Florida Sunset on the Ocklawaha

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Images(4)

Artist/Makerattributed to William Henry Jackson (American, 1843 - 1942)

Datepublished 1899

MediumPhotochrome

DimensionsImage: 8 × 20 1/16 in. (20.3 × 51 cm) Sheet: 8 × 20 1/16 in. (20.3 × 51 cm)

Credit LineGift of William E. Williams, Class of 1973

Object number2006.3

Not on view

DescriptionWilliam Henry Jackson’s eye for color emerged at the beginning of his career, when he worked as a colorist and retoucher for photographic studios on the East Coast. Intrigued by westward expansion, he traveled to Nebraska, set up a studio in Omaha, and began shooting along the Union Pacific Railroad. He was subsequently hired to accompany various expeditions of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey with the aim of documenting the country’s new territories. His photographs, along with those of Carleton Watkins and Eadweard Muybridge, among others, helped to create the aura of the American West. In the 1880s and 1890s, Jackson was hired by the fledgling railroads of Florida—and possibly its new luxury hotels as well—to document the state’s then-exotic wilderness in an effort to increase tourism and development and lend to Florida the mystique he had brought to the West. Several aspects of this photograph have led to its attribution to Jackson: its location and subject; the inclusion of certain compositional devices, such as the small boat containing three men; and the fact that it was published by the Detroit Photographic Company, of which Jackson was a partner. At the time the photograph was printed, Photochrom was considered the only successful means of producing color photographs; prior to its invention in the 1880s, black-and-white photographs had been colored by hand. The Detroit Photographic Company was the first publisher in the United States to use the technique, which was actually a hybrid of photographic and lithographic printing techniques. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017) Panoramic view of two men in a boat hunting birds.

Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 54, illus.);

2007
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Highlights from the Permanent Collection," February 19 - April 15, 2007 (no catalog).

Provenance 2006: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of William E. Williams.

Markings Stamps: gilt stamp "50110. FLORIDA. SUNSET ON THE OCKLAWAHA." at lower left; gilt stamp "COPYRIGHT 1899 BY DETROIT PHOTOGRAPHIC CO." at lower right.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 138.

Signature Not signed.

Inscribed None noted.