[Grand Army Review, Washington, D.C.] 1865

Curator: Immediately, I’m drawn to the almost tangible stillness hanging in the air despite the bustle—it's strangely hypnotic. Editor: This is "[Grand Army Review, Washington, D.C.]," a gelatin-silver print crafted in 1865 by Alexander Gardner. What strikes you formally about this historical moment? Curator: Well, ignoring its context for a split second, I am captivated by how Gardner turns a parade into a study of light and shadow. The dappled sunlight hitting the horses... it feels Impressionistic, decades before its time. It is as though he is channeling a painting, even a narrative. Editor: Indeed, observe the arrangement. The horizontal lines of the buildings meet the vertical procession of soldiers, and it all unfolds near the vantage point marked by two discarded hats on the ground that help pull you into the work. Gardner orchestrates a complex interplay between stillness and movement. We're essentially given an overview, an omniscient perspective, of American resolve at the close of a deeply fractured chapter in its history. Curator: Which feels monumental, until I’m grounded again. You see those hats on the bottom frame? Such a detail gives a certain voyeuristic realness, doesn't it? What lingers with me most is how a celebratory display also carries such solemn weight—that is probably coming from Gardner's previous works documenting battlefields... Editor: Yes, his photographs from Antietam haunt us through stark details, and that lends this scene a deeper complexity. What Gardner does here is elevate street photography to an elegiac meditation on unity, progress, and the ever-present shadows of memory and loss. Curator: Seeing the print's muted tones emphasizes just how far we’ve come from, and how rooted we are to, that moment. There’s something about those ordinary hats that keep pulling me in. A touch of poetry, perhaps. Editor: Precisely—the way the formal elements converse here helps the viewer feel not just what happened, but consider its lasting consequences.