Utah Ute Indian and Lady "Courting" in N.E. Utah, from the U.S. Topographical and Geological Survey of the Colorado River of the West

Art Historical Context

This stereograph by John K. Hillers captures a posed scene a Ute individual and a woman in northeastern Utah, created during the U.S. Topographical and Geological Survey of the Colorado River of the West between 1871 and 1874. As the expedition’s official photographer under John Wesley Powell, Hillers documented the landscapes and peoples of the American West, producing images that brought remote regions to Eastern audiences eager for glimpses of the frontier. The work is an albumen print presented in stereo format, a popular 19th-century technique that uses two nearly identical images to create a three-dimensional effect when viewed through a stereoscope. This medium allowed viewers to feel in the scene, enhancing the sense of discovery and exoticism associated with the survey’s findings. Hillers’s careful composition reflects both scientific documentation and the artistic conventions of early ethnographic photography. Such images played a significant role in shaping public perceptions of Native American life during a period of rapid westward expansion. Today, the stereograph offers insight into the intersection of exploration, photography, and cultural representation in the late 1800s, preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.