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Edward Lamson Henry , (Jan 12, 1841–May 11, 1919)

City Point, Virginia, Headquarters of General Grant

1873
30 1/8 in. x 60 1/4 in. (76.52 cm x 153.04 cm)

Medium and Support: Oil on canvas

Credit Line: Museum purchase

Accession Number: 1944.80

Current Location: On view : MLC

Commentary

Strategically located between the James and Appomattox Rivers, City
Point was one of the largest logistical operations and busiest seaports
of the Civil War. It also served as the headquarters of the United States
armies under the command of Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant during the
siege of Petersburg. In 1864, artist Edward Lamson Henry served as a
captain’s clerk aboard a Union Quartermaster’s supply transport on the
James River, where he made detailed drawings of City Point, including a
quiet and pastoral oil-on-paper sketch that inspired the Addison’s painting.
Functioning on many levels, the painting glorifies the city’s role as a
bustling transportation hub, recalls the Union victory, and establishes a
unifying national identify for its audiences in the aftermath of war.

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

American Battle Painting 1776-1918 National Gallery of Art , 7/4/1944 - 11/18/1944
The Hopewell U.S.O., VA/Appomattox Manor Hopewell USO and Appomattox Manor , 4/24/1945 - 5/4/1945
An Exhibition of Nineteenth Century Virginia Genre Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , 1/17/1946 - 2/13/1946
USO, Hopewell, VA United Service Organiziations , 4/22/1946 - 4/29/1946
American Processional, 1492–1900 The Corcoran Gallery of Art , 7/8/1950 - 12/17/1950
Campus Taste in Art [Student Taste in Art] Addison Gallery of American Art , 2/16/1951 - 3/12/1951
Artistic Highlights of American History Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/10/1958 - 3/23/1958
The Civil War: The Artists' Record The Corcoran Gallery of Art , 11/18/1961 - 3/4/1962
Art in American History Addison Gallery of American Art , 7/22/1962 - 10/28/1962
Winterfest '66 [version of Roots and Promise of American Art] Winterfest , 2/18/1966 - 2/27/1966
Paintings from the Addison Gallery Collection Showcase Cinema , 3/28/1967 - 4/25/1967
The Painter and the New World: A Survey of Painting from 1564 to 1867, Marking t Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal , 6/8/1967 - 7/30/1967
The Noble James The Valentine Musem , 1/18/1968 - 5/22/1968
Aspects of American Art History-Group Exhibition of Paintings Loaned from Coll Fitchburg Art Museum , 10/1/1968 - 11/15/1968
The Works Addison Gallery of American Art , 11/7/1969 - 2/22/1970
Landscapes from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/1/1983 - 5/1/1983
Ulysses S. Grant: The Man and the Image [U.S. Grant: The Man and the Image] National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution , 7/23/1985 - 5/4/1986
War and Commemoration: Selections from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 5/5/1989 - 6/11/1989
1/4" scale: Models of American Sailing Ships Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/25/1994 - 1/12/1995
Masterworks from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/5/1995 - 12/17/1995
Addison Gallery of American Art: 65 Years Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/13/1996 - 7/31/1996
Framing America's Landscapes: Painting from the Addison Gallery of American Art Addison Gallery of American Art , 11/20/1998 - 7/31/1999
Masterworks from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 2/22/2000 - 3/26/2000
The Virginia Landscape Virginia Historical Society , 7/13/2000 - 11/12/2000
Historical Fictions: Edward Lamson Henry's Paintings of Past and Present Yale University Art Gallery , 6/24/2005 - 8/6/2006
From the Front Line Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/9/2007 - 4/15/2007
Lee and Grant Virginia Historical Society , 10/20/2007 - 3/29/2009
The Civil War: Unfolding Dialogues Addison Gallery of American Art , 10/15/2011 - 4/15/2012
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/1/2017 - 7/31/2018
A Wildness Distant from Ourselves: Art and Ecology in Nineteenth-Century America Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/1/2019 - 7/31/2020
Regarding America: 19th Century Art from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/23/2022 - 7/31/2022

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