The Capitol, Nashville, Tennessee 1864

George N. Barnard made this albumen print of The Capitol, Nashville, Tennessee. The building strikes a pose of classical authority, doesn't it? But what is the meaning of this image when considered alongside the specific social conditions of the time? Barnard created this photo of the Capitol during or shortly after the Civil War. Note the tents and rubble surrounding the building. The photograph was made in a deeply divided nation and Tennessee was a border state, a site of bitter conflict. We might also consider the institutional history of photography itself. The reproducible nature of photography democratized image making but was also quickly deployed by powerful institutions, such as governments and wealthy individuals, for their own purposes. To better understand this work, we might research the history of Nashville during the Civil War, the architectural history of state capitols, and the role of photography in shaping public opinion during this period. Art, you see, is never made in a vacuum.