The Civil War brought photography to the forefront of the public consciousness as it rose to prominence as a form of reportage. “Soul-lit Shadows – Masterpieces of Civil War Photography”, which is currently on view at Milk Gallery, New York, through August 21, 2015, charts the maturation of the photographic process in the United States during the bloodiest conflict ever waged in the country, as well as documents key players such as President Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee.
“Mathew Brady”, Photographer unknown. c. 1860s. Albumen print.
The work of Mathew Brady, the father of American photography, is the central feature of “Soul-lit Shadows.” Brady linked the new technology of replicable photography on paper with the history, politics, fame, and visual memory. With the use of photography to document the immediacy of the moment as it was taking place, and its ability to be reproduced in newspapers across the nation, the visual image became a dominant force in public discourse, and began to augment the written work for recording history and people. The men who worked for Brady became the first embedded photojournalists.
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Brady’s influence in the media enabled him to shape the path of history by influencing public opinion. His career was deeply intertwined with that of the president, as Lincoln acknowledged himself, stating, “Brady and the Cooper Union speech made me the President of the United States.” In his own time, Brady was recognized as a giant, but he died ignored, unappreciated, and broke, like so many other photographers of the time.
Also represented in the exhibition is Alexander Gardner, a former employee of Brady, who left to pursue his own path. As opposed to Brady, whose images were most classically composed, Gardner believed in the photograph as a factual document bearing witness to history as it unfolded.
“A Sharpshooter’s Last Sleep”, Alexander Gardner. From Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War. 1865-66.
Gardner was working with the Army of the Potomac as a civilian photographer during the Battle of Antietam. He carried his heavy equipment on to the battlefield in the immediate aftermath, capturing the wounded and the dead. This was the first time military devastation had been depicted in photographs, showing the gritty, raw truth of the cost of the Civil War.
“Abraham Lincoln”, Photographer unknown. March 1 – June 30, 1861. Albumen print.
One of Gardner’s photographs, “A Sharpshooter’s Last Sleep” from 1965-66 was shown to have been manipulated. It is believed that many other photographers manipulated scenes (sometimes by dragging bodies around and sometimes by turning a dead soldier’s head) to create a more dramatic effect.
The cumulative effect of “Soul-lit Shadows” is a combination of knowing and naïveté, an innocence and a desire to create a document that would become a part of the country’s legacy. Photography was an instantly understood medium that enabled the general public to easily and readily consume both portraiture and documentary work as ways of looking at the world.
When reflecting back upon this era we observe the development of the medium as a means of mass communication in an increasingly literate world. With “Soul-lit Shadows” we are able to consider the spaces where art, history, and propaganda merge into something entirely new: the creation of photojournalism and all its resulting concerns.
“Ruins of Gallego Flour Mills, Richmond”, Andrew J. Russell. From United States Military Photographic Album. c. 1865.
