Last chance to see "Photography and the American Civil War" at the MET!

Photographs from our Reed B. Bontecou M.D. collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through September 2, 2013

For those who have procrastinated all summer long, now is your last chance to visit the MET and walk through this extraordinary exhibit. From the MET’s website:

“More than two hundred of the finest and most poignant photographs of the American Civil War have been brought together for this landmark exhibition. Through examples drawn from the Metropolitan's celebrated holdings of this material, complemented by important loans from public and private collections, the exhibition examines the evolving role of the camera during the nation's bloodiest war.”

Throughout the summer, a number of publications as well as news outlets have covered the immensity of this exhibit, and the amazing job Chief Photography Curator, Jeff Rosenheim, has done. As part of their ongoing Study Day series, Stanley B. Burns M.D. was part of a distinguished panel of lecturers for a day-long event, “Study Day: The American Civil War and the Body.” A personal tour led by Jeff provided ticket holders with fascinating details about the photographs in the exhibit.

Visit the exhibit before it’s gone and see an entire space dedicated to images from The Burns Archive. The exhibit ends September 2, 2013.

Photography and the American Civil War

  

Metropolitan Museum of Art

1000 Fifth Ave. (at 82nd)

New York, NY 10028

ph: 212-535-7710

Dr. Bontecou's Photographs from the Burns Archive on CBS Sunday Morning

Photography that Changed the Way We View War: An overview of the Exhibit

Jeff Rosenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's curator of "Photography and the Civil War," discusses images and details that provide a more intimate look at those who shaped our nation’s history and the photographers that travelled among them, documenting every step of the way. 

Although the segment aired Sunday, it is viewable online (notice our Bontecou photographs in the opening of the interview!). For those who can’t make it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art before September 2nd, the exhibit will be headed to Charleston and New Orleans in the coming months.  

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57592359/photography-that-changed-the-way-we-view-war/

Metropolitan Museum of Art

1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street)

New York, NY 10028

Phone: 212-535-7710

Photography and the American Civil War at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dr. Burns’ collection of medical photographs are showcased in a dedicated room as part of the MET’s exhibit. 

April 2 to September 2, 2013

The photographs of wounded soldiers and operative scenes taken by Civil War surgeon Reed Brockway Bontecou, MD are presented for the first time in a major art museum. 

Taken originally to show the effects of wounds, complications and the result of treatments the images are now recognized as among the highest level of portraiture. While it’s easy to photograph a beautiful subject, Bontecou photographed suffering and disability with a universal appeal as a result of his artistic posing and interpretation of war wounds. Jeff Rosenheim, Chief Curator of Photography of the MET and curator of this exhibit, has long recognized the artistic power of these portraits. 

The photographs show not the bravado of men about to enter battle, an all too familiar topic of interest for collectors and curators, but the true personal results of war for service personnel and their families. These images portray men, young and old, starring at us stoically, carrying their wounds. They are presented as people, not specimens, as a result of Bontecou’s art in posing. The images are significant additions to the visual culture of war and American medicine.The photographs are eloquent works of art that offer unflinching testimony to the suffering caused by America’s bloodiest war in which over 750,000 died and hundreds of thousands were wounded.

The exhibit is about documenting the war as well as the evolution of the medium of photography itself. Bontecou’s images presented near the end of the exhibit are representative of this evolution.

The slideshow provides a brief glimpse of the patrons party, the exhibition room with Dr. Bontecou’s photographs and the opening night reception.

Dr. Burns text- Shooting Soldiers: Civil War Medical Photographs by R. B. Bontecou is available form the Burns Press.