Yosemite in nineteenth-century prints

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 1997 by Kate Nearpass Ogden

Prints and photographs of the American West were immensely popular in the second half of the nineteenth century, but none more so than depictions of Yosemite Valley in California. Much has been written about early photographs of the spectacular valley,(1) but relatively little has appeared about the prints of Yosemite. With its waterfalls, unusual geological formations, and dramatic vistas, the valley was California's most remarkable scenic location and its most frequently visited tourist attraction. It initially inspired some of the most dramatic and popular prints produced in the state, as well as some fictitious scenes bearing little or no resemblance to the actual valley.

Fame has its pitfalls, however, even for spectacular scenery, and as a result of its popularity the prints of Yosemite's scenic wonders grew increasingly monotonous in subject and style. As soon as natural monuments such as El Capitan an Half Dome became widely identified with the valley, tourists only wanted images of the most recognizable sights, which were repeated in many prints.

Anglo-Americans first discovered Yosemite in 1851, and the first print inspired by its scenery appeared in 1855 [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE II OMITTED]. Some of the earliest prints were published for the residents of California, particularly San Francisco, but tourists from elsewhere proved to be a more lucrative market. These early images also publicized the valley in the East, drawing even more visitors. After 1869, the year the transcontinental railroad was completed, print production increased dramatically to cater to the growing tourist trade. Lithographs, particularly chromolithographs, proliferated, although quality did not always improve as a result of increasing public demand for more inexpensive prints.

Thomas A. Ayres visited Yosemite in 1855 and was the first artist to attempt to capture its wonders in drawings. His lithographs set the trend by showing two of the subjects that became most popular: the three-tiered Yosemite Falls and the view from Inspiration Point that includes several of the valley's most famous geological formations. His first print, The Yo-Hamite Falls (an early variant of Yosemite), was issued in 1855 [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE II OMITTED]. It was printed by the firm of Britton and Rey of San Francisco, which is often called the Currier and Ives of the West. The publisher, James Mason Hutchings, also of San Francisco, was an early Yosemite entrepreneur who had organized the first of Ayres's expeditions to the valley to obtain pictures for his periodical, Hutchings' California Magazine.(2) In addition to publishing The Yo-Hamite Falls, Hutchings had several of Ayres's drawings engraved for the first issue of his magazine.(3) In 1859 he published Ayres's second Yosemite lithograph, General View of the Yo-Hamite Valley. Although Ayres began as a topographic draftsman for the Army, his prints and drawings are very appealing for their detailed foregrounds and simplified tonal backgrounds.

Another of the early print makers was Eugene Camerer, a German who visited Yosemite in 1859.(4) His unsophisticated images depict the standard attractions but are distinguished by the inclusion of human figures and unusual animals. His Great Yo-Semite Fall,/in Mariposa County, Cal., for example, is unique for its cows grazing in the field below the falls. His most romantic image, Bridal Veil Waterfall...[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED], shows an American Indian maiden in European-style dress being assisted into a small boat by two attendants.

A series of lithographs drawn by an unidentified artist for Currier and Ives of New York City, probably in the 1860s, includes several of these invented views of the valley. An example is Looking Down the Yo-Semite, an anonymous landscape with a flat rock that represents no recognizable Yosemite formation. 'Bridal Veil'Fall,/Yo-Semite Valley, California actually depicts Yosemite Falls. Probably the most peculiar is The Washington Columns./Yo-Semite Valley [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE IV OMITTED], which alleges to show the formations known as Washington's Column and the Royal Arches. In the print both formations have a geometric, checkerboard pattern unlike anything found in the valley. In reality, Washington's Column is rough and irregular in appearance, while the Royal Arches are composed of concentric rings of flaking granite.

Currier and Ives's casual attitude toward the geography of Yosemite is curious. Presumably their prints were never sold in the valley itself, and perhaps not in California at all, where the inaccuracies would have been only too obvious. Even in the East their market must have been armchair travelers and those who had never been to the West. Yet despite their inaccuracies, such views helped spread an appreciation for Yosemite's amazing scenery.

Another Currier and Ives lithograph of Bridalveil Waterfall was based on a drawing by Frances Flora Bond Palmer [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE III OMITTED], but it is no less inaccurate than the anonymous Currier and Ives lithographs. In fact, the fall does not empty directly into the Merced Riven nor can the mountain vista at the right be seen from any position in front of the real waterfall. The rocks surrounding the fall are also unrealistic, although they are vaguely reminiscent of a mirror image of the fall, perhaps indicating that a reversed photograph was used as a source for the lithograph.