Herman Rice 1865

This portrait of Herman Rice was made by Reed Brockway Bontecou, a surgeon, sometime in the nineteenth century. It’s a stark image, isn’t it? Bontecou worked for the Union Army during the Civil War, taking photographs of wounded soldiers like Rice. In these images, we see the direct impact of warfare on the human body. But these are more than medical records. They were made and distributed at a time when photography was still a relatively new medium. Its realism held a particular power. These images prompt us to consider the social context of their making and viewing. What were the politics of visualizing injury and disability during the Civil War era? Did these images serve to humanize or objectify their subjects? And how did they shape public perceptions of the war's cost? To fully understand this image, we need to examine sources like medical reports, soldiers' letters, and period newspapers. With these resources, we can better understand the complex interplay between art, medicine, and social history in nineteenth-century America.