Wikipedia entry
Introduction
Mathew Benjamin Brady (c. 1822–1824 – January 15, 1896) was an American photographer. Known as one of the earliest and most famous photographers in American history, he is best known for his scenes of the Civil War. He studied under inventor Samuel Morse, who pioneered the daguerreotype technique in America. Brady opened his own studio in New York City in 1844, and went on to photograph U.S. presidents John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Millard Fillmore, Martin Van Buren, and other public figures. When the Civil War began, Brady's use of a mobile studio and darkroom enabled thousands of vivid battlefield photographs to bring home the reality of war to the public. He also photographed generals and politicians on both sides of the conflict, though most of these were taken by his assistants rather than by Brady himself. After the end of the Civil War, these pictures went out of fashion, and the government did not purchase the master copies as he had anticipated. Brady's fortunes declined sharply, and he died in debt.
Wikidata
Q187850
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Getty record
Introduction
Brady first learned the art of photography in 1841, where he studied with Samuel B. Morse at the New York Academy of Design and at Morse's own daguerreotype school. Brady opened a daguerreotype studio in New York City, New York in 1844, where over the years he concentrated on portraits, most notably famous contemporary Americans, such as the statesman Henry Clay. In 1847, with his business flourishing, Brady opened another portrait studio in Washington, D.C. In 1860, Brady opened the largest of his galleries, called the National Portrait Gallery, and in that year took his first of many famous portraits of Abraham Lincoln. In 1861, Brady requested permission to document the Civil War. From 1861 to 1865, he organized teams of photographers attached to all parts of the United States Army who documented battles, officers and equipment. Brady and his team were able to cover all the battles and events of the war, which include portraits of Generals Grant and Lee, as well as unflinching images of dead soldiers. Brady approached the state concerning purchasing his collection, but it wasn't until 1875, after a vote in Congress, that the War Department of the United States purchased part of his Civil War collection of glass negatives. The purchase came too late, as Brady was reduced to poverty, selling the last of his galleries in 1895.
Nationality
American
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Portraitist, Painter, Photographer
Names
Mathew B. Brady, Mathew Brady, Matthew B. Brady, M. B. Brady, Mathew B. Brady (studio of)
Ulan
500126201
Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

13 works online

Exhibitions

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].