| Names: | Other: Brady's Daguerreotype Gallery Other: Brady's Gallery Other: M.B. Brady Other: Mathew Brady Other: Matthew B. Brady Other: Matthew Brady Joint: Mathew Brady's Studio
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| | Dates: | 1823 - 1896, 15 January | | Born: | US, NY, Warren County | | Died: | US. NY, New York | | Active: | US | | Gender: | Male | American photographer best known for portraits of famous contemporary Americans and his photographs of the American Civil War.
His obituary in the New York Times (Jan 19, 1896, p.3) read:
Death of MATTHEW B. BRAD [sic]
The Famous Photographer of War Times
Succumbs to Misfortunes at the
Presbyterian Hospital
Matthew B. Brady, the famous war photographer, died at the Presbyterian Hospital Wednesday night, alone and unnoticed. The hospital books state that he died from Bright's disease, but his death was really due to the misfortunes which have befallen him in recent years. He was seventy-two years old.
Matthew Brady has a double claim to remembrance. He was one of the earliest and for many years the leading photographer of this country.
When the Prince of Wales visited the United States, in 1860, as a slim and handsome youth of nineteen Mr. Brady photographed him. A copy of this photograph was forwarded two years ago to the Prince who acknowledged the receipt in kindly terms.
Bayard Taylor spoke of Mr. Brady in the days before the war as the "court photographer."
During the war Mr. Brady engaged a number of photographers who took upward of 30,000 pictures of battle scenes, showing famous battlefields as they appeared before and after some of the greatest conflicts of the war. Nearly every important paper and illustrated magazine published during war times made use of these photographs.
He hoped the Government would purchase the complete collection, and, although the War Department took the bulk of them, the photographer was never repaid for the time and money he spent.
When he became old and nearly blind, and finally had the additional misfortune to meet with a carriage accident. Mr. Brady became practically dependent on the kindness of his friends.
He was a veteran of the Seventh Regiment, and was cared for by members of that organization and the Artist's Fund Society. It was through their efforts that he was admitted to the Presbyterian Hospital.
Among those whose photographs Mr. Brady took were Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, the two Van Burens, Lincoln, Seward, Chase, "Dolly" Madison, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Polk and Harriet Lane.Preparing biographies General reading Hogge, Dennis, 2011, Mathew Brady's Manassas Photo Journal, (Centreville, VA: Old Dominion Publishers) isbn-10: 0615493435 isbn-13: 978-0615493435 [Δ] Rosenheim, Jeff L., 2013, Photography and the American Civil War, (Metropolitan Museum of Art) isbn-10: 0300191804 isbn-13: 978-0300191806 [Exhibition catalogue] [Δ] Trachtenberg, Alan, 1989, Reading American Photographs: Images as History Matthew Brady to Walker Evans, (New York: Hill and Wang) [Δ] Williams, Susan E., 2002, ‘Richmond Again Taken: Reappraising the Brady Legend through Photographs by A. J. Russell‘, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol.110, no.4, pp.437-460 [Δ] Readings on, or by, individual photographers Andrews, M., 2004, ‘Mathew Brady's Portrait of Dickens: 'a fraud and imposition on the public'?‘, History of Photography, vol.28, no.4, pp.375-379 [Δ] Britzker, Barry, 2003, Mathew Brady, (JG Press) isbn-10: 1572153423 isbn-13: 978-1572153424 [Δ] Cobb, Josephine, 1953-56, ‘Mathew B. Brady's Photographic Gallery in Washington‘, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, pp.28-69 [Also available as a bound book. (Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society Records), reprint, Vol. 5356] [Δ] Gilbert, G., 1993, ‘Brady's Four New York City Galleries, Not Three!‘, Daguerreian Annual, pp.74-79 [Δ] Hobart, G., 1984, Mathew Brady, (London) [Δ] Horan, James D., 1955, Mathew Brady: Historian With a Camera, (Bonanza) [Δ] Kailbourn, T.R., 1992, ‘"Still Taking Pictures": An Interview with Mathew Brady in April, 1891‘, Daguerreian Annual, pp.109-117 [Δ] Meredith, Roy, 1946, Mr Lincoln's Cameraman, (New York) [Δ] Meredith, Roy, 1976, The World of Mathew Brady: Portraits of the Civil War Period, (Brooke House Publishers) isbn-10: 0912588055 isbn-13: 978-0912588056 [Δ] Meredith, Roy, 1982, Mathew Brady’s Portrait of an Era, (New York and London: W. W. Norton) [Δ] Panzer, M., 1997-1998, Mathew Brady and the Image of History, (Washington, DC, N.P.G; Cambridge, MA, Fogg; New York, Int. Cent. Phot.) [Exhibition catalogue] [Δ] Panzer, Mary, 2001, Mathew Brady, (MA, Boston: Phaidon Inc) isbn-10: 0714840653 isbn-13: 978-0714840659 [Δ] Savas, Theodore P., 2008, Brady's Civil WarJournal: Photographing the War, 1861-65, (New York: Skyhorse Publications) [Δ] Sullivan, George, 1994, Mathew Brady: His Life and Photographs, (New York, Cobblehill/Dutton) isbn-10: 0525651861 isbn-13: 978-0525651864 [Δ] If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com | |
Family history If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch. alan@luminous-lint.com |
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