Sand Dunes, Carson Desert, Nevada
Medium
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions
image: 19.7 × 27 cm · matted: 50.8 × 61 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
2002.45
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
This noontime scene conveys a desolate place discovered by a lonely explorer. The artist chose a vantage point and framing that blocked the horizon and showed a single wagon—the former Civil War ambulance that he converted into a portable darkroom—and only two sets of footprints. However, over the previous 25 years, more than 165,000 people had passed near here on their way to California.