El Capitan Yosemite National Park Taber c1880s Photo For Sale

This is an albumen photograph that is mounted onto a page from an album. It is by Taber but the image has been trimmed, losing the title strip.

There are two other photos of Yosemite on the reverse of the image.

The size of the photograph is approximately 240 x 185 mm / 9.5 x 7.3 inches..

Isaiah West Taber, born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was a renowned American daguerreotypist, ambrotypist, and photographer whose career became synonymous with the visual documentation of San Francisco and California.

After a youth spent at sea aboard whaling ships, he arrived in California during the Gold Rush era and worked at various trades before turning to photography. He began his photographic career in Syracuse, New York, before returning to California, where he joined the esteemed Bradley & Rulofson studio in San Francisco. Taber soon established his own highly successful gallery in the city, becoming the leading West Coast photographic firm. His studio was celebrated for its portraits, landscapes, and urban views, which captured the spirit and growth of California. Taber also produced stereoscopic views of the American West and undertook notable commissions, including photographing Hawaiian royalty and creating albums that showcased California’s scenery and prominent business houses.

A shrewd businessman, Taber acquired the negatives of other photographers, notably Carleton Watkins, and published them under his own name. He expanded his operations internationally, opening studios in London and Europe. The destruction of his San Francisco studio and negative collection in the earthquake and fire of the early twentieth century marked the abrupt end of his career. Taber died in San Francisco, leaving behind a significant legacy as a chronicler of California’s Gilded Age.