The Graphic War

Marketing: The Marriage of Photography and Lithography

By Salvatore Cilella · Originally published December 2023 · pp. 28–29

Figure 1. President Jefferson Davis, seated, surrounded by Confederate commanders from left to right, General John Bell Hood, General A.P. Hill, Major General Jeb Stuart, General Stonewall Jackson, General Robert E. Lee, General James Longstreet, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston and General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard, in uniforms with swords. Notman Photo. Co., Albany, N.Y. (Library of Congress)

Marketing: The Marriage of Photography and Lithography The Graphic War highlights prints and printmakers from the Civil War discussing their meaning and the printmaker or artist’s goals. The Notman Photography Company came into existence in the late 1850s. A native Scotsman and one of a family of seven, “after receiving a classical education with heavy emphasis upon sketching and painting,” William Notman joined the family business. “It is unknown when he developed an interest in photography or where he received his training.” His father had been a wealthy “women’s shawl manufacturer” and dry goods merchant until the business “teetering on bankruptcy” forced him to flee arrest to Montreal in 1856 “for unlawful business practices.”1 William married in 1853 and the couple raised eight children. In Canada, success found the Notman family. In the winter months, senior Notman dabbled in photography which eventually morphed into a major photo studio. “He produced albumen prints as well as ambrotypes and tintypes, but specialized in portraits. Within two years…Notman’s business growth necessitated a move to a more spacious gallery, and an off-site residence for his growing family. In 1858, he acquired his first important photographic commission, the documentation of Montreal’s Victoria Bridge construction. Prominent customers ranging from the Prince of Wales to Sitting Bull were treated to the opulent sitting rooms, and the gallery distinguished itself for its superlative portraits, landscapes, and composite photographs.”2 The business grew rapidly, primarily in New England and New York. Although the name is not well known, it became one of the largest, commercially successful photography businesses in North America until it closed in 1935. “By 1860, the Notman studio included a modern art department and employed a staff to hand-paint backdrops, color prints, and retouch negatives.”3 Copying lithographs and making composite photographs became the company’s forte. James G. Batterson founded the Traveler’s Insurance Company in 1864 in Hartford, Connecticut. With the war’s end, Traveler’s joined in the spirit of reconciliation and profit and began marketing insurance to the southern states. In 1885, Traveler’s engaged the Notman company to produce images of Confederate and Union commanders as an advertising strategy. Notman for their part, tried the relatively new technique of photogravure, which combined the qualities of old fashion printmaking by making the ground plate from a photograph rather than the hand labor of etching and engraving. Using existing and photocomposites of notables from both sides, the company produced two cabinet sized photo montages. (Fig. 1) The Confederate image, an artfully composed multiple portrait included a seated Jefferson Davis. Behind the former Confederate president were, left to right, General John Bell Hood, General A.P. Hill, Major General Jeb Stuart, General Stonewall Jackson, General Robert E. Lee, General James Longstreet, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston, and General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. On the wall above Joe Johnston and Beauregard is a painting portrait of Albert Sydney

CivilWarNews.com Johnston. Remarkably, outcast James Longstreet is included. A Confederate flag is above Joe Johnston’s head and on the wall are painted battle field depictions. The upper two depictions feature a memorial sculpture of a generic soldier, possibly Lee, in the upper right corner, and the capitol at Richmond in the upper left corner. The lower two quadrants give recognition to the Confederate navy. The title of the photogravure is “Confederate Commanders/with compliments of the Travelers Insurance Company.” (Fig.2) Print scholars and authors Harold Holzer, Mark Neely, and Gabor Borrit cite a lithograph published by a Dr. J. Olney Banning of Philadelphia that was produced from original artwork by E. Gutekinst, after “Fass, Jr.[?]” in 1890. They see the print in two segments, on the left Hill, Hood, Stuart, and Jackson stand with Lee to form a semi-circle around Davis. “On the right side a slightly separated group includes…Longstreet…Johnston and…Beauregard, generals who troubled Davis during and after the war. But Lee overlaps… Longstreet, thus ensuring the unity of the composition, and Jubal Early, whom Davis called ‘that excellent general’, completes the design.”4 Similarly, Notman produced a Union tableau. Lincoln is seated at the center, flanked by Admiral David G. Farragut, General William T. Sherman, General George Henry Thomas, General George Gordon Meade, General Ulysses S. Grant, General Joseph Hooker, General Philip Henry Sheridan, and General Winfield Scott Hancock. The group is surrounded by symbols of Federal power: The Capitol Building, the White House, Farragut in action, a monument to peace, sea battle scenes, a portrait of Winfield Scott on the wall behind the notables as well as scenes showing caring for the wounded and the bereaved. As with the Confederate piece, this cabinet photomontage was given with the compliments of the Travelers Insurance Company. Of all the military officers portrayed, only Grant is not depicted in uniform. Lincoln and Hancock on the far right, are seated. (Fig. 3). National Public Radio (NPR) contacted present day executives at Travelers and Mary Beth

James Goodwin Batterson – Image courtesy of The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Davidson, Traveler’s director of records and information management revealed that the idea of using the pictures as advertising came from Major Edward Preston, the Travelers superintendent of agencies. Davidson said, “The first copy of the ‘Confederate Commanders’ was delivered to Jefferson Davis by the Travelers representative in Montgomery, Ala. Copies also were sent to all the living generals in both pictures.” According to Davidson, “the success of the ad campaign prompted more composites, including ‘Famous American Authors,’ ‘Eminent Women’ and ‘Famous Editors’.” 5 Endnotes: 1. William Notman, Photographer https:// tinyurl.com/59m6hjd5 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Holzer et. al., The Confederate Image, 183.

Figure 2. Confederate commanders With compliments of the Travelers Insurance Company.

“Civil War Leaders— In an 1880s Insurance Ad?” https://tinyurl.com/ mvmjw474

Figure 3. Union commanders With compliments of the Travelers Insurance Company.

After 43 years in the museum field, Cilella devotes his time to collecting American prints and maps and writing. He has written extensively on Emory Upton: Upton’s Regulars: A History of the 121st New York Volunteers in the Civil War (Kansas, 2009); a two-volume Correspondence of Major General Emory Upton, (U. of Tennessee Press, 2017), received the 2017–2018 American Civil War Museum’s Founders Award for outstanding editing of primary source materials. He edited Upton’s love letters 1868-70 to his wife—Till Death Do Us Part (Oklahoma University Press, 2020) and The Memoirs of Dewitt Clinton Beckwith of Upton’s Regulars (McFarland Press, 2023). (Library of Congress) (Library of Congress)