Framing the West

Welcome to a visual feast of iconic landscapes, from the Carson Desert sand dunes to the Canyon de Chelly, the dramatic Shoshone Falls, and more!

Master photographer Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) created hundreds of amazing landscape views for two government expeditions into the Western U.S.--the King survey of the 40th parallel and the Wheeler survey west of the 100th meridian. Our photography curator Carol Johnson selected highlights spanning his trips from 1867 to 1874.

Look closely, and you'll see traces of a photographic art quite different from today's pocket-size tools. A wagon for equipment, a large negative made of glass, a heavy wood camera, and O'Sullivan himself. The large-format prints were presented on mounts about 16 x 20 inches. The smaller stereograph pairs were mounted side by side to produce a three-dimensional effect.

You can learn lots more about O'Sullivan in a new book, Framing the West, by Toby Jurovics, Carol M. Johnson, Glenn Willumson, and William F. Stapp. The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Library of Congress joined forces to create a field guide for O'Sullivan's original prints, presenting them for the first time in the order of their production, with interesting discussions of his work, life, and influence.

The exhibition runs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, from February 12-May 9, 2010.

Explore more of O'Sullivan's work at the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress), where high resolution images are also available:
● King Survey
● Wheeler Survey
● American Civil War