id: 156000 accession number: 1991.283 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.283 updated: 2023-08-23 23:12:37.062000 Alexander Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War: Military Bridge, Across the Chickahominy, Virginia, 1862. David B. Woodbury (American, 1866). Albumen print, gold toned, from wet collodion negative; image: 17.7 x 23 cm (6 15/16 x 9 1/16 in.); matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1991.283 title: Military Bridge, Across the Chickahominy, Virginia title in original language: series: Alexander Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War series in original language: creation date: 1862 creation date earliest: 1862 creation date latest: 1862 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: America, 19th century technique: albumen print, gold toned, from wet collodion negative department: Photography collection: PH - American 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * David B. Woodbury (American, 1866) - artist David B. Woodbury American, d. 1866 David Woodbury was one of the many lesser known photographers of the American Civil War. Employed by Mathew Brady, he is known to have photographed in Virginia. Woodbury later worked for Alexander Gardner, and one of his views appears in Gardner's famous volume Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War (1866). T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 17.7 x 23 cm (6 15/16 x 9 1/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on recto: "23" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art." --- PROVENANCE (Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY) date: footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: February 24, 1992 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: In this complex composition, David B. Woodbury merged the documentation of an event with his desire to record an impressive landscape. The image depicts a precarious, yet essential military log bridge that traverses a swamp created by the accumulated waters of the Chickahominy River, located southeast of Richmond, Virginia. Constructed under difficult physical conditions, the structure was later destroyed by floodwaters caused by heavy rains. The workers involved with the structure's construction are positioned in a single line so that each person is identifiable; however, reduced to diminutive size by the camera's distant viewpoint, the workers appear to be dominated by their natural environment. This image appeared in the first volume of a two-volume set of 100 Civil War photographs published between 1865–66 by Alexander Gardner (1821–1882), who printed the negatives and compiled the album, which included work by a number of other photographers. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 399 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.283/1991.283_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.283/1991.283_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.283/1991.283_full.tif