Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Volume 1

Timothy H. O'Sullivan|Alexander Gardner|George N. Barnard|James Gardner|John Reekie|David Knox|William R. Pywell|David B. Woodbury|Alexander Gardner|Alexander Gardner

1863 · Albumen silver prints from glass negatives · Photographs

This photograph of the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg appears in the two-volume opus Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War (1865-66). Gardner's publication is egalitarian. Offended by Brady's habit of obscuring the names of his field operators behind the deceptive credit "Brady," Gardner specifically identified each of the eleven photographers in the publication; forty-four of the one hundred photographs are credited to Timothy O'Sullivan. Gardner titled the plate Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Battlefield of Gettysburg. But the photograph, its commemorative title notwithstanding, relates a far more common story: six Union soldiers lie dead, face up, stomachs bloated, their pockets picked and boots stolen. As Gardner described the previous plate, aptly titled The Harvest of Death, this photograph conveys "the blank horror and reality of war, in opposition to its pageantry."

Artist

Timothy H. O'Sullivan|Alexander Gardner|George N. Barnard|James Gardner|John Reekie|David Knox|William R. Pywell|David B. Woodbury|Alexander Gardner|Alexander Gardner

Date

1863

Medium

Albumen silver prints from glass negatives

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005