Fire Department & Reservoir, Clark & Sumner, Standard Petroleum Refinery, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

c. 1865

Thomas H. Johnson

Associated Names
Thomas H. Johnson

Artist, American, born 1821

The photograph shows a stereoscopic view through a pair of almost identical images placed side by side, captured from a perspective at ground level overlooking a railway yard. There is a railyard turntable with detailed machinery, an old wooden wagon with large spoked wheels, a line of boxcar train cars, several large brick buildings, leafless trees, and a horizon dominated by the silhouettes of distant structures and trees. The image is in sepia tone, emphasizing a vintage or historical feel, with sharp detail highlighting textural contrast between train cars and the ground.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    stereoscopic albumen silver prints

  • Credit Line

    Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund

  • Dimensions

    image/sheet (each): 7.6 × 7.9 cm (3 × 3 1/8 in.)
    mount: 8.1 × 17 cm (3 3/16 × 6 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2017.93.17

  • Series Title

    Johnson’s Photographic Views in The Oil Regions of Pennsylvania

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Richard Healey, Hants, UK; NGA purchase, 2017.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

on verso, by unknown hand, upper center in black ink: Standard Petroleum Refinery.; center printed in black ink: JOHNSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS / IN / THE OIL REGIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA. / No. [by unknown hand in black ink: 1343. Fire Department & Reservoir] / Published by T.H. JOHNSON, 390 Bowery, New York / [BAILEY, PRINTER.]; by unknown hand, lower center in black ink: Clark & Sumner. / Pittsburgh, Pa.

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