Black Cañon, Colorado River, Looking Above from Camp 7
Timothy O'Sullivan
American, born Ireland. 1840–1882
1871
An albumen silver print made by Timothy O'Sullivan that documents a surveyor’s camp on the Colorado River, aiming to record the rugged landscape with the fidelity of a scientific record while composing it as a striking image.
You first notice the hush and scale—the small boat and a lone seated figure on a sandy, rock-strewn shore anchor the foreground while sheer, textured canyon walls rise on either side and the river narrows into a luminous, distant vein.
Made during post–Civil War government surveys of the American West, this photograph helped shape how the nation visualized and measured its frontier by fusing documentary precision with a new, influential approach to landscape photography.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
7 15/16 × 10 13/16" (20.2 × 27.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Ansel Adams in memory of Albert M. Bender
Accession
87.1941.5
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
