Timothy O’Sullivan

Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882), American photographer, who produced one of the most important bodies of photography in the 19th century, including western landscapes and battlefield views of the American Civil War (1861-1865). O'Sullivan was born on Staten Island, New York, and worked in the New York City studio of photographer Mathew Brady. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, O'Sullivan worked for Alexander Gardner, once head of Brady's portrait studio. Together O'Sullivan and Gardner produced some of the best-known Civil War battlefield scenes. Reports indicate that O'Sullivan's equipment was twice hit by shell fragments.

Following the war, O'Sullivan worked for various government survey expeditions exploring the American West and a proposed route for the Panama Canal. From 1867 to 1869 O'Sullivan was the official photographer for the United States Geological Survey on an expedition along the 40th parallel of latitude, in Utah, Nevada, and California. In the field he used heavy, cumbersome, wet-plate negatives and albumin printing paper, made his plates immediately before exposure, and developed them immediately after in a horse-drawn darkroom. O'Sullivan risked his life photographing the Comstock Lode mines in Nevada using magnesium flares. He made the first photographs of the miners' miserable conditions. The rest of his professional life was spent documenting the people, land, war, and burgeoning industry of 19th-century America.

O'Sullivan's photographs are distinctly modern, taking a candid, straightforward approach to his subjects and minimizing dramatic compositions and camera angles. His landscapes combine beauty with the detail and objectivity of a scientist. They are exhibited frequently.