CHICAGO, IL.- Geologist and mountaineer Clarence King’s survey of the American West (1867-1872) covered a vast 800-mile-long swath of terrain from the border of California eastward to the edge of the Great Plains. It was the first U.S. government-organized expedition to include a full-time photographer–Timothy H. O’Sullivan (1840-1882)–who produced about 450 iconic images of what was then a little-understood territory. More than 70 of these original prints are now presented together for the first time in Timothy H. O’Sullivan: The King Survey Photographs–an exhibition organized by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and premiering at the Art Institute of Chicago. On view from October 22, 2011, through January 22, 2012, in the museum’s Photography Galleries 1 and 2 , the exhibition takes an in-depth look at this one particular facet of O’Sullivan’s accomplished career and promotes a larger understanding of the nature of his visio