View across Black Cañon. The grand walls in perspective, No. 2 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"
Medium
Albumen print, stereo
Dimensions
Each image: 9.3 × 7.5 cm (3 11/16 × 3 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
210759
Art Historical Context
Timothy O’Sullivan’s “View across Black Cañon” captures the dramatic scale of the American West during the great government surveys of the 1870s. Created as part of the Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, the stereograph documents the sheer cliffs and vast perspectives of Black Canyon, then largely unknown to most Eastern audiences. O’Sullivan, already renowned for his Civil War photographs, brought the same clear-eyed documentary approach to these landscapes, helping shape the nation’s understanding of its expanding territory. The work is an albumen-print stereo...
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...