by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster
Everyone
knew George was not well and was experiencing intense pain. Hoping
for his recovery they were saddened when he shot himself on October
20, 1918.
His still
existing collection of glass negatives was acquired by Curry Company,
soon to be the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, YP & CC in
1923. Most of his collection had been lost in a fire which destroyed
his studio and cameras in 1904.
As a
photographer Fiske, had earned the esteem of the international
community who had viewed the haunting beauty of his work.
One of
these photos, among the most famous, was titled, “Half Dome on
Christmas Morning.” The image was titled, “The Domes of
Yosemite in Winter,” when it appeared in Harper's Weekly in
1902.
The image
shows Half Dome, draped in snow with winter closed in around it. The
image is haunting in its poignant power, the stillness of the moment
sinks into the mind as you view it. It is also unmistakable.
Mountains do not change. The configuration of snow and leaves in the
foreground are never the same. A later image would have revealed
human artifacts.
The glass
plates remaining in Fiske's depleted collection when he died was sold
to Curry Company. In the early 30's the collection of Julius
Theodore Boysen, another early Yosemite photographer, also acquired
by Curry, was stored with it. But in 1934 a fire enveloped the barn
and these early images were lost. At least we thought so. Now, the
jury is out on this question.
Caches of
glass plates and early film have been surfacing.
Rick
Norsigian, a house painter from Fresno bought a box of negatives at a
garage sale. Looking through the box he was was astonished at the
beauty of the images, mostly of Yosemite. Hoping they were by Ansel
Adams he launched an effort to have them recognized by the Adams
family, which ended in a settlement with the Adams estate in 2010.
The same
year a Fiske, undoubtedly the famous Half Dome on Christmas Morning
image surfaced from the stored work of another, nearly unknown,
photographer. J. M. Garrison. The image came with the accounting
for sale of the image, for use as a post card, by the Yosemite Park &
Curry Co., dated December 10, 1958.
It is a
mystery now resolving into answers, piece by piece. Expect the
unexpected and remember George Fiske.
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