Ruins in Cañon de Chelle, N. M., in a cavity in the wall, 60 feet above present bed of Cañon. Height of walls about 700 feet. The present race of Indians know nothing of the age of these buildings of who occupied them, No. 21 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 × 17.8 cm (3 15/16 × 7 1/16 in.)
Classification
stereograph (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
210781
Art Historical Context
Timothy O’Sullivan created this stereograph in 1873 while working as the official photographer for the U.S. Army’s Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. The image records Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings perched high in the sheer sandstone walls of Canyon de Chelly, New Mexico—structures the caption notes were already mysterious to contemporary Native peoples. As part of a government-sponsored expedition, the photograph helped introduce Eastern audiences to the dramatic landscapes and ancient cultures of the American Southwest. The stereograph format, with its pa...
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...