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CDV - Bogardus & Bendann Great Graphics on Reverse. Distinguished businessman . The aforesaid photographer, Bogardus and Bendann was located at # 1153 Broadway near 27th street NEW YORK . They were listed in the New Directory as Photographic and Portrait gallery's. Of the early portrait photographers who enjoyed popularity in New York, Bogardus had the least acquaintance with drawing and painting. When his rivals began making a selling point of generating crayon, pastel, or watercolor portraits based on photo images, Bogardus felt he had to compensate. He entered into a partnership with the Bendann Brothers on January 1, 1872. As a contemporary commentator reported, "The specialties of Messrs Bendann, combined with those of Mr. Bogardus, will prove to be on of the greatest photographic firms in the country. Messrs. Bendann have won from their beautiful pastille and oil work a reputation world-wide, and no productions by others in this line, will compare favorably with theirs." Bogardus' admiration of the Bendann's work was so sincere that he studied their technique and took up painting as a pastime upon his retirement. After 1872, his studio bore the brand "Bogardus & Co." David and Daniel were young men when they moved to Baltimore from Richmond in the turbulent years before the war began. Among the first to bring the carte de visite format to Baltimore, they took advantage of the “cardomania” (in which cardboard-mounted portrait photos were used as visiting cards and avidly traded among friends and collected into albums) sweeping Europe and America. The brothers were artists, posing their subjects with an eye for pleasing composition, and creating elegant backgrounds for the sitters. These backgrounds were much admired by other photographers, so the Bendanns invented a process that allowed studios to purchase negatives for the “Bendann Brothers Backgrounds” to incorporate into their own photos. In 1872 the brothers were awarded a National Photographic Association Holmes Medal for this invention. As was not uncommon among Baltimore Jews, the Bendann men were Confederate sympathizers, having retained alliances dating to their years in Richmond. As a result, both brothers had a brush with the law. In 1862, David Bendann was arrested after an altercation with an unpleasant customer who was also a Union army captain. He was arrested, refused to take a loyalty oath, and served a three-month sentence, after which he signed a statement agreeing that he would “in no wise aid or encourage the Rebels.” Daniel Bendann was charged in April 1865 on a charge of disloyalty, described in the complaint as “a Jew” and a “notorious, violent, and dirty sneaking Rebel.” After the war, both Union and former Confederate leaders continued to seek out the Bendann Brothers studio for a portrait while visiting Baltimore. They photographed Jefferson Davis, John S. Mosby, Chief Justice Taney, General Sheridan, Illinois governor Richard Yates, and more

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Physical Location

Arc.MS.56, Box 20, Folder 4