Solar Eclipse

Carleton Watkins
$85.00
Size

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details
Artist Statement

Taken on July 29, 1878, Solar Eclipse by canonized landscape photographer Carleton Watkins powerfully, elegantly captures the exact moment the moon completely blocked the sun and cast a surreal shadow over the Earth. Watkins, known for his pioneering work depicting the American West, used this rare event as an opportunity to simultaneously experiment with photographic techniques and record a celestial occurrence. The piece’s resulting artistic and technical achievement is as sublime and awe-inspiring as the eclipse itself. It’s stunning that then, as now, eclipses humble us all by reminding us of our smallness in a vast and fascinatingly ordered universe. 

Eclipses have been documented, celebrated, worshipped, and studied by people since ancient times using a variety of scientific and artistic approaches. The significance of Watkins’ photograph, aside from its obvious beauty, is that it incorporates so many different facets of observance. The piece was part of a series of images taken by the photographer during this particular eclipse so that astronomers could conduct groundbreaking research into the sun's corona and solar activity in general. 

Why We Love It

Blending art, science, and technology, the piece marks an important moment in both the history of photography and our understanding of astronomy. With its dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, Watkins’s piece takes on the mystery and wonder of Surrealism and exemplifies the otherworldliness of eclipses themselves. It is undeniably an iconic piece of 19th-century photography, and an important part of Watkins’s legacy that sometimes gets, err, eclipsed by his more well-known terrestrial work.

Details

+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available

Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.

Medium

Moab Lasal Exhibition Lustre

8"x10" | Edition of 5
11"x14" | Edition of 200
16"x20" | Edition of 25
20"x24" | Edition of 5
24"x30" | Edition of 2
Artist - Carleton Watkins

Carleton Watkins

Carleton Watkins is perhaps the best known early western photographer. Watkins worked with a mammoth-plate camera, using the wet-collodion technique to produce strikingly detailed images. His work of the Yosemite Valley was instrumental in the creation of the Yosemite Grant and later the National Parks Service.

Watkins grew up in upstate New York, but moved to San Francisco with dreams of striking gold. When that venture failed, he worked briefly in delivery and as a bookstore clerk. The bookstore was close to the studio of daguerreotypist Robert Vance, who taught Watkins the basics of photography. With this new skill, Watkins traveled to the Yosemite Valley and made both mammoth-plate images and stereoscopic images. These were some of the first photographs of Yosemite ever seen in the East, eventually capturing the attention of the capitol. President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant in 1864, setting aside the land for federal protection.

Watkins continued to shoot in Yosemite for the California Geological Survey, later opening his own gallery just for his award-winning Yosemite images. Though he suffered a series of unfortunate events that led to the loss of his sight and many of his negatives, his images continue to live on.