7 cm (4 3/4 × 8 1/8 in.) mount: 13.6 × 21.5 cm (5 3/8 × 8 7/16 in.)

National Gallery of Art

The Yosemite Falls, from Glacier Point

The Yosemite Falls, from Glacier Point

1878 · albumen print

image: 59.2 × 39.4 cm (23 5/16 × 15 1/2 in.) mount: 71.1 × 55.9 cm (28 × 22 in.)

National Gallery of Art

Mirror Lake (View of Mt. Watkins), Yosemite

Mirror Lake (View of Mt. Watkins), Yosemite

1878 · Albumen silver print

21 × 15 1/4" (53.3 × 38.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Santa Margarita Ranch

Santa Margarita Ranch

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lake Vineyard and Orange Grove, Los Angeles

Lake Vineyard and Orange Grove, Los Angeles

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vineyard of Camulos Ranch

Vineyard of Camulos Ranch

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Mother of the Forest - Calaveras Grove

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Old Dominium and Uncle Tom's Tavern. Calaveras Grove

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Miners Cabin - Calaveras Grove

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Trees in Calaveras Grove]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Sentinels. C. Grove

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mammoth Three Grove Hotel Calaveras Co Cal.

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Yosemite National Park, California]

1876 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 12.5 x 12.5 cm (4 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.), circular

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

View all 282 artworks →

Artwork sources (6)

282 published of 292 catalogued · 69 with image

The Met
232 published9 img
Nga
18 published18 img
Smithsonian
12 published12 img
MoMA
10 publishedof 20 catalogued20 img
Rijksmuseum
7 published7 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
3 published3 img

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 6)

6 entries · 1 sources

Gezicht op de Middle Cathedral Rock en andere bergspitsen in de Yosemite Valley
1860 · Rijksmuseum · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Davoncastle Butte, Sierra Nevada
1861 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Bridal Veil, Yosemite
1865 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Gezicht op de Bridalveilwaterval in de Yosemite Valley
1860 · Rijksmuseum · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Gezicht op de Middle Cathedral Rock in de Yosemite Valley
1860 · Rijksmuseum · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
The Domes, from the Sentinel Domes, Yosemite
1860 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Big River, from the Rancherie, Mendocino, California (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Big River, from the Rancherie, Mendocino, California (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

5

Movements1

Collections4

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum of Modern Art National Gallery of Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Smithsonian American Art Museum

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

National Gallery of Art