Existing comment:
"Bringing the Story of War to Our Doorsteps"
Alexander Gardner's Antietam Photographs
Matthew [sic] Brady's New York City Gallery: 1862
In 1862, Mathew Brady's gallery of photography in New York City had won renown for its formal portraits of historical greats.
"The new Brady Gallery has been baptized the 'National Portrait Gallery.' It deserves the name, and more. It is cosmopolite as well as national.
"The ample stairway of rich carved wood introduces you to a very Valhalla of celebrities, ranging over two continents, and through all ranks of human activity."
The gallery had also become the place for society to gather.
"... we understand, for to-morrow night, a general reception of ladies and amateurs, which bids fair to be one of the most unique and interesting entertainments of the current season."
-- New York Times, October 6, 1860
Brady's Gallery in 1862: A New View of Death in Battle:
In October of 1862, Brady showed the patrons of his gallery something completely different.
"At the door of his gallery hangs a little placard, 'The Dead of Antietam.' Crowds of people are constantly going up the stairs; follow them, and you find them bending over photographic views of that fearful battlefield, taken immediately after the action."
Mathew Brady's photographer Alexander Gardner had arrived on the Antietam Battlefield two days after the battle had ended on September 17th, 1862. Over the next few days he did something never done before in America. He chronicled the human carnage of battle. The Battle of Antietam is, even to this day, the single worst day in American military history. Over 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded out of a population of about 30 million, which was only one-tenth of today's population.
These photos were very different from the 'Beautiful Death' that 19th Century people had imagined was the reality of death in battle.
A Restaging and Rediscovery:
Using articles in the press from 1862 as well as original Gardner photographs purchased during the Civil War (5 are displayed in our Gallery) as our guides, Brady's "The Dead of Antietam" has been restaged. Alexander Garner's [sic] photos, reproduced in similar size and format are displayed in the Victorian parlor you will now be entering.
The photos were small:
"Next to it is a smaller photograph, some seven inches square, which tells a tale of desperate contention."
-- Harper's Weekly, October 18, 1862
Viewers had to bend over to observe them:
"You will see hushed, reverend groups standing around these weird copies of carnage, bending down to look in the pale faces of the dead, chained by the strange spell that dwells in dead men's eyes."
-- New York Times, October 20, 1862
And magnifying glasses were present:
"By the aid of the magnifying glass, the very features of the slain may be distinguished."
-- New York Times, October 20, 1862
The reproductions used in this exhibit are prints made form the original negatives via digital files. The Library of Congress recently produced high resolution .tif digital files of Gardner's photographs. These digital files were used to produce these prints.
These images of the dead were taken with a stereo camera. These large images, clumsy and difficult to use by today's standards, produced two side-by-side photographs. When viewed with a handheld viewer, the image appeared in 3-D.
Using modern technology a 3-D show of some of these photos concludes this exhibit. You will be able to see details in these photos never available before this show.
Prints of Alexander Gardner's photos are available for purchase, as they were in the Brady Gallery in 1862. |