No. 6. From South Approach of Franklin Ave Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota Looking Up Stream (Low Water)

Art Historical Context

Henry P. Bosse’s cyanotype captures a serene stretch of the Mississippi River from the south approach of Minneapolis’s Franklin Avenue Bridge in 1890. Rendered in the deep Prussian blue of the cyanotype process—a photographic technique prized in the nineteenth century for its ability to produce durable, high-contrast prints—this view records the waterway at low water, revealing the riverbed’s contours and the surrounding landscape with remarkable clarity. Bosse, a cartographer and photographer employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, created such images as part of an extensive survey documenting the Upper Mississippi for navigation and engineering purposes. The large sheet (roughly 14½ by 17 inches) transforms a functional record into a striking landscape study. Its cool monochrome tones emphasize the river’s quiet expanse and the subtle textures of shore and sky, inviting viewers to consider both the natural beauty and the human efforts to chart and control this vital artery of American commerce. Today the work resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s photography collection, where it exemplifies the intersection of scientific documentation and artistic vision at the dawn of modern landscape photography.