Skull Rock (Sherman Summit, Wyoming Territory)

Artist Andrew Joseph Russell (American, 1830 - 1902)

Dateca. 1868-1869

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 8 3/4 × 11 5/8 inches (22.23 × 29.53 cm)
Mount: 12 3/4 × 18 3/16 inches (32.39 × 46.2 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2005.37.42

Signednone

InscribedTitled and numbered on mount recto, bottom, in black ink: "PLATE 6. / SKULL ROCK."

MarkingsOn mount verso, lower left corner, in pencil: "AJR.106.X"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionPlate 6 from album Great West Illustrated in a Series of Photographic Views from Across the Continent; Taken along the Line of the Union Pacific Railroad, West from Omaha, Nebraska, vol. 1.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – December 30, 2007, no. 393.

Rotation 10. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 19, 2011- September 11, 2011, no cat.

Rotation 24. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – November 12, 2017, no cat.

Gallery Label

In 1868, the Union Pacific Railroad commissioned Andrew J. Russell to document the company’s entire route. In addition to capturing the rail line and its related structures and personnel, Russell photographed the landscape on either side of the tracks. This image of Skull Rock emphasizes the notable geologic features of the region.

Provenance

Vintage Works, Ltd., Chalfont, PA;
Purchased from Vintage Works by the Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2005;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Published References

Keith F. Davis, The Origins of American Photography: from Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839-1885. With contributions by Jane L. Aspinwall. Kansas City, MO: Hall Family Foundation: in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007. Distributed by Yale University Press. Published in conjunction with Developing Greatness: the Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885, shown at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 230 (repro).

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