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George Fiske (October 22, 1835 – October 21, 1918) was an American
''In the Heart of the Sierras''
contains many photographs by Fiske * Galen Clark
''The Yosemite Valley''
(1910) has more photographs by Fiske. Fiske provided the photographs to his good friend Clark as a favor, as Clark desperately needed money and wrote this book to earn some income.
Photographs of Yosemite Valley and Big Trees of Mariposa County, Calif. by George Fiske, ca. 1883
Views of Yosemite by George Fiske, ca. 1880-1890
The Bancroft Library American photographers Suicides by firearm in California Yosemite National Park 1835 births 1918 suicides People from Amherst, New Hampshire 1918 deaths {{US-photographer-stub
George Fiske (October 22, 1835 – October 21, 1918) was an American landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
photographer.
Biography
Fiske was born on October 22, 1835, in Amherst, New Hampshire. He moved west with his brother to San Francisco. He apprenticed under Charles L. Weed and worked withCarleton E. Watkins
Carleton E. Watkins (1829–1916) was an American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was a ...
, both early Yosemite National Park photographers.
Fiske and his wife moved to Yosemite in 1879 and lived there until he committed suicide in 1918. Fiske was living alone when he shot himself, and he often told his neighbors he was "tired of living." Most of his negatives were destroyed when his house burned in 1904.
Legacy
Years later, when photographerAnsel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...
was a boy, his Aunt Mary gave him a copy of James M. Hutchings, ''In the Heart of the Sierras'' (1888) when he was sick. The book piqued his interest enough to persuade his parents to vacation in Yosemite National Park in 1916. Most of the photographs in the book are by George Fiske.
After Fiske's death, his remaining negatives were acquired by the Yosemite Park Company and stored neglected in a sawmill attic, which burned in 1943. Ansel Adams suggested they be stored safely in the Yosemite Museum fireproof basement, but his suggestion was ignored. "If that hadn't happened", said Adams, "Fiske could have been revealed today, I firmly believe, as a top photographer, a top interpretive photographer. I really can’t get excited at arletonWatkins and adweardMuybridge—I do get excited at Fiske. I think he had the better eye." (Hickman & Pitts, 1980).
References
* Paul Hickman and Terence Pitts, George Fiske, ''Yosemite Photographer'' (Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Press, 1980) * James Mason Hutchings''In the Heart of the Sierras''
contains many photographs by Fiske * Galen Clark
''The Yosemite Valley''
(1910) has more photographs by Fiske. Fiske provided the photographs to his good friend Clark as a favor, as Clark desperately needed money and wrote this book to earn some income.
External links
Photographs of Yosemite Valley and Big Trees of Mariposa County, Calif. by George Fiske, ca. 1883
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...
Views of Yosemite by George Fiske, ca. 1880-1890
The Bancroft Library American photographers Suicides by firearm in California Yosemite National Park 1835 births 1918 suicides People from Amherst, New Hampshire 1918 deaths {{US-photographer-stub