Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00012638East Humboldt Mountains, Utah
About the Artwork
By nature and by experience gained during the Civil War, O’Sullivan was ideally suited for the physical and creative demands required of the official photographer for the geological exploration of the fortieth parallel, led by the enterprising Yale geologist Clarence King. The goal of the expedition was to survey the geological structure and natural resources of a swath of territory 100 miles wide, from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains across the Great Basin to the Rocky Mountains. While on the expedition in 1867–69 and 1872, O’Sullivan simultaneously pursued his own interest in perfecting a balanced, aesthetic style of landscape photography while providing a faithful record of the natural terrain. As typified in this print, he positioned the camera at a distance parallel to the majestic scenery, presenting a shallow, flattened depiction of space. The image describes in sharp detail the sheer beauty and rugged scale of this Western landscape.
Inscriptions
Written on negative: "101"; in pencil on recto: "7.5"; in black ink on verso: "101"; "H-7";
Provenance
Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, CT Private Collection, CT (Etherton Gallery, Tucson, AZ) December 7, 1992: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Selected Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 9-April 11, 1993). Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 12, 2000-January 3, 2001). Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007); Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2009-January 3, 2010).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American, 1840–1882)
- Date
- 1868
- Medium
- albumen print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 19.7 x 27 cm (7 3/4 x 10 5/8 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- James Parmelee Fund
- Accession no.
- 1992.238
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Open-access museum record · AT-00012638
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