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Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Shoshone Falls, Idaho
1868
Albumen silver print
7 3/4 x 10 5/8 ins
George Eastman Museum
LL/33165
O'Sullivan's views at the Falls of Soshone speak of danger and the power of nature. His views of the vastness of the West embrace themes of isolation, silence, and solitude. O'Sullivan's views point out the insignificance of people and are reflective of Clarence King's writing: "No sheltering pine or mountain distance of uppiled [sic] Sierras guard the approach to the Shoshone. You ride upon a waste the pale earth stretched in desolation. Suddenly, you stand upon a brink. As if the earth has yawned, black walls fl ank the abyss. . . . You turn from the brink as from a frightful glimpse of the Inferno, and when you have gone a mile the earth seems to have closed again. Every trace of the caħon has vanished, and the stillness of the desert reigns."
Clarence King, "The Falls of the Shoshone," The Overland Monthly, vol. 5, no. 4 (October 1870), 379-85.
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