Canyon de Chelly Junction Canyon / Canyon de Chelly Arizona, Summer 1980

 

Charles G. Henningsen

  1935 - 2016 (biography)

1980  

platinum print photograph 

7-7/16 x x 9-9/16" image and paper 

pencil, lower right / Studio stamp on verso 

not editioned 

Titled and dated in pencil on verso; Studio stamp on verso: "Chuck Henningsen / 500 Portola Road / Portola Valley, CA 94025 / All Rights Reserved" 

 

photo paper mounted to 4 ply white rag board 

 

artist 

19130 

$1,500.00 

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is in northeastern Arizona on Navajo tribal lands. While not having National Park designation, it is managed by the National Park Service. Canyon de Chelly National Monument was authorized in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover in large measure to preserve the important archeological resources that span more than 4,000 years of human occupation. The monument encompasses approximately 84,000 acres of lands located entirely on the Navajo Nation with roughly 40 families residing within the park boundaries.

Natural water sources and rich soil provided a variety of valuable resources that have sustained families for thousands of years. The Ancient Puebloans found the canyons an ideal place to plant crops and raise families. The first settlers built pit houses that were then replaced with more sophisticated homes as more families migrated to the area. More homes were built in alcoves to take advantage of the sunlight and natural protection. People thrived until the mid-1300’s when the Puebloans left the canyons to seek better farmlands.

Related to the Athabaskan people of Northern Canada and Alaska, the Navajo settled the Southwest between the four sacred mountains. The Navajo, or Dine' as they call themselves, continue to raise families and plant crops just as the “Ancient Ones” had. The farms, livestock and hogans of the Dine’ are visible from the canyon rims.

Canyon de Chelly Junction Canyon / Canyon de Chelly Arizona is a platinum print from 1980 by Charles G. Henningsen. It is pencil signed in the lower right and bears his studio stamp on the verso. After selling his electronics businesses, Henningsen studied photography with Ansel Adams and later worked with Adams at his studio in Yosemite.

The junction is the point where the two major canyons, Canyon De Chelly and Canyon del Muerto, merge together. The White House Ruin and Spider Rock are located in Canyon de Chelly while the Mummy Cave Ruin, located on a ledge between deep caves, is found in Canyon del Muerto. Everything below the canyon rim is private property and can only be visited by joining a guided tour.