Home of a Rebel Sharp-Shooter at Battle of Gettysburg
Artist
Timothy H. O'Sullivan
(American, born Ireland, 1840 - 1882)
Date1863
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 6 3/4 × 8 13/16 inches (17.15 × 22.38 cm)
Mount: 12 3/16 × 17 13/16 inches (30.96 × 45.24 cm)
Mount: 12 3/16 × 17 13/16 inches (30.96 × 45.24 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.222
InscribedOn Gardner "Incidents of the War" mount.
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of a man with his eyes closed (presumably dead) laying on his back between two large rocks; a gun leans against a pile of smaller rocks in the center.Exhibition HistoryDeveloping Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – December 30, 2007, no. 458.
Rotation 10. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 19 – September 11, 2011, no cat.
American Solider. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 23 – June 21, 2015, no cat.
This photograph is attributed to Timothy O’Sullivan, who worked as part of a team led by Alexander Gardner to document the aftermath of
the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. It depicts the corpse of a Confederate soldier, his rifle artfully placed by his body in an area known as Devil’s Den. Though long believed to be a factual record, modern scholarship has since determined that the image was arranged: comparisons with other photographs from this series reveal the corpse was hauled by the photographers to this spot, 70 yards from where the soldier actually fell. These revelations have both complicated and enriched our understanding of the history of documentary practice and the sometimes slippery nature of photographic “truth.”
the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. It depicts the corpse of a Confederate soldier, his rifle artfully placed by his body in an area known as Devil’s Den. Though long believed to be a factual record, modern scholarship has since determined that the image was arranged: comparisons with other photographs from this series reveal the corpse was hauled by the photographers to this spot, 70 yards from where the soldier actually fell. These revelations have both complicated and enriched our understanding of the history of documentary practice and the sometimes slippery nature of photographic “truth.”
Bob Zeller, The Blue and Gray in Black and White: A History of Civil War Photography (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2005): 106-07; William A. Frassanito, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time (Gettysburg, Penn.: Thomas Publications, 1975); William A. Frassanito, Early Photography at Gettysburg (Gettysburg, Penn.: Thomas Publications, 1995).
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