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Ambroise Bernard Album

Attributed to Carleton E. Watkins American
1870s
Not on view
This deluxe "Ambroise Bernard Sompayrac Album" contains 101 albumen silver prints (10½ x 13"), which seem to have been cut down from mammoth-plate (18 x 22") prints. There are a dozen cityscapes of San Francisco by Watkins as well as views of the great trees and hotels in Mariposa and Calaveras Groves, towns and cities of California from Oakland to Los Angeles, and landscapes in Nevada and Oregon. The central section includes forty-two views of Yosemite. Since none of the photographs appears in any other collection, it is uncertain if they are by Watkins or another artist. Who else but Watkins could have achieved this level of mastery remains a mystery. The collection was assembled by Charles Sompayrac, a wealthy San Francisco businessman from Natchitoches, Louisiana, and presented to his brother Ambroise in 1877. The binding includes a monogram "AB" inset with gold, silver, and quartz that may have come from a mine depicted in the photographs.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ambroise Bernard Album
  • Artist: Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829–1916)
  • Artist: Attributed to Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829–1916)
  • Date: 1870s
  • Medium: Albumen silver prints
  • Dimensions: 43.5 x 37.5 cm (17 1/8 x 14 3/4 in.)
  • Classification: Albums
  • Credit Line: Gift of Carole and Irwin Lainoff, Ruth P. Lasser and Joseph R. Lasser, Mr. and Mrs. John T. Marvin, Martin E. and Joan Messinger, Richard L. Yett and Sheri and Paul Siegel, 1986
  • Object Number: 1986.1189.1–.101
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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Residence of Charles Bernard. 312 Oak Street, San Francisco, California, Carleton E. Watkins American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Residence of Charles Bernard. 312 Oak Street, San Francisco, California
Carleton E. Watkins
ca. 1876
Cliff House and Seal Rock, Carleton E. Watkins American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Cliff House and Seal Rock
Carleton E. Watkins
1868–69, printed ca. 1876
Castle Rock, Oregon, Carleton E. Watkins American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Castle Rock, Oregon
Carleton E. Watkins
1867, printed ca. 1876
Tooth Bridge, Oregon, Carleton E. Watkins American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Tooth Bridge, Oregon
Carleton E. Watkins
1867, printed ca. 1876
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, Carleton E. Watkins American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco
Carleton E. Watkins
1863, printed ca. 1876

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