VITTORIO SELLA. Fex Valley (324); Piz Roseg (325); Scercsen Mountains and Piz Bernina (326); Cresta Agiuzza and Piz Zupo (327). Panoramic view from the summit of the Giumels, 11,550 feet., c. 1879-1892, Sella numbers AX 324-327. 10.9x52.5" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 55 3/8x13 1/4" brown board.

1. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Fex Valley; inscribed in pencil: 324-327; Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: See A. X/ Illegible/ 1983.1395; Inscribed in ink: 324-327.
2. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Piz Roseg.
3. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Scercsen Mountains and Piz Bernina.
4. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Cresta Agiuzza and Piz Zupo/ Panoramic view from the summit of the Giumels, 11,550 feet; Inscribed in pencil: 324-327 AX; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner.

This sale of lots from this auction will directly benefit the Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Trails, Research Department and the Club Archive.

Ansel Adams paid tribute to Sella's greatness in a 1946 article for the Sierra Club Bulletin when he wrote, "with Sella's sensitive insight and response the magnificence of mountains is distilled into a high order of expression."

Although small in stature (only 5 foot 6 inches, today he would be considered an elite athlete) Sella possessed tremendous strength and endurance. He carried heavy, large-format cameras and glass plates, scaled treacherous slopes, worked in challenging weather conditions, and endured storage conditions that sometimes ruined his negatives. He made photographs with both stereoscopic and handheld Kodak cameras, afterward enlarging his prints by various means. His masterful compositions of sublime peaks captured crisp details and the vast array of tonal ranges enhanced by high-altitude light and shadow. His most celebrated works are large, multi-plate panoramas. Sella adhered to the idea that each panel of a panorama must itself be a complete and beautiful composition. During his lifetime Vittorio Sella was celebrated for the photographs he exhibited from his daring expeditions. According to one reviewer, his annual exhibition of mountain photographs at the Alpine Club in London was "inconveniently crowded." Sella sold his prints to people from Italy, France, Germany, and England, and was represented by a London dealer named Spooner. His photographs satisfied a growing public hunger to know more about distant places on the earth that few would ever see first-hand, while providing a satisfying blend of artistic, scientific, intellectual, and even spiritual elements. Sella's primary goal was to provide the empirical evidence of what he and his party had seen on their expeditions, and to convey reality as it was perceived by the human eye. His approach was governed by rigorous technical and aesthetic standards that he called "la realta severe" - severe reality.

Excellent: Minor wear, marks, abrasions, spots with heavy dirt areas left side panel 1 and right side of panel 4. Mount has edge and corner wear, marks and dirt.