Black Cañon, Colorado River, looking below near Camp 7. Explorations in Nevada and Arizona, Expedition of 1871. Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Com'd'g.
Medium
Albumen print, from the album "Geographical & Geological Explorations & Surveys West of the 100th Meridian," vol. 1
Dimensions
Image/paper: 20.2 × 27.5 cm (8 × 10 7/8 in.); Mount: 39.3 × 49.9 cm (15 1/2 × 19 11/16 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
140423
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Step into the dramatic vistas of the American Southwest with *Black Cañon, Colorado River, looking below near Camp 7*, a stunning 1871 albumen print by Timothy O'Sullivan. Captured during Lieutenant George M. Wheeler's Expedition of 1871 in Nevada and Arizona, this image peers into the sheer depths of Black Cañon (now part of Lake Mead), revealing the untamed power of the Colorado River far below Camp 7. O'Sullivan, a master photographer of the era, documented these remote landscapes with remarkable clarity, using his 8 x 10-inch negative to produce the detailed 20.2 × 27.5 cm image mounted on a larger 39.3 × 49.9 cm sheet. This photograph is part of the seminal album *Geographical & Geological Explorations & Surveys West of the 100th Meridian*, Volume 1, a government publication that mapped the uncharted West for science, settlement, and national expansion. Albumen silver prints like this one—made by coating paper with egg whites sensitized to silver salts—were the gold standard of 19th-century photography, yielding rich tones and fine detail that brought the wild frontier to Eastern audiences. O'Sullivan's work elevated expedition photography beyond mere documentation, infusing it with artistic grandeur that highlighted the sublime scale of America's natural wonders. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Photography and Media department, this print offers a window into an era of exploration and the birth of landscape photography as a tool for cultural and scientific storytelling.
About the Artist
Timothy O'Sullivan · 1840–1882
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840–1882) emerged as one of America's pioneering photographers during a transformative era. His early life remains sparsely documented, with records suggesting he was born either in New York City or Ireland before immigrating young, possibly growing up on Staten Island. As a teenager, he apprenticed under Mathew Brady at his Fulton Street gallery in New York, mastering w...