One/Many: Western American Survey Photographs by Bell and O'Sullivan

by Joel Snyder

Josh Ellenbogen

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Book cover for One/Many

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Some of the most celebrated images of nineteenth-century American photography emerged from government-sponsored geological surveys whose purpose was to study and document western territories. Timothy H. O'Sullivan and William Bell, two survey photographers who joined expeditions in the 1860s and 1870s, opened the eyes of nineteenth-century Americans to the western frontier. Highlighting a recent Smart Museum of Art acquisition, "One/Many" brings together an exquisite group of photographs by Bell and O'Sullivan. Particularly noteworthy are their photographic panoramas, assemblages of individual images joined together to form a continuous, horizontal landscape view. These panoramas have not been exhibited in well over a century and have never before been published. For the first time, "One/Many" investigates their role and purpose both within and outside of the surveys, taking into account the larger context of nineteenth-century modes of viewing. The volume also allows the little-known Bell's work to be better understood next to that of his more famous colleague.
  • ISBN10 0935573437
  • ISBN13 9780935573435
  • Publish Date 1 February 2006
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher The University of Chicago Press
  • Imprint University of Chicago,David & Alfred Smart Museum,US