Carleton Watkins Man Without a Face
The Loewentheil Family Collection Album is a touchstone for understanding the life and art of Watkins because it shows him to have a hitherto unknown extravagant social side to his personality. Nothing seems more opposite to make-believe than a life spent trekking in remote locations on the Pacific Slope where he created more photographs than any other person of his times anywhere. The social side of Watkins, the man, can only be grasped by returning to his roots in Oneonta, New York, which will be the subject of Chapter Two of Chasing Aurora.
*****
End Chapter One: Man Without a Face