Webber Canon, U.P.R.R.
1863/1903
Medium
Albumen print, stereo
Dimensions
Each image: 8 × 7.5 cm (3 3/16 × 3 in.); Card: 8.6 × 17.6 cm (3 7/16 × 6 15/16 in.)
Classification
stereograph (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
108766
Art Historical Context
Charles Bierstadt’s “Webber Canon, U.P.R.R.” is a striking stereograph that captures the rugged grandeur of the American West during the height of transcontinental railroad construction. Created as an albumen print between the 1860s and early 1900s, the paired images were designed to be viewed through a stereoscope, producing a vivid three-dimensional effect that brought distant landscapes into intimate focus for armchair travelers. Bierstadt, brother of the celebrated Hudson River School painter Albert Bierstadt, specialized in such photographic views that combined artistic sensibility with d...