Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, mouth of Kanab Wash, looking east
Artist
William Abraham Bell
(British, 1842 - 1920)
CultureAmerican
Date1872
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 10 7/8 × 8 in. (27.6 × 20.3 cm)
Overall, Support: 19 1/4 × 15 1/2 in. (48.9 × 39.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 1/8 in. (61 × 51.1 cm)
Overall, Support: 19 1/4 × 15 1/2 in. (48.9 × 39.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 1/8 in. (61 × 51.1 cm)
InscribedPrinted on photograph: UL: "Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"; Top Center: "War Department Corps of Engineers. U S Army"; UR: "Expedition of 1872 - Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Commanding"; BL: "W Bell Phot." "no. 12"; Across Bottom: "Grand Canon of the Colorado River, Mouth of Kanab Wash, Looking East".
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number84.271
Not on view
Label TextWilliam Bell American, b. England, 1830–1910 Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, mouth of Kanab Wash, looking east, 1872 Albumen print (photograph) from a glass negative After serving in the Civil War, photographer William Bell documented soldiers’ diseases and battle wounds for scientific study at the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1872, when he joined Lt. George M. Wheeler’s expedition to survey U.S. territories west of the 100th Meridian, he used the same dispassionate approach seen in his medical studies. His pictures may now seem like majestic visions of the West’s remarkable landscape, but Bell believed his views were unexaggerated records that could convince officials to study and settle the terrain. Museum purchase 84.271 Exhibition History"New Light on Land: Photographs from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 28 - May 15, 2016.Published ReferencesWHEELER SURVEY, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. 1872.
