VITTORIO SELLA. Kangchenjunga, Path to Guicha La, 1899, Sella number HS 158. 6.6x8.9" collodion print, printed 1901, mounted on 10x12" heavy brown board. Embossed with Vittorio Sella stamp in lower right of print. Inscribed in black ink mount recto: Kangchinjinga, from summit of Guicho at 5,000 m. Inscribed in pencil mount recto: 158 / HS 158.

Sella worked in all four seasons and under the most difficult circumstances, documenting the highest regions of the earth with extraordinary artistry. 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."

His groundbreaking works of art from the Alps, the Caucasus, Africa, Alaska, and the Himalayas influenced Victorian aesthetics, and furthered scientific studies in the fields of anthropology, cartography, meteorology, and botany, and currently are used extensively in studies of glacial retreat.

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.

Very Good: Minor wear, small scratches and edge and corner wear. Mount has corner and edge wear, dirt. Mount verso has tape marks.