Crossing the Frontier: Photographs of the Developing West, 1849 to the Present

Poignant and provocative, Crossing the Frontier is the first book to trace the tradition of landscape photography in the American West, with over 150 images, many never before published. From the gold rush to the great railroad constructions, the early images featured here chart the rapid advance of industrialization during the nineteenth century. More recent photographs convey the complicated aftereffects of this westward expansion, documenting the trail of human encroachment on the natural environment. Published in conjunction with a major photographic exhibition, this volume features work by many important classic and contemporary photographers, as well as essays on the photography, mythology, geology, and architecture of the West by four distinguished authors.

The tradition of landscape photography is explored in this volume, published in conjunction with a traveling exhibit conceived and organized by art historian Sandra Phillips. The rapid advance of industrialization is documented, along with the ever-increasing human encroachment on the environment. The photography of land use--as depicted by the work of largely obscure journeymen--is of more weight in this study than the better known tradition of artistic landscape photography represented by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. The most arresting images are those made by people who have been long forgotten, like George H. Johnson's daguerreotype of miners laboring on the American River near Sacramento, California.