Pontoon Bridge Across the Rappahannock
Alexander Gardner
American, born Scotland. 1821–1882
Timothy O'Sullivan
American, born Ireland. 1840–1882
May 1863
An albumen silver print by Alexander Gardner that records a temporary pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock River, made to document Civil War military engineering and troop movements.
Your eye is drawn along two long, parallel lines of boats and planks slicing the calm river, with tiny figures and wagons giving scale against a spare, open landscape that conveys both order and stillness.
Part of Gardner’s Civil War portfolio, this photograph helped establish photography as a tool for documenting the logistics and terrain of modern warfare and shaped the emerging practice of documentary visual reportage.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
12 1/2 × 17 1/8" (31.8 × 43.5 cm)
6 15/16 × 9 1/16" (17.7 × 23 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Anonymous gift
Accession
34.1941.32
Palette
Exhibitions
