Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg
July 1863
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 37 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, vol. 1" (1866)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 17.7 × 22.9 cm (7 × 9 1/16 in.); Album page: 31.1 × 44.6 cm (12 1/4 × 17 9/16 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196296
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Along with Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, Timothy O'Sullivan was one of the primary photographers of the American Civil War. Using wet-plate glass negatives, a cumbersome and labor-intensive technology that did not allow for images of active battle, O'Sullivan concentrated on the war's harrowing aftermath. This photograph depicts a scene following the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the war's bloodiest confrontations, in which thousands of men on both sides lost their lives. The lifeless, expo...
About the Artist
Timothy O'Sullivan · 1840–1882
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840–1882) emerged as one of America's pioneering photographers during a transformative era. His early life remains sparsely documented, with records suggesting he was born either in New York City or Ireland before immigrating young, possibly growing up on Staten Island. As a teenager, he apprenticed under Mathew Brady at his Fulton Street gallery in New York, mastering w...