Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000372Sand Dunes, Carson Desert, Nevada
About the Artwork
This noontime scene conveys a desolate place discovered by a lonely explorer. The artist chose a vantage point and framing that blocked the horizon and showed a single wagon—the former Civil War ambulance that he converted into a portable darkroom—and only two sets of footprints. However, over the previous 25 years, more than 165,000 people had passed near here on their way to California.
Inscriptions
imprinted in black ink on recto: "U.S./ ENGINEER DEPARTMENT/ GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION/ FORTIETH PARALLEL"; "T.H.O'Sullivan Photographer"; "No. 59" (highlighted in black)"; in black ink on mount: "Sand Dunes near Sand"; in pencil on mount: "K1130"
Provenance
(Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY) June 3, 2002: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro Collection of American Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 26-September 10, 2003). The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890-1950. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (organizer) (October 29, 2006-January 20, 2007); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (March 4-June 3, 2007).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American, 1840–1882)
- Date
- 1867
- Medium
- albumen print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 19.7 x 27 cm (7 3/4 x 10 5/8 in.); Mounted: 45.7 x 59.4 cm (18 x 23 3/8 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 2002.45
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Open-access museum record · AT-00000372
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