Laramie Valley, From Sheephead Mountains

Art Historical Context

**Laramie Valley, Sheephead Mountains** (1868/69) by Andrew Joseph Russell captures the, untamed beauty of the American West during a transformative era. As the official photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad, Russell documented the construction of the transcontinental railroad which linked East and West in 1869 and symbolized national expansion after the Civil War. This vista from the Sheephead Mountains showcases the Laramie Valley's rugged terrain—plate VI from his landmark album *Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery* (1870)—highlighting how photography helped promote westward settlement and manifest destiny. Printed as an albumen print, a pioneering 19th-century process using egg whites to bind light-sensitive silver salts, the image achieves remarkable tonal depth and clarity on its 15.2 × 20.4 cm sheet. Russell's precise compositions, influenced by stereo views he also produced, emphasize nature's grandeur, rivaling paintings in their epic scale. These works were not just records but artistic celebrations of America's frontier, collected in deluxe albums for elite audiences. Today, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Photography and Media department, this print reminds us how Russell's lens preserved vanishing landscapes amid rapid industrialization, offering visitors a window into the wild heart of 1860s Wyoming. (198 words)

About the Artist

Andrew Joseph Russell · 1830–1902

Andrew Joseph Russell (1829–1902) was a pioneering American photographer whose work captured the raw drama of the Civil War and the monumental engineering of the transcontinental railroad. Born on March 20, 1829, in Walpole, New Hampshire, to Joseph Russell and Harriet Robinson, he grew up in Nunda, New York, where he developed an early passion for painting, creating portraits, landscapes, and eve...