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Photographer Mathew Brady (1822-1896) was an established, successful photographer whose studios in New York City and Washington, D.C. enjoyed brisk business. He was a portrait photographer, primarily, but when the American Civil War broke out, Brady hired several photographers and set out to document the war.
An estimated 10,000 photographs were made by Brady and his associates throughout the war; in 1862, in his New York gallery, he displayed some of the images taken after the Battle of Antietam.
Ultimately, the project to document the war would cost roughly $100,000. And Brady, who had been granted permission to photograph the war for the Union Army, funded the project entirely himself, acting as an independent agent. While Brady believed that the U.S. government would purchase his collection of images—given their historical value—he would be sorely disappointed.
After the war, facing bankruptcy, Brady urged the government to purchase some of his images. In 1875, a decade following the war’s end, a portion of the images were purchased for $25,000—a massive sum, but not enough to save the intrepid photographer from bankruptcy.
Brady’s later life in New York City would find him deeply depressed. His wife had passed away and he had been forced to sell off his studios. Following a streetcar accident, Brady passed away in January of 1896.
His images remain the most significant documents of the American Civil War. To be sure, many images credited to Brady were made by the photographers who worked for him (notably, Timothy O’Sullivan and Alexander Gardner). But it was Brady who saw the need to use the camera on the battlefield; to preserve history in visual form. And in the aftermath of that tragic war, he roamed the streets of Washington, capturing the sites of the postbellum city; the eerie nature of those images is a stark reminder of the loss that hung over the country in the aftermath of war.
An estimated 10,000 photographs were made by Brady and his associates throughout the war; in 1862, in his New York gallery, he displayed some of the images taken after the Battle of Antietam.
Ultimately, the project to document the war would cost roughly $100,000. And Brady, who had been granted permission to photograph the war for the Union Army, funded the project entirely himself, acting as an independent agent. While Brady believed that the U.S. government would purchase his collection of images—given their historical value—he would be sorely disappointed.
After the war, facing bankruptcy, Brady urged the government to purchase some of his images. In 1875, a decade following the war’s end, a portion of the images were purchased for $25,000—a massive sum, but not enough to save the intrepid photographer from bankruptcy.
Brady’s later life in New York City would find him deeply depressed. His wife had passed away and he had been forced to sell off his studios. Following a streetcar accident, Brady passed away in January of 1896.
His images remain the most significant documents of the American Civil War. To be sure, many images credited to Brady were made by the photographers who worked for him (notably, Timothy O’Sullivan and Alexander Gardner). But it was Brady who saw the need to use the camera on the battlefield; to preserve history in visual form. And in the aftermath of that tragic war, he roamed the streets of Washington, capturing the sites of the postbellum city; the eerie nature of those images is a stark reminder of the loss that hung over the country in the aftermath of war.