{
"data": {
"id": 162313,
"accession_number": "2002.46",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Iceberg Canyon, Colorado River Looking Above, c. 1871. Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American, 1840\u20131882). Albumen print from wet collodion negative; image: 20.2 x 27.3 cm (7 15/16 x 10 3/4 in.); mounted: 35.5 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.); matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2002.46",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Iceberg Canyon, Colorado River Looking Above",
"creation_date": "c. 1871",
"creation_date_earliest": 1866,
"creation_date_latest": 1876,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "albumen print from wet collodion negative",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Photography",
"collection": "Photography",
"type": "Photograph",
"measurements": "Image: 20.2 x 27.3 cm (7 15/16 x 10 3/4 in.); Mounted: 35.5 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
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"height_inch": 7,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.9375,
"width": 0.273,
"width_inch": 10,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75
},
"mounted": {
"height": 0.355,
"height_inch": 14,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.457,
"width_inch": 18,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
},
"matted": {
"height": 0.508,
"height_inch": 20,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.61,
"width_inch": 24,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 184646,
"title": "Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro Collection of American Photography",
"description": "Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro Collection of American Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 26-September 10, 2003).",
"opening_date": "2003-04-26T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 194095,
"title": "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).",
"opening_date": "2007-06-24T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Grand Rapids Art Museum, 2002: \"Prints, Drawings and Photography, 1500-1900,\" no exhibition catalogue.",
"opening_date": "1900-01-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Timothy H. O'Sullivan served on the first and last seasons (1871-73) of the geographical expedition, led by Lieutenant George Montague Wheeler, to explore and map lands west of the 100th meridian. Wheeler sought an inland passage for troops from Idaho and Utah southward to Arizona and desired to document the topography to benefit future settlement. O'Sullivan's unequaled experience in the field earned him a boat of his own, Picture, from which he slowly explored the canyons from his low vantage point on the Colorado River. In this carefully composed picture of Iceberg Canyon, he seamlessly blended documentary and aesthetic interests, bringing formal and geological order to what is perhaps his best photograph taken along the Colorado. Contemplating the beautiful scenery, the centrally positioned, seated figure introduces human participation to a scene of geological wonder.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79986323"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2002.46-iceberg-canyon-color"
]
},
"citations": [],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.46",
"images": {
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"width": "1111",
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"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.46/2002.46_print.jpg",
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"filesize": "5613321",
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"date_created": "2006-12-19T15:33:27",
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 162313,
"creators": [
{
"id": 757,
"description": "Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American, 1840\u20131882)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "Timothy H. O'Sullivan American, b. Ireland?, 1840-1882\r\n\r\nAn important photographer of the American Civil War, Timothy O'Sullivan worked first for Mathew Brady, then Alexander Gardner in their Washington, D.C., studios, producing some of the war's best known images. The son of Irish immigrants, whether O'Sullivan was born in New York or Ireland remains unresolved. His photographs appear in Gardner's classic volumes, Photographic Incidents of the War (1863) and Photographic Sketchbook of the War (1866).\r\n\tAfter the war's end, O'Sullivan became a photographer for government land surveys, working from 1867-69 for Clarence King's expedition along the 40th parallel in Utah, Nevada, and California. In 1870 he was photographer for Thomas O. Selfridge's survey of the Isthmus of Darien to determine the path of the Panama Canal. That same year he was hired by Lieutenant George M. Wheeler to accompany his military surveys of the land west of the 100th meridian and expeditions to California, Nevada, and Arizona. O'Sullivan returned to work for King in 1872 before joining Wheeler again in 1873. Briefly a partner in the Washington photographic firm of Armstrong and Company, he left in 1880 to become chief photographer for the U.S. Treasury, replacing his friend and colleague Lewis Emory Walker.\r\n\tThroughout his work, O'Sullivan employed a spare, restrained style that appeals to the modern eye. It is perhaps significant that he remained in the employ of the government on projects in which objectivity was paramount. By contrast, works by his peers often seem influenced by the romanticism implicit in the enterprises, mining, development, and the building of railroads, that they were hired to record. T.W.F.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1840",
"death_year": "1882",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2002-06-03T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1866,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1871",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:25:46.975000"
}
}