Valley of the Yosemite, from Rocky Ford (1872): Art, History and Details

Valley of the Yosemite, from Rocky Ford (1872) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Eadweard J. Muybridge (American, 1830–1904); Bradley & Rulofson.

The work and its context

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

Early in a long, creative career distinguished by landmark studies of animal and human motion, Eadweard J. Muybridge created a remarkable group of photographs of Yosemite Valley in California. During his second journey there, lasting from June through November 1872, he made his most significant and extensive body of landscape photographs, many taken with mammoth glass plate negatives measuring 20 x 24 inches. This image of the valley from Rocky Ford is one of his most luminous and sublime views. Taken in early morning light, this carefully framed and dramatically lit photograph reveals Muybridge's interest in atmospheric conditions, shimmering reflections, and the movement of water.

Object facts

• Title: Valley of the Yosemite, from Rocky Ford
• Date: 1872
• Creator attribution: Eadweard J. Muybridge (American, 1830–1904); Bradley & Rulofson
• Culture: America
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 43.1 x 54.8 cm (16 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.); Matted: 76.2 x 81.3 cm (30 x 32 in.)
• Collection: PH - American 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1990.133

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hinson, Tom E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.

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.