Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Ancient Ruins in the Cañon de Chelle, N.M.

Public Domain

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

CultureAmerican

Titles

Ancient Ruins in the Cañon de Chelle, N.M.

Date1873

Place depictedCañon De Chelle, New Mexico, United States

MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative

DimensionsImage: 10 11/16 × 7 15/16 in. (27.2 × 20.2 cm)
Sheet: 10 11/16 × 7 15/16 in. (27.2 × 20.2 cm)
Mount: 19 3/8 × 15 13/16 in. (49.2 × 40.1 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Clarke

Object number79.92

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionTimothy O’Sullivan apprenticed in the Washington, D.C., portrait studio of Mathew Brady, and he matured and was tested under the most trying conditions as a field photographer during the Civil War. As a result, he was perfectly suited to participate in the postwar government-sponsored surveys of the American West. From 1867 to 1873, he accompanied expeditions that charted the geology and natural resources of the Southwest, sites for future settlement, militarily useful information about the topography and indigenous populations, and the route of the transcontinental railroad. In 1873, he led a side mission to the ancient Anasazi ruins at Canyon de Chelly, in what is now northeastern Arizona. Many photographers have since returned to photograph the so-called White House, fifty feet above the canyon floor, but none has surpassed O’Sullivan’s sweeping depiction of man’s ancient traces tucked in a niche of the steep, striated cliff.
Provenance[Hastings Galleries, Ltd., Hastings, England]; purchased by MFAH, 1979.
Exhibition HistoryLoaned to Manes Center of the Union of Czechoslovak Creative Artists, Progue, c/o U.S.I.A., Washington, D.C. for "The 150th Anniversary of the Invention of Photography: Prague 1989," from Aug. 1 to Sep. 30, 1989.

Loaned to San Antonio Museum of Art for "American Photography: A History in Pictures," from April 21 to July 31, 1994.

"A Love Affair with Pictures: 25 Years of Collecting Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 1–December 30, 2001.

"The American Landscape East to West: Themes in Painting and Photography, 1780-1910," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 6, 2003-January 19, 2004.

"The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890 - 1950," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 29, 2006–January 28, 2007; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, March 4– June 3, 2007.

“History of Photography I: Selections from the Museum's Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1, 2014–February 22, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Printed on mount recto, lower center: T.H. O'Sullivan. Phot. // ANCIENT RUINS IN THE CAÑON DE CHELLE, N.M. // In a niche 50 feet above present cañon bed.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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