Mathew Brady
c. 1823–1896 · United States
The photographic studio and the memory of war.
The story
Mathew Brady ran portrait studios and organised the production of a substantial body of Civil War images. His name therefore also refers to a business and a network of photographers. Understanding this body of work requires distinguishing photographs taken by Brady from those made by his collaborators. Collection records help recover these precise attributions wherever possible.
Understanding the work
Compare the posed portrait with the field document. Always check the author named in the catalogue record: a studio credit does not necessarily identify the person behind the camera.
Key works and series
Portraits of Abraham Lincoln; nineteenth-century celebrities; Civil War archives.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
- MoMA · April 1865
Ruins of Richmond & Petersburg Railroad Bridge, Richmond, Virginia
Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative
- MoMA · 1865
Ruins of the Gallego Flour Mills, Richmond, Virginia
Albumen silver print
Mathew B. Brady (studio of) · Alexander Gardner
