Meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac at Harper's Ferry
Alexander Gardner
American, born Scotland. 1821–1882
July, 1865
An albumen silver print by Alexander Gardner that records Harper’s Ferry at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac, made to document the town’s rivers, bridges, industrial buildings, and temporary camps in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.
You’re struck by the wide, calm sweep where two rivers meet, held between steep, rocky hills and counterbalanced by neat rows of tents and milllike buildings along the shore, giving the landscape a quiet, measured stillness.
This work is emblematic of mid-19th-century documentary photography—Gardner’s images helped shape how Americans visualized the Civil War’s landscapes, industry, and military presence and showed how albumen prints could circulate photographic evidence and memory to a broad public.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
6 9/16 × 9 1/16" (16.7 × 23 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Anonymous gift
Accession
34.1941.26
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
