Two Photographic Exhibitions: Notable Women of the Civil War Era, & Storied Women of the American Civil War EraWashington, D.C.

 
Two Exhibitions--Women of Progress: Early Camera Portraits,  &  Storied Women of The Civil War Era, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.  June 14, 2019 - May 31, 2020

 

In mid-nineteenth-century America, the growing presence of women in public life coincided with the rise of portrait photography. 

Two exhibition of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes from the 1840s and 1850s features portraits of early feminist icons, women’s rights advocates Margaret Fuller and Lucy Stone, abolitionist Lucretia Mott and best-selling author Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

Also, during the Civil War era, numerous women rose to national prominence—from First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln to the actress and Union spy Pauline Cushman. This intimate exhibition includes portraits of these and other intriguing women who captivated the public while becoming sought-after subjects for Mathew Brady’s camera. Ann Shumard, the National Portrait Gallery’s senior curator of photographs, is the curator of both exhibitions.

 National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C