Timothy H. O'Sullivan

Photographer

• Born: c. 1840
• Birthplace: Ireland
• Died: January 14, 1882
• Place of death: Staten Island, New York

Significance: Timothy H. O'Sullivan was a photographer known for capturing images of the Civil War (1861–1865) and the landscape of the American West. While many photographers of the era tried to capture the beauty of the American West, O'Sullivan's work depicted the harsh realities of the region. In the twenty-first century, his work continues to influence and inspire photographers.

Background

Little is known about Timothy H. O'Sullivan's early life. Biographers suggest that he was likely born in Ireland around 1840 to Jeremiah and Ann O'Sullivan. Sometime after O'Sullivan's birth, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Staten Island, New York. There is some speculation about the photographer's birthplace because O'Sullivan listed himself as being a native of New York on a job application. However, his father listed Ireland as his son's place of birth on O'Sullivan's death certificate.

One theory is that O'Sullivan did not claim his Irish heritage because there was much discrimination against Irish immigrants at the time. This may also have been the reason why the photographer sometimes dropped the O from his last name. O'Sullivan was raised Catholic, and records from St. Peter's Church show he was confirmed at age fifteen on November 11, 1855.

O'Sullivan's family lived near photographer Mathew Brady. By age sixteen, O'Sullivan was working as an apprentice in Brady's New York gallery. There, he learned the art of photography. O'Sullivan later transferred to Brady's studio in Washington, DC, where he was put under the guidance of photographer Alexander Gardner.

Life's Work

When the Civil War began in 1861, O'Sullivan joined Brady to photograph the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. The battle was not a success for the photographer. A shell destroyed his camera, and the Southern forces routed the North soldiers, forcing everyone to flee back to Washington. However, this did not stop O'Sullivan from returning to the battlefields.

Gardner, tired of not receiving credit for his work, left Brady's studio and took O'Sullivan with him. During this time, O'Sullivan captured some of the most memorable images of the war. Most of his work focused on pictures of soldiers in camps, not on the battlefield. At the time, attempting to take pictures during active battles would have been nearly impossible and likely deadly. O'Sullivan did capture the aftermaths of these battles, though. One of his most famous images from the war was the photograph A Harvest of Death (1863), which shows the bodies of dead soldiers littering the fields after the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

Many of O'Sullivan's photographs of the war were featured in Photographic Incidents of the War from the Gallery of Alexander Gardner (1863). Some were also published in Harper's Weekly, but most were credited to Brady. In the late twentieth century, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns featured many of O'Sullivan's war photographs in his miniseries on the Civil War.

Following the war, O'Sullivan returned to Washington, DC, but he did not stay there for long. He quickly joined Clarence King's 1867 expedition to explore the territory between the Rocky Mountains and the California Sierras. The trip was funded by the War Department.

At the time, there was an idea called Manifest Destiny. This was the belief that Americans had the God-given right to explore and settle the western portion of the continent. To encourage businesses and people to move west, the government often employed photographers to capture images of the territory. Most photographers of the era focused on the beauty of the western landscape to entice people to move there. O'Sullivan's work was different. He was not afraid to capture the starkness of the landscape and the overwhelming power of nature. Humans in his photographs of the landscape were often small, seemingly being swallowed by the trees, mountains, and rocks that surrounded them.

O'Sullivan spent several years with King's group before moving on to a military expedition led by Lt. George Montague Wheeler and sponsored by the US Geological Survey. This journey included explorations of Arizona, the Grand Canyon, and Death Valley, where O'Sullivan spent two days traveling without water. O'Sullivan attempted to capture them all. He also photographed the Black Canyon. This series of photographs is considered some of O'Sullivan's finest work. Black Cañon, Colorado River, from Camp 8, looking above (1871) is one of the most well-known photos in the series.

In 1872, O'Sullivan returned to work with King, exploring the territory in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The following year, he returned to the area around Arizona with Wheeler, where he took pictures of Native Americans and New Mexican churches. His final trip west was again with Wheeler to northern New Mexico and Colorado in 1874.

Following this, O'Sullivan returned to Washington, DC, where he worked as a commercial photographer for a time. In 1879, he found work at the US Geological Survey Office, and he was appointed as photographer for the Department of the Treasury in 1880. However, O'Sullivan had to give up this job when he became sick three months later. He died of tuberculosis on January 14, 1882, at the age of forty-one, at his parents' home in Staten Island.

Impact

O'Sullivan's work was almost forgotten, but photographer Ansel Adams helped revive interest in his photographs after discovering some of them in the 1940s. In the twenty-first century, O'Sullivan continues to be recognized as one of the first great American photographers.

Personal Life

O'Sullivan courted Laura Virginia Pywell for five years before marrying her on February 11, 1873. In September of 1876, the couple's only child, a son, was stillborn. It is said that O'Sullivan buried the baby himself. Laura also contracted tuberculosis. She died in October of 1881 and was buried next to their child.

Principal Works

Photography

A Harvest of Death, 1863

Black Cañon, Colorado River, from Camp 8, looking above, 1871

Bibliography

"Black Cañon, from Camp 8, Looking Above." Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.1054.19/. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

Fanning, Patricia. "O'Sullivan, Timothy H. (1840–1882)." Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia, edited by James P. Byrne et al., vol. 3, ABC-CLIO, 2008, pp. 746–48.

"A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania." The J. Paul Getty Museum, www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/58082/timothy-h-o'sullivan-print-by-alexander-gardner-a-harvest-of-death-gettysburg-pennsylvania-american-july-4-1863/. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

Regan, Margaret. "The Life of Timothy H. O'Sullivan." Tucson Weekly, 13 Mar. 2003, www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-life-of-timothy-h-osullivan/Content?oid=1071872. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

"Timothy H. O'Sullivan." International Center of Photography, www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/timothy-h-osullivan?all/all/all/all/0. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

"Timothy H. O'Sullivan." Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/artist/timothy-h-osullivan-3600. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.