Mathew Brady vs. Alexander Gardner

[Gettysburg Greg]

Mathew Brady took the credit for the iconic photographs of the dead from the Battle of Antietam and displayed them in his NY Gallery as "the Dead of Antietam". The first seen graphic images of bodies on the battlefield shocked the nation as the New York Times published, Brady had brought the "terrible reality of war to peoples' dooryards". However, Brady, himself never traveled to Antietam, he dispatched two of his photographers, Alexander Gardner and James Gibson who actually recorded the historic photographs. Neither photographer was happy about Brady claiming the credit so when Gardner quit to open his own studio, Gibson left with him. So, as karma would have it, Gardner and his crew of Gibson and Timothy O'Sullivan arrived in Gettysburg just two days after the battle while there were still many bodies left unburied to photograph. A total of 37 images of the dead were recorded by Gardner and his crew, most from the Rose farm and the Devil's Den area. Nearly two weeks after the battle, Mathew Brady arrived on the battlefield from New York with three assistants and recorded many panoramas of the battlefield that allow us to see the field just as seen by the soldiers. There were no bodies left unburied to photograph, but Brady was aware that the money shots in CW photography were images of the fallen. Therefore, even though there were no bodies remaining, Brady poorly posed his assistant as a corpse in three different locations. I have put together a collage showing the Brady assistant alive and well standing in front of the gatehouse along with the crops from his three "death poses". On top right, Brady and his vested assistant sit on their wagon parked on the Wheatfield Road apparently staring at the poser lying awkwardly on the road with his head on a rock and knees in the air. On bottom left, the same man is seen lying among the shattered trees on Culp's Hill, again with knees in the air. And finally, on bottom right we once again see the same man on his back next to the Brian house with one knee up. However, I must say, that even though it is obvious that Brady may have attempted a ruse, I have never seen any context in which he claims there are any bodies in his Gettysburg series.

 

[Rhea Cole]

What you have described is what art historians describe as the transition between photos as artistic illustration & photo journalistic documentation.

The Crimean War was the first to be photographed. A famous image of the ground covered by the Charge of the Light Brigade landscape is dotted with cannon balls… or not.

Not satisfied with the empty patch of ground, the photographer did what any illustrator would have done, he dotted it with cannon balls. Read more here.

Link:

Of Chickens, Eggs, and Cannonballs: Roger Fenton’s Valley of the Shadow of Death (1855)

Controversial early photograph of a battle site during the Crimean War, taken by the British artist Roger Fenton.

publicdomainreview.org

This is as close to what the Battle of Gettysburg actually looked like as we will ever get. The illustrator was present during Longstreet's attack, but for obvious reasons wasn't standing there drawing fire as well. To understand what you are looking at, read the notes.

In this detail the numbers are the key to the notes. Soldiers who survived the battle were his guides.

When Civil War photographers composed a photograph it involved a laborious, literally life threatening preparation. A mobile photo lab on a wagon was required. Depending on available sunlight, a single image could take hours to capture it, or not. In no way did the process resemble the digital images that capture a projectile a few feet from the cannon's mouth of today.

Brady, Gardner, et al, were illustrators, not modern photo journalists. They were literally making it up as they went along.

It is very important that we don't confuse Civil War photographers composing a scene with photoshopped images deliberately meant to deceive.

As illustrators, Civil War photographers sought to create an artistically true image of the grotesque, traumatizing things they had witnessed.

The special correspondent artists for Leslie's & Harper's Illustrated self censored their drawings that became the illustrations we all have as our collective memory of the war.

Captain Adolph Metzner was a soldier / artist, whose collected drawing are available from the Library of Congress, did not.

This is my copy of Michael Peake's "Civil War illustrations by Captain Adolph Metzner, 32 Indiana, Bloodshed in the Civil War."

I personally don't have to theorize about how long Metzner spent in unblinking study of every minute detail of the scenes he witnessed & documented. For the rest of his life all he had to do was reach back into his vivid visual memory to see it all again… including the things he could not bring himself to put down on paper.

 

[Gettysburg Greg]

What you have described is what art historians describe as the transition between photos as artistic illustration & photo journalistic documentation.

The Crimean War was the first to be photographed. A famous image of the ground covered by the Charge of the Light Brigade landscape is dotted with cannon balls… or not.

Not satisfied with the empty patch of ground, the photographer did what any illustrator would have done, he dotted it with cannon balls. Read more here.

Link:

Of Chickens, Eggs, and Cannonballs: Roger Fenton’s Valley of the Shadow of Death (1855)

Controversial early photograph of a battle site during the Crimean War, taken by the British artist Roger Fenton.

publicdomainreview.org

View attachment 579325

This is as close to what the Battle of Gettysburg actually looked like as we will ever get. The illustrator was present during Longstreet's attack, but for obvious reasons wasn't standing there drawing fire as well. To understand what you are looking at, read the notes.

View attachment 579326
In this detail the numbers are the key to the notes. Soldiers who survived the battle were his guides.

When Civil War photographers composed a photograph it involved a laborious, literally life threatening preparation. A mobile photo lab on a wagon was required. Depending on available sunlight, a single image could take hours to capture it, or not. In no way did the process resemble the digital images that capture a projectile a few feet from the cannon's mouth of today.

Brady, Gardner, et al, were illustrators, not modern photo journalists. They were literally making it up as they went along.

It is very important that we don't confuse Civil War photographers composing a scene with photoshopped images deliberately meant to deceive.

As illustrators, Civil War photographers sought to create an artistically true image of the grotesque, traumatizing things they had witnessed.

View attachment 579327

The special correspondent artists for Leslie's & Harper's Illustrated self censored their drawings that became the illustrations we all have as our collective memory of the war.

Captain Adolph Metzner was a soldier / artist, whose collected drawing are available from the Library of Congress, did not.

View attachment 579328
This is my copy of Michael Peake's "Civil War illustrations by Captain Adolph Metzner, 32 Indiana, Bloodshed in the Civil War."

View attachment 579329

View attachment 579330

I personally don't have to theorize about how long Metzner spent in unblinking study of every minute detail of the scenes he witnessed & documented. For the rest of his life all he had to do was reach back into his vivid visual memory to see it all again… including the things he could not bring himself to put down on paper.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge regarding Civil War photography and illustrations. I've been studying the subject for many years and I think I learned some new stuff from your post, much appreciated. I've always looked at it as it is important to keep in mind, the photographers and sketch artists were entrepreneurs who who's first goal was to sell their images. They never intended to be journalists documenting the war. And, of course, after the photos of the dead from Antietam became so popular, pictures of the fallen became the money shot many were seeking and sometimes staging to different degrees.

 

[Library Lady]

Despite its rather sensational title, this book gives an excellent overview of the state of photography at the time of the Civil War and provides information on Brady, Gardner and others who were contemporaries (and sometimes competitors) of William Mumler, the spirit photographer. It's an enjoyable read, especially for those with a casual interest, not a deep technical dive.

THE APPARITIONISTS | Kirkus Reviews

The tale of a provocative controversy and court trial from the formative era of photography.

www.kirkusreviews.com

 

[Rhea Cole]

View attachment 579347

Despite its rather sensational title, this book gives an excellent overview of the state of photography at the time of the Civil War and provides information on Brady, Gardner and others who were contemporaries (and sometimes competitors) of William Mumler, the spirit photographer. It's an enjoyable read, especially for those with a casual interest, not a deep technical dive.

THE APPARITIONISTS | Kirkus Reviews

The tale of a provocative controversy and court trial from the formative era of photography.

www.kirkusreviews.com

This book is hand in glove with "This Republic of Suffering." That is a very apt recommendation on multiple levels.

 

[Belfoured]

Mathew Brady took the credit for the iconic photographs of the dead from the Battle of Antietam and displayed them in his NY Gallery as "the Dead of Antietam". The first seen graphic images of bodies on the battlefield shocked the nation as the New York Times published, Brady had brought the "terrible reality of war to peoples' dooryards". However, Brady, himself never traveled to Antietam, he dispatched two of his photographers, Alexander Gardner and James Gibson who actually recorded the historic photographs. Neither photographer was happy about Brady claiming the credit so when Gardner quit to open his own studio, Gibson left with him. So, as karma would have it, Gardner and his crew of Gibson and Timothy O'Sullivan arrived in Gettysburg just two days after the battle while there were still many bodies left unburied to photograph. A total of 37 images of the dead were recorded by Gardner and his crew, most from the Rose farm and the Devil's Den area. Nearly two weeks after the battle, Mathew Brady arrived on the battlefield from New York with three assistants and recorded many panoramas of the battlefield that allow us to see the field just as seen by the soldiers. There were no bodies left unburied to photograph, but Brady was aware that the money shots in CW photography were images of the fallen. Therefore, even though there were no bodies remaining, Brady poorly posed his assistant as a corpse in three different locations. I have put together a collage showing the Brady assistant alive and well standing in front of the gatehouse along with the crops from his three "death poses". On top right, Brady and his vested assistant sit on their wagon parked on the Wheatfield Road apparently staring at the poser lying awkwardly on the road with his head on a rock and knees in the air. On bottom left, the same man is seen lying among the shattered trees on Culp's Hill, again with knees in the air. And finally, on bottom right we once again see the same man on his back next to the Brian house with one knee up. However, I must say, that even though it is obvious that Brady may have attempted a ruse, I have never seen any context in which he claims there are any bodies in his Gettysburg series.
View attachment 579287

As an aside, I recently read this book. It's about a post-ACW event in 1868 on the western Plains but it contains a surprising and remarkable amount of information about Gardner because he took the photograph that is the basis for the book. It's interesting in other respects but I learned much about Gardner that I never knew - how/why he came to the US, how he became a photographer, his relations with Brady, how he got into marketing his photographs, the logistics of the process (including transporting materials), etc etc etc. I found it worth reading for that reason alone even though I set out to read it for other reasons.

The Girl in the Middle

Shortlisted for the Cundill History PrizeA haunting image of an unnamed Native child and a recovered story of the American West

press.princeton.edu