Background
Alexander Gardner was born on October 17, 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, United Kingdom.
1860
Alexander Gardner
1862
Confederate Dead at Antietam Maryland
1865
Cracked glass portrait of Abraham Lincoln, that was considered to be the last photograph taken of the president before his death. The photo was actually taken in February 1865.
1865
Lewis Powell, conspirator to assassination, after arrest
Alexander Gardner
A carte de visite of a US Navy Lieutenant of US Civil war 1861-1865
View of the scaffold used for the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators
The Scaffold
Reading the Warrant
Adjusting the Ropes
The trap is Sprung
After Trap has been Sprung
(Gardner's photographs are among the greatest war pictures...)
Gardner's photographs are among the greatest war pictures ever taken and are also among the most prized records of American history. Gardner was quite conscious of recording history, and spared himself no pains or risk to achieve the finest results. His work indicates a technical mastery that now seems incredible when one bears in mind the vicissitudes of collodion applications in the field, wet plates, long exposures, long drying times, imperfect chemicals - plus enemy bullets around the photographer's ears.
https://www.amazon.com/Gardners-Photographic-Sketchbook-Civil-War/dp/0486227316/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Alexander+Gardner&qid=1576739657&sr=8-1
1959
life insurance Photographer jeweller
Alexander Gardner was born on October 17, 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, United Kingdom.
Alexander Gardner became an apprentice jeweller at the age of 14, lasting seven years. He had a Church of Scotland upbringing and was influenced by the work of Robert Owen, Welsh socialist and father of the cooperative movement.
By adulthood Alexander Gardner desired to create a cooperative in the United States that would incorporate socialist values. In 1850, he and others purchased land near Monona, Iowa, for this purpose, but Alexander Gardner never lived there, choosing to return to Scotland to raise more money. He stayed there until 1856, becoming owner and editor of the Glasgow Sentinel in 1851. Visiting The Great Exhibition in 1851 in Hyde Park, London, he saw the photography of American Mathew Brady, and thus began his interest in the subject.
In 1856, Alexander Gardner and his family immigrated to the United States. Finding that many friends and family members at the cooperative he had helped to form were dead or dying of tuberculosis, he stayed in New York. He initiated contact with Brady and came to work for him that year, continuing until 1862. At first, he specialized in making large photographic prints, called Imperial photographs, but as Brady’s eyesight began to fail, Alexander Gardner took on increasing responsibilities. In 1858, Brady put him in charge of his Washington, D.C. gallery.
Abraham Lincoln became the American President in the November 1860 election and along with his election came the threat of war. Alexander Gardner, being in Washington, was well-positioned for these events, and his popularity rose as a portrait photographer, capturing the visages of soldiers leaving for war.
Brady had the idea to photograph the Civil War. Gardner's relationship with Allan Pinkerton was the key to communicating Brady's ideas to Lincoln. Pinkerton recommended Alexander Gardner for the position of chief photographer under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Topographical Engineers. Following that short appointment, he became a staff photographer under General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac. At this point, Gardner's management of Brady's gallery ended. The honorary rank of captain was bestowed upon he, and he photographed the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, developing photos in his travelling darkroom.
Lincoln dismissed McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862, and Gardner’s role as chief army photographer diminished. About this time, Alexander Gardner ended his working relationship with Brady. That winter, he followed General Ambrose Burnside, photographing the Battle of Fredericksburg. Next, Alexander Gardner followed General Joseph Hooker. In May 1863, he and his brother James opened their own studio in Washington, D.C, hiring many of Brady's former staff. Gardner photographed the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863) and the Siege of Petersburg (June 1864-April 1865) during this time.
In 1866, Alexander Gardner published a two-volume work, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War. Each volume contained 50 hand-mounted original prints.
Alexander Gardner would photograph Lincoln on a total of seven occasions while Lincoln was alive. He also documented Lincoln's funeral, and photographed the conspirators involved (with John Wilkes Booth) in Lincoln's assassination. He was the only photographer allowed at their execution by hanging, photographs of which would later be translated into woodcuts for publication in Harper's Weekly.
After the war, Alexander Gardner was commissioned to photograph Native Americans who came to Washington to discuss treaties. Many of his photos were stereoscopic. After 1871, he gave up photography and helped to found an insurance company.
Alexander Gardner stayed in Washington until his death. He became sick in the late fall of 1882 and died shortly afterward on December 10, 1882, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was buried in local Glenwood Cemetery.
(Gardner's photographs are among the greatest war pictures...)
1959Portrait of Ta-Tan-Kah-Sa-Pah (Black Bull)
1872Confederate dead at Antietam
1862Confederate dead at Antietam
1862Abraham Lincoln, Allan Pinkerton and John Alexander McClernand, visiting the Antietam battlefield
1862A Sharpshooter's Last sleep
1863The home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg
1863Middle bridge over Antietam Creek, September
1862David Herold, conspirator to assassination, after arrest
1865George Atzerodt, conspirator to assassination, after arrest
1865The "Gettysburg Portrait"
1863