7:54 a.m. - 2012-03-16
SPECIAL ARTISTS IN THE CIVIL WAR
We're all familiar with the work of Matthew Brady and other Civil War photographers, but much of the visual information available to people of that era came from drawings and engravings based on those drawings. They were made by sketch artists called 'Special Artists' who were embedded with military units--traveling with them, eating and sleeping with them, and going into battle with them.

The photography of that era, while a remarkable technology for storytelling, was slow and cumbersome. It took a long time to set up the apparatus and to pose the subjects. Most Civil War photos were posed either after a conflict or between actual battles and are of a commemorative nature. In contrast special artists could set up and sketch anytime and anywhere, including during actual battles.

At a recent museum exhibit highlighting the work of the Special Artists I saw drawings of actual battles: cavalry and artillery in action, hand to hand combat, bayonet charges--all made at the scene. There were also scenes of camp life, work crews, military punishments. Sketch artists recorded activities that were everyday but nonetheless remarkable and of great historical interest.

The sketches were sent to newspapers and magazines to be turned into engravings. Often the artist included instructions for the engravers, and these appeared as brief notes written on the drawings themselves. One artist included a note over one of the Union officers: "This is the vainest man in the Army!"

The engravers were highly specialized. One sketch might require the work of three or four engravers, one specializing in human and equine forms, another doing foliage, another an expert in buildings or weaponry. Often the engravers omitted parts of the original sketch, and sometimes they took even more liberties. One drawing of Confederate prisoners was changed by the engraver to make them look older, weaker and more docile.

The best battlefield artists were superior to photographers of that era because they could capture actual scenes of battle, and convey a sense of violence and movement that was not available in the early days of photography.

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