Navajo Indian Squaw, and Child, at their home, in Cañon de Chelle, No. 27 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"
Medium
Albumen print, stereo
Dimensions
Each image: 9.2 × 7.4 cm (3 5/8 × 2 15/16 in.); Card: 10 × 17.7 cm (3 15/16 × 7 in.)
Classification
stereograph (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
210776
Art Historical Context
Timothy O’Sullivan created this stereograph in 1873 while traveling with the Wheeler Survey, a U.S. government expedition charged with mapping lands west of the 100th meridian. The paired photographs show a Navajo woman and child seated before their home in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, offering one of the earliest photographic glimpses of daily life in that region. Such images were intended not only as scientific records but also as vivid souvenirs for Eastern audiences eager to picture the distant Southwest. The work is an albumen-print stereograph, a popular nineteenth-century format in which...
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...