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An original 8x10" vintage photo (NOT a modern reprint) from a collection of vintage & antique "Southwest USA" photos that we acquired from an unknown estate at a major sale house.
Photo Overview
A striking fine-art black-and-white photograph of the San Geronimo Chapel at Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, hand-signed in the lower right margin by photographer Chad Slattery. The low-angle composition frames the brilliant white adobe gateway wall and its large Latin cross against a dramatically darkened sky, with the historic chapel\'s twin bell towers and triple crosses perfectly centered through the arched entrance. The strong contrast between the luminous plastered adobe and the near-black sky gives this image a timeless, almost transcendent quality reminiscent of the great Southwest architectural photography tradition.
This is an 8x10 inch silver gelatin print on fiber-base paper with wide white borders. Slattery\'s signature appears in pencil in the lower right margin, and the location annotation "Taos, N.M." appears in the lower left. The image draws on a long tradition of fine-art photography at Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most photographed sacred sites in the American Southwest.
Historical Notes
Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America, with structures dating back over 1,000 years. The San Geronimo Chapel visible in this photograph was built in 1850, replacing the original mission church destroyed during the Taos Revolt of 1847, in which Taos Pueblo members and Hispanic residents rebelled against U.S. occupation following the Mexican-American War. The ruins of the original 17th-century church still stand nearby as a memorial to those who died in that revolt.
Taos Pueblo was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and a National Historic Landmark in 1960, recognizing it as one of the best surviving examples of pre-Columbian Pueblo architecture in the United States. The site has long attracted artists and photographers - Georgia O\'Keeffe, Ansel Adams, and Paul Strand all worked in the Taos region, drawn by its unique light, landscape, and cultural depth. Chad Slattery continued in that fine-art tradition, producing work that honors the spiritual and architectural grandeur of the Southwest.
Text Present
Front of photo, lower left margin (handwritten in pencil): Taos, N.M.
Front of photo, lower right margin (handwritten cursive signature in pencil): Chad Slattery
Print analysis
This is a gelatin silver print on fiber-base paper with wide white borders, consistent with fine-art darkroom printing practices of the 1970s through 1990s. The back of the photo is blank with no stamps or date notations. Given the photographic paper stock, border style, and Slattery\'s apparent active period in Southwest fine-art photography, this is most likely a vintage darkroom print made by the photographer himself, likely within a few years of the negative being exposed - consistent with a Type 1 original print. The pencil signature and location caption in the margins are hallmarks of a photographer\'s own studio print.
Condition
This is an antique photo and is in fair to excellent vintage condition. Please see photos for any foxing, corner damage, tears, folds, smudges, or other age damage that may be present.
