The Lincoln Legacy: Presidential Years

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• 1860: Lincoln in Photographs
• 1860-1862: Secretary Recalls Lincoln
• 1861: Declaration of Independence
• 1861: Inaugural Address
• 1865: Reflection upon 1st Address

1860: Election of 1860

1860: Lincoln in Photographs

Nancy Newman Rice
Maryville University, St. Louis

The most iconic image of Abraham Lincoln is his familiar bearded, craggy visage appearing on pennies, five dollar bills, and a variety of portraits and monuments, most notably, the seated statue in the Lincoln Memorial. Until 1860, Lincoln was clean shaven, and apparently grew a beard on the advice of an 11 year old girl, Grace Bedell, who suggested, in a letter, that it might make his face seem less thin. Many of the artifacts and engravings on exhibit are drawn from photographs depicting the beardless or unmasked Lincoln of the years just prior to late 1860.

A sepia toned photograph, taken 3 June 1860 by Alexander Hesler, of Springfield Illinois, shows the 51 year old Lincoln to be a serious individual, worthy of high office. It serves as a publicity photograph and in this regard, as an honest attempt at a flattering record of his appearance. Hesler has managed to minimize Lincoln’s gaunt face by positioning him in a three quarter view, lit from an overhead source to the left of the camera. Thus Lincoln’s broad forehead is illuminated as is his prominent nose, protruding cheekbone, and cleft chin. Hesler has managed to shorten the tip of Lincoln’s nose with an artfully placed shadow which also serves to tilt his nose ever so slightly upward. On closer inspection, the light also reveals a deeply etched sickle shaped line extending from his nostril to his mouth; the convex curve suggests the worn traces of an insipient smile. These lines serve to animate his face so that he appears to be somewhat bemused by the photographer’s attentions. His lips are pressed together, but not so firmly that the shape of his mouth is reduced to a line. A very faint light describes the upper contours of his mouth, this maybe a dark room manipulation, but it does serve to give form to his upper lip. His lower lip is slightly fuller and reflects the light, as is usually the case with or without studio lighting. Lincoln’s hair is extremely full and apparently black with no noticeable gray as are his bushy eyebrows which trace the upper contours of his occipital arch and dramatically overshadow his deep set eyes. The carefully positioned light source has enabled the photographer to avoid loosing Lincoln’s eyes in the cavernous shadows beneath his brow, for both eyes are visible and seem to be focused upon some object or person within fairly close range. Lincoln’s neck is remarkably smooth for a man of 51 years and the photographer has done nothing to minimize the columnar aspects of its proportions which even the high collar cannot disguise. Of the many photographs taken of Lin coln during his relatively short life; this is arguably one of the most attractive for the combination of artful lighting and the muted sepia tones have softened his usual gaunt and ungainly appearance making him look less like a Gothic wooden sculpture carved by Riemenschneider and more like a sympathetic statesman.

Although Lincoln was the first president to be photographed with such frequency, he apparently spent little time considering his outward appearance. In an autobiographical sketch of himself sent to Jess W. Felt, 20 December 1859, Lincoln wrote:

If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am, in height, six feet, four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on average, one hundred and eighty pounds, dark complexion, with course, black hair, and grey eyes- no other marks or brands recollected.

Attempts to enhance Lincoln’s appearance as in the sepia photograph were purely practical, photographers, not unlike portrait painters before them, recognized that their clients were their best advertisement, thus Hesler’s ability to soften Lincoln’s roughly hewn face demonstrated enormous skill. As implied by the quote above, Lincoln cared little about the specificities of his appearance. Unfortunately some of his constituents were no less shallow than the present day electorate, who vote with their emotions rather than their intellect, therefore a strong yet sympathetic leader was preferable to an awkward and unattractive one.

The color embellished wood engraving, on exhibit, was designed from the first of many photographs taken by Matthew Brady. This photograph, taken 27 February 1860, shows Lincoln dressed for his Cooper Institute Address condemning slavery. His wrinkled jacket, shiny from wear and uneven sleeves, demonstrate a general disregard for outward appearance. Brady has managed to pull Lincoln’s shirt collar upward in an attempt to minimize the length of his neck, and has also retouched the photograph so that Lincoln’s deeply hewn wrinkles are less prominent.

The wood engraving and successive artworks based upon the Brady photograph add further refinements to Lincoln’s appearance. Wood engravings are produced with very fine chisels which cut into an end block of wood to avoid specific wood grain patterns. The wood which is removed becomes the negative space, while the remaining uncut wood is left to produce intricate series of lines, upon which ink in rolled and multiple impressions made. The technique lends itself to a certain amount of stylization, as parallel lines tend to follow the contours of the depicted surfaces with the illusion of depth occurring as similar parallel lines intersect and cross over the initial lines producing shadows and crevices. While Lincoln’s face would be more appropriately depicted roughly chiseled into wood by one of the German Expressionists such as Kirschner, the artist or artisan responsible for the wood engraving on exhibit, assumes no interpretive role other than a further refinement of a sanctioned photograph. The ref inement is accomplished by shading effects, as in the left side of Lincoln’s nose, where the angle of the chisel marks and relative lightness of the shadow produced by the marks gives the illusion of a less prominent nose. In a similar fashion the cross hatching on the left cheek is equally as light thus reducing the gauntness of his face. As a concession to reality, the artist has included the lines deeply etched into Lincoln’s face hinting at a reported leathery skin texture as well as an unmistakable mole on his left cheek, although these are understated. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this engraving is the depiction of the eyes. They are too far apart, compared to other full-face photographs of Lincoln, and the right eye considerably higher than the left. Whether this fact would concern anyone other than a pedantic drawing instructor is not the point, this discrepancy disqualifies the engraving from any claim to “realism” and puts it into an undefined category hovering towards romanticism. C asting Lincoln’s appearance in an amenable light not only softened his appearance but also produced an appropriate image to accompany his eloquent words.

The Brady photograph of 1860 was also a model for copper engravings such as the one appearing in the bound edition of the Cooper Institute Address, on exhibit. Copper is more malleable than wood and the engraving done in this material feature very fine incised lines into which ink is rubbed. Paper is placed over the plate and even pressure is applied to both, literally squeezing the ink onto the paper; multiple copies can be produced in this fashion. This engraving further softens Lincoln’s appearance as facial lines are almost imperceptible, his prominent nose and jagged cheekbones are minimized, and his face appears wider than in reality and the composition has cleverly eliminated any reference to his ill fitting suit. This engraving provided a template for the beardless Lincoln featured on many of the images classified as memorabilia, including elaborately framed miniatures and funeral badges. For as beardless, he is unmasked and youthful rather than the weary and gaunt bearded president depicted in later photographs or the ungainly giant wearing a stove- pipe hat and towering over his contemporaries. Popular sensibilities have persisted in memorializing our famous men and women in a manner which complements their history and compounds their legend, be it truth or hazy recollection.

The rare image of Lincoln framed in a gilded embossed matt and red velvet appears youthful and unblemished. There are relatively few photographs of Lincoln prior to 1858 and this one bears little resemblance to those, as his hairline has receded slightly and exhibits the same pattern as the hairline in the wood engraving. The smoothness of his skin may be due to darkroom manipulation, or more likely, to the age of the photograph, which may have faded. The result of the fading or blurring of reality produces a generic almost unrecognizable Lincoln, rather than an insightful portrait or even a reputable likeness.

The mourning image of Lincoln in the gilded frame attached to black crepe is another analogue of the wood and copper engraving. Although somewhat diluted because of its diminutive proportions, 1"x 2", this depiction presents an emblematic and almost handsome Lincoln, as would be deemed appropriate for a memorial image.

The beardless Lincoln presented is an unmasked icon, although with or without his beard he is only knowable through his words, writing, and actions, as John Nicolay, secretary to Lincoln, during his presidency observed:

Graphic art was powerless before a face that moved through a thousand delicate gradations of line and contour, light and shade, sparkle of the eye and curve of the lip, in the long gamut of expressions from grave to gay, and back again from rollicking jollity of laughter to that serious, faraway look with prophetic intuitions beheld the awful panorama of war, and heard the cry of oppression and suffering. There are many pictures of Lincoln; there is no portrait of him.

That these pictures are not portraits does not diminish their value, as they demonstrate varying degrees of verisimilitude. Their intent is to serve as a remembrance of a man with a conscience and a sense of purpose who made a tremendous impact on the collective morality of his day.