Darius Kinsey
American, 1869–1945
Crossing a glacier near Monte Cristo, 1902
Black-and-white stereograph
Whatcom Museum, 1978.84.6417
The public’s enthusiasm for accurate depictions of nature inspired landscape photographers to create stereographic prints of glaciers that could be viewed in three dimensions. In Darius Kinsey’s portrait of his wife, Tabitha, who developed and printed his photographs, the viewer becomes part of the scene, pausing at the glacier on Wilman’s Peak in the Washington Cascades.
The difficulty of high-altitude climbing while wearing impractical clothes underscores the determination of women to experience mountaineering. Hundreds of photographs in museums and alpine club archives document the allure of climbing for European and American women.
Kinsey is recognized for his photographs of the Pacific Northwest logging industry. Like many Americans, the photographer both appreciated the beauty of nature and was complicit in its exploitation. He was hired by logging companies to document the felling of old-growth trees and also earned money by making portraits of the loggers. The Whatcom Museum holds the largest repository of the artist’s work