Cañon of Kanab Wash, Colorado River, Looking South

William Bell, Cañon of Kanab Wash, Colorado River, Looking South, 1872, albumen silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1994.91.9
Copied William Bell, Cañon of Kanab Wash, Colorado River, Looking South, 1872, albumen silver print, sheet and image: 10 7⁄8 x 7 7⁄8 in. (27.6 x 20.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1994.91.9
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Cañon of Kanab Wash, Colorado River, Looking South
Artist
Date
1872
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet and image: 10 7⁄8 x 7 7⁄8 in. (27.6 x 20.0 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
albumen silver print
Classifications
Keywords
  • Landscape — rocks
  • Landscape — river — Colorado River
  • Landscape — canyon — Kanab Wash
Object Number
1994.91.9
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1994.91.9

Artwork Description

From an awkward position under a massive overhang, William Bell maneuvered his large unwieldy camera to capture the dramatic play of light and shadow on the limestone wall of the opposite cliff. Bell made this photograph while working on Lieutenant George Wheeler’s Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. His photographs can often be distinguished from those of other survey photographers by the contrast between a strong dark element in the foreground and lighter tones that recede into the distance.


A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2013