LINCOLN AND NEW YORK EXHIBITION
MATTHEW BRADY PHOTO
NARR: Inside a glass case is a large view camera from the 1860s that belonged to Matthew Brady. It stands about five feet tall and it looks like a dark brown wooden box about, about a foot square, sitting atop a tripod of three wooden legs. A large brass lens protrudes from the front of the camera. Brady was the most famous photographer of the time. He had a studio in New York City and if you were important, or hoped to be, you came to his studio to get your portrait done. Abraham Lincoln knew that. So he came and sat for a Brady photo the same day he spoke at the Cooper Union.
A life-size blowup of the portrait is inside the glass case with the camera.
Here’s what it looks like. Lincoln is standing, wearing a knee-length black coat over a black vest and a white shirt, with a black tie loosely knotted up near his neck. To get an idea of his pose, try this. Stand up straight, and imagine the camera is directly in front of you. Keep your head facing forward, while turning your shoulders to the right about 45 degrees. Your right hand hangs straight down, your left hand hangs at your side and rests on a pile of books arranged on a short wooden column.
Lincoln is not smiling and looks quite somber, and he doesn’t have a beard yet.
Brady was an artist and he worked to make Lincoln look intelligent, confident, and strong. But it was a challenge. Lincoln was shockingly tall for the times – six feet four when most men were about five foot six.
And he was awkward-looking with unusually large hands and feet. His left eye wandered a bit, and his hair was unruly.
His chest was too small, his ears and Adam’s apple, too big. And his suit was very badly wrinkled. Listen as Brady decided how to photograph Lincoln.
ACTOR:
Ok stand up please Mr. Lincoln. I think a standing pose will show people how impressively tall you are. Ok, now unbutton your jacket please, I want to make your chest look fuller. Hmm, and let’s comb that hair so it covers the tops of your ears. I think that’s better. Oh and one more thing. Could you pull your collar up a bit? I want to hide your long neck. Ok, I think we’re ready. Look directly at the camera. Now hold it! The exposure will take fifteen seconds.
NARR:
Later Brady also touched up the photograph to correct Lincoln’s wandering eye, tone down his moles, and fill in wrinkles on his face. And it all worked. When it was taken in February, no one paid any attention to it. But in May 1860 Lincoln got the Republican Party nomination for President and the photo was mass-produced during the presidential campaign. It was first issued in the form of a small image, about the size of a baseball card, called a carte de visite, and later reproduced by the thousands in many forms.
