National Portrait Gallery Opens Alexander Gardner Photography Exhibit Today

Alexander Gardner created dramatic and vivid photographs of notorious Civil War battlefields, famous figures and the American West that continue to intrigue and haunt the national imagination. "Dark Fields of the Republic: Alexander Gardner Photographs, 1859-1872" explores the work of this major early photographer. The exhibition includes scenes of fallen soldiers as well as portraits of President Lincoln and other leading military and civilian figures. Also documented is the country's expansion as post-war settlers moved westward after the war, and includes landscapes and portraits of American Indians. These photos have a haunting specificity and gravity, not least because we know the fate of the sitters.