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"
Medium
Albumen print, stereo
Dimensions
Each image: 9.2 × 7.5 cm (3 5/8 × 3 in.); Card: 10 × 17.7 cm (3 15/16 × 7 in.)
Classification
stereograph (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
210786
Art Historical Context
Timothy O’Sullivan created this striking stereograph in1874 while working for the U.S. Army’s Wheeler Survey, one of several government expeditions charting the American West. The image captures Shoshone Falls on Idaho’s Snake River, revealing both the powerful main cascade and the delicate upper “Lace Falls” framed by timber. As part of the series “Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian,” the photograph helped document remote landscapes for scientific, military, and settlement purposes, bringing distant wonders to Eastern audiences. Produced as an albumen-print ster...
About the Artist
Timothy O'Sullivan · 1840–1882
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840–1882) emerged as one of America's pioneering photographers during a transformative era. His early life remains sparsely documented, with records suggesting he was born either in New York City or Ireland before immigrating young, possibly growing up on Staten Island. As a teenager, he apprenticed under Mathew Brady at his Fulton Street gallery in New York, mastering w...