The Civil War tore the nation apart and in the process reshaped the contours of American life.  Artists reacted to the war in myriad ways.  In the North some like Winslow Homer ventured to the front lines, creating paintings and sketches that recorded life in the Union army. Photographers followed as well, and their cameras brought to national attention scenes previously unimagined.  This installation brings together paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs from the collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art that highlight the artistic response to the war.

Programming

October 2, 2013 | 4:30 p.m. | Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

"Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Photography"

Frank Goodyear, co-director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and previously a curator of photographs at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, will speak on “Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Photography” on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and the Maine Historical Society.

Though celebrated for many achievements--the Union victory in the Civil War, the emancipation of the slaves, and the preservation of the nation--Abraham Lincoln is noteworthy for the way he understood the centrality of images better than any politician of his day. Lincoln used images as an important means of communicating with the American public. In particular, he came to understand and embrace photography. Photography's introduction--and its impact--was in some ways akin to the introduction of the Internet in our day. Goodyear's lecture will use the many photographs of Lincoln to explore his relationship to this new medium.