item details
NameFather of the Forest, Calaveras Grove
ProductionCarleton Watkins; photographer; 1878-1881; San Francisco
Classificationphotographs, albumen prints, black-and-white prints
Materialssilver, printing-out paper, albumen
Materials Summaryblack and white photograph, albumen print
Techniquesblack-and-white photography
DimensionsImage: 415mm (height), 550mm (length)
Registration NumberO.005814
Credit lineAcquisition history unknown
Overview
The ‘Father of the Forest’ was one of the largest trees in what is now Calaveras Big Trees State Park, until it fell in 1862. Watkins’ photograph shows it slowly disintegrating in the late 1870s.
Watkins’ images influenced photographers in New Zealand, such as Josiah Martin, whose photograph of a kauri tree is in the ‘Framing the View’ exhibition.