Mathew Brady

Brady after Bull Run, July 22, 1861, from LC
Mathew B. Brady (1823-1896) was born in Warren County, New York, and became interested in art when he met the portrait painter William Page in Sarasota. He moved with Page to New York City and was working as a jewel-case manufacturer when he learned to make daguerreotypes and by 1843 had opened a portrait studio at the corner of Broadway and Fulton Street. In 1845 he began to collect and sell portraits of famous Americans in his "Gallery of Illustrious Americans," and opened a branch studio in Washington D.C. in 1847. His work won a medal at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. In 1852 he opened his second New York studio and began to rely more on assistants to do the work of picture-taking as his eyesight was failing. Alexander Gardner worked for Brady specializing in the new collodion wet-plate process, sold large prints 17x20 inches called "Imperials" for $750, and was put in charge of the Washington studio in 1858. Brady photographed Abraham Lincoln in 1861 for his Cooper Union speech, and would make several series of images of Lincoln during his presidency. During the Civil War, Brady received official permission from Lincoln to follow the armies to make pictures. he organized 22 photographers who made 10,000 negatives by 1865. Brady sent the negatives to Anthony & Co. in New York who mass-produced cartes de visite for sale to the public that became Brady's main source of income. Yet the cost of this enterprise bankrupted Brady, and part of his collection was sold at auction to the government, and part went to the supply company of E. and H. T. Anthony. Brady would continue to make photographs for the remainder of his life, but died in poverty in 1896.

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revised 8/15/05 by Steven Schoenherr at the University of San Diego