Timothy H. O’Sullivan, American, 1840-1882
Steamboat Springs, Washoe, Nevada, 1867
After finishing his time as a photographer during the American Civil War, Timothy O’Sullivan moved on to a different kind of documentary photography. In 1867 O’Sullivan joined a group embarking on a geological exploration of the 40th Parallel where he served as the photographer of both the landscape and geology of the region and of the exploration itself. In his photo Steamboat Springs, O’Sullivan documents what he sees, including his coworkers, wagons, and tools. These human objects stand in contrast to the wide-open landscape that simultaneously isolates and envelops O’Sullivan and his crew. In this way, the landscape O’Sullivan depicts then is not simply a beautiful backdrop or an image of an unbroken American landscape but an image of the interaction between humans and the natural world. Label by Caitlin Blomo