Trachyte Walls, Snake River below Shoshone Falls, Idaho

Artist Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American, born Ireland, 1840 - 1882)

Date1868

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 7 5/8 × 10 5/8 inches (19.37 × 26.99 cm)
Mount: 17 7/8 × 23 7/8 inches (45.4 × 60.64 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.3271

InscribedOn mount verso, lower right, stamped in black ink: "Doubleday & Company, Inc. / 277 Park Avenue / New York, New York / AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN PHOTOGRAPHER"; On mount verso, lower right, (originally covered stamp above), in black type with pencil: "39. View on the Anake [SNAKE] River. / From the / james d. horan / Civil Ware and / Western Americana / Collection".

Markingsnone

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a rocky trachyte formation running alongside a river that bends near the horizon.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Timothy H. O’Sullivan: The King Survey Photographs. The Art Institute of Chicago, October 22, 2011 - January 15, 2012, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 7 - September 2, 2012, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo, UT, January 23 - May 26, 2014, no. 55.

Gallery Label

As photographer for the US geological survey of the fortieth parallel (an area that today encompasses parts of northern California, Nevada and eastern Wyoming), Timothy O’Sullivan worked alongside a team of botanists, geologists, and artists. The team was hired to record the area’s unique geology and topography, as seen in this view of a volcanic rock formation called trachyte. O’Sullivan applied compositional techniques used by landscape painters such as Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), who also accompanied the team for several weeks.

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