What Do I Want, John Henry?
Alexander Gardner
November 1862
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 27 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, vol. 1" (1866)
Dimensions
17.7 × 22.9 cm (7 × 9 1/16 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196400
About the Artist
Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner was born on 17 October 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and came of age in a culture shaped by radical social thought. Influenced by the cooperative ideals of Robert Owen, Gardner initially apprenticed as a jeweler and harbored dreams of founding a utopian community in America. His encounter with photography changed the course of his life. After seeing Mathew Brady's cele...