JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
" American Artists ", gathered as a kind of display for NYC's Metropolitan Sanitary Fair. Anyone look familiar? They should. Some of these men saw an awful lot of the war. LoC.
The 1864 Metropolitan Sanitary Fair was a huge, big deal. I'm not sure it's quite understood what exactly these fairs were- they were a LOT of everything on the planet. You couldn't do justice to just one and there were quite a few. These fund raisers would be amazing to pull of in 2019- 150 years ago it was a spectacular undertaking. Men got to live because The Sanitary Commission stepped up.
NYC's 1864 fair is a whole, 'nother thread. One ' attraction ' was this ' display ' of American artists. Can you imagine the planning just for this photograph? Add to that the knowledge that a big clump of artists rubbing elbows isn't necessarily what you'd think. Whomever managed to achieve this final result is due an awful lot of credit. Bet they swore off good deeds for awhile.Still, what an awesome piece of history!
So Matthew Brady is seated, front left. I think I see Homer Winslow, maybe Thomas Nast, Edwin Forbes- I can't find O'Sullivan or Gardner but may be missing something, Whistler may be here as well as Thomas Eakins? Nathaniel Currier would certainly have been there and I think I see him- anyone else we should know?
It's a wonderful photograph, another question being who on earth took it?