Bay of Panama from Grand Hotel
Eadweard J. Muybridge
American, born England. 1830–1904
1875
An albumen silver print by Eadweard Muybridge that documents the shoreline and built environment of the Bay of Panama from the Grand Hotel, aiming for a clear, documentary picture of place.
From a high vantage the image draws you past tiled roofs and tropical gardens to a low-tide sweep of exposed flats, a fortress-like seawall, and tiny ships on the horizon, all rendered in delicate tonal detail.
Taken before his famous motion studies, this 1875 view shows how photography was used to record distant landscapes and colonial infrastructure with a precision and framing that anticipated Muybridge’s later technical experiments.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
5 7/16 × 9 3/16" (13.8 × 23.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Transferred from The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Accession
182.1964.12
Palette
Exhibitions
