Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Although seemingly objective, photographs expressed ideology in every frame.
The military practices of the American Civil War—exemplified by General W. T. Sherman’s devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas in 1864-1865—illustrated a new kind of warfare, more deadly and relentless, less sparing of civilians. The results of these tactics were meticulously recorded by an equally modern invention: photography. Although seemingly objective, these photographs expressed ideology in every frame. Produced for a Northern clientele, George Barnard's views of a devastated Confederacy suggested that victory was near at hand. Although he sought vengeance against wealthy Southern planters (whom he blamed for instigating the war), Sherman also hated war and wanted it to end quickly, through the destruction of everything in his path, including means of transportation and civilian properties (particularly plantations). More than simply Union propaganda or photojournalism, Barnard's pictures document Sherman's anti-war warfare, employed in the hopes that the South would never rise to make war again.

Barnard often used picturesque framing devices adpated from other art forms to convey his message. In the view of Charleston, George Barnard places two stock figures in the foreground to convey a sense of space. Since at least one of the figures is an African American man, they may also have been seen as symbols of emancipation and the re-building of a new South.

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art’s collection includes three additional images from this series (Battle Ground of Resacca [Resaca], GA., No. 4, Eskenazi Museum of Art 78.72.1; Ruins of the R. R. Depot, Eskenazi Museum of Art 81.50.2; and The Potter House, Eskenazi Museum of Art 81.24.1).