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Artists›Timothy O'Sullivan

Timothy O'Sullivan

Timothy O'Sullivan

Artist

PrintmakingSurrealismPhotography

Representation

None documented

16

Institutional Exhibitions

232

Works in Collection

325

Assets Indexed

1

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Movements

• Surrealism
• Photography

Related Artists

No edges recorded

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

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No image

American Landscapes

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1981

No image

Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1981

No image

Reinstallation of the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1980

No image

Edward Steichen Photography Center Reinstallation

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979

No image

The Artist as Adversary

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

About

Why this artist matters now

Timothy O'Sullivan was an American photographer who documented the American West and geological surveys during the 1870s, producing some of the earliest large-format landscape photographs of the region. Working with wet collodion on glass plates, he captured vast canyon formations, mining operations, and indigenous settlements with a formal, architectural precision that transformed landscape photography into a scientific instrument. His work appeared in official U.S. Geological Surveys and established photography as essential to westward exploration and territorial mapping.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Surrealism

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (232)

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho. Gorge and natural bridge, in the fore-ground, No. 50 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho. Gorge and natural bridge, in the fore-ground, No. 50 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.3 × 7.4 cm (3 11/16 × 2 15/16 in.); Card: 9.9 × 17.7 cm (3 15/16 × 7 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho, Main Fall, 210 feet from upper to lower level, width of fall, 800 feet from upper to lower level; Height of Cañon wall at the falls, 1.000 feet. A number of minor falls, Islands, and boulder rocks above the main fall add beauty to the lonely majesty of this scene, No. 48 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho, Main Fall, 210 feet from upper to lower level, width of fall, 800 feet from upper to lower level; Height of Cañon wall at the falls, 1.000 feet. A number of minor falls, Islands, and boulder rocks above the main fall add beauty to the lonely majesty of this scene, No. 48 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.2 × 7.5 cm (3 5/8 × 3 in.); Card: 10 × 17.8 cm (3 15/16 × 7 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho, looking through the timber, and showing the main fall, and upper or "Lace Falls", No. 49 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho, looking through the timber, and showing the main fall, and upper or "Lace Falls", No. 49 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.2 × 7.5 cm (3 5/8 × 3 in.); Card: 10 × 17.7 cm (3 15/16 × 7 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Lost Lakes, head of Conejos Cañon, Colorado, in the Sierra San Juan range, near divide between Conejos and south fork of Alamosa Rivers, surrounded by forest of Douglass spruce, and approximately 11.000 feel above sea-level, No. 37 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Lost Lakes, head of Conejos Cañon, Colorado, in the Sierra San Juan range, near divide between Conejos and south fork of Alamosa Rivers, surrounded by forest of Douglass spruce, and approximately 11.000 feel above sea-level, No. 37 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.2 × 7.4 cm (3 5/8 × 2 15/16 in.); Card: 10 × 17.7 cm (3 15/16 × 7 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Roman Catholic Church, Plaza of Guadaloupe, Guadaloupe Co., Colorado. Built not many years since of adobes. Dimensions, length 120 feet; width 60 feet; height 25 feet. Grave yard in the foreground surrounded by an abode wall about 6 feet in height, No. 34 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Roman Catholic Church, Plaza of Guadaloupe, Guadaloupe Co., Colorado. Built not many years since of adobes. Dimensions, length 120 feet; width 60 feet; height 25 feet. Grave yard in the foreground surrounded by an abode wall about 6 feet in height, No. 34 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.2 × 7.4 cm (3 5/8 × 2 15/16 in.); Card: 10 × 17.8 cm (3 15/16 × 7 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Beaver Lake, Conejos Cañon, Colorado, 9.000 feet above sea-level, and 30 miles from mouth of Cañon, No. 35 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Beaver Lake, Conejos Cañon, Colorado, 9.000 feet above sea-level, and 30 miles from mouth of Cañon, No. 35 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.2 × 7.4 cm (3 5/8 × 2 15/16 in.); Card: 10 × 17.8 cm (3 15/16 × 7 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Cañon, Valley of the Conejos River, looking south from vicinity of "Lost Lakes", No. 36 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Cañon, Valley of the Conejos River, looking south from vicinity of "Lost Lakes", No. 36 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.3 × 7.4 cm (3 11/16 × 2 15/16 in.); Card: 10 × 17.8 cm (3 15/16 × 7 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Pah-ge, a Ute Squaw, of the Kah-poh-teh band, Northern New Mexico, No. 39 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

Pah-ge, a Ute Squaw, of the Kah-poh-teh band, Northern New Mexico, No. 39 from the series "Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian"

1874 · Albumen print, stereo

Each image: 9.3 × 7.5 cm (3 11/16 × 3 in.); Card: 10 × 17.7 cm (3 15/16 × 7 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 232 artworks →

Record

Images

Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

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Also printmaking

Also printmaking

Also printmaking

Also printmaking

Also printmaking

Also printmaking

Record

Movements and affiliations

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US