Summary: Acclaimed Civil War historian James M. McPherson delivered the first talk of the 2010 "American Pictures" Series before an enthusiastic audience at the Smithsonian. The series, a co-production of Washington College, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery, pairs great works of art with leading figures of contemporary American culture. Each talk features an eminent writer, artist, critic or historian who chooses a single, powerful image and investigates its meanings, revealing how artworks reflect American identity and inspire creativity in many different fields. McPherson chose Alexander Gardner's stirring 1862 photograph "Confederate Dead by a Fence on the Hagerstown Road, Antietam," one of the first pictures to bring the shocking realities of war before the eyes of the American public. Introduction by Adam Goodheart, head of washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Recorded at NPG, April 10, 2010. Image: "Antietam, Md. Confederate dead by a fence on the Hagerstown road" by Alexander Gardner, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
