Indian Pueblo, Zuni, N.M.
Timothy O'Sullivan
American, born Ireland. 1840–1882
Seasons of 1871, 1872 and 1873
An albumen silver print by Timothy O’Sullivan that documents the clustered adobe dwellings of the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico, made as a visual record of Indigenous life and the landscapes encountered during westward surveys.
What strikes you is the low, terraced mass of earthen houses stretching across the horizon beneath a broad, cloud-filled sky, the repeating roofs, ladders, and fences creating a rhythmic, architectural silhouette.
Made in the early 1870s, this image exemplifies survey-era and ethnographic photography that both preserved details of Indigenous communities and shaped nineteenth-century American understandings of the Southwest, helping to establish a documentary visual language still echoed by later photographers.
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
87.1941.48
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
