Hemlock Forest, Lehigh Valley Railroad (c. 1895): Art, History and Details

Hemlock Forest, Lehigh Valley Railroad (c. 1895) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is William H. Rau (American, 1855–1920).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Realizing photography's advertising potential, the Leigh Valley Railroad, in the mid-1890s, commissioned the distinguished, widely traveled commercial and documentary photographer William H. Rau. He recorded a series of scenic views that would be seen while traveling along the new line running between New York and Niagara Falls. Rau utilized mammoth plate and panoramic negatives, developing them in a rail car specially outfitted with a darkroom. In this photograph, one of his most dramatic compositions, the parallel steel rails, positioned slightly off center, slice through a dense, mysterious forest. Ironically, the train line alters the pristine landscape so that a greater number of people can enjoy it.

Object facts

• Title: Hemlock Forest, Lehigh Valley Railroad
• Date: c. 1895
• Creator attribution: William H. Rau (American, 1855–1920)
• Culture: America
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 43.2 x 51.8 cm (17 x 20 3/8 in.); Mounted: 43.5 x 52.5 cm (17 1/8 x 20 11/16 in.); Matted: 76.2 x 81.3 cm (30 x 32 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2002.50

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.