William H. Bell (1830 – January 28, 1910) was an English-born American photographer, active primarily in the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered for his photographs documenting war-time diseases and combat injuries, many of which were published in the medical book, ''
Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion
{{italic title
''The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65'' (the ''MSHWR'') was a United States Government Printing Office publication consisting of six volumes, issued between 1870 and 1888 and "prepared Under the ...
'', as well as for his photographs of western landscapes taken as part of the
Wheeler expedition in 1872.
In his later years, he wrote articles on the
dry plate
Dry plate, also known as gelatin process, is an improved type of photographic plate. It was invented by Dr. Richard L. Maddox in 1871 and had become so widely adopted by 1879 that the first dry plate factory had been established. With much of ...
process and other techniques for various photography journals.
Life
Bell was born in
Liverpool, England, in 1830, but immigrated to the United States with his parents as a young child. After his parents were killed in a
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemic, he was raised by a
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
family in
Abington, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia.
In 1846, at the outbreak of the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
, Bell traveled to
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and joined the
6th Infantry.
[William Bell obituary]
''Philadelphia Public Ledger'', 30 January 1910. Retrieved from the National Museum of Health and Medicine online database, 4 April 2012.
![Wbell-barnum-gunshot-wound](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Wbell-barnum-gunshot-wound.jpg)
After the end of the war in 1848, Bell returned to Philadelphia, and joined the
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...
studio of his brother-in-law, John Keenan.
[Barbara Mayo Wells,]
William W. Bell, 1830 – 1910
" Luminous-Lint.com. Retrieved: 5 April 2012. In 1852, he opened his own studio on
Chestnut Street, and would operate or co-manage a photographic studio in downtown Philadelphia for much of the remainder of his life.
In 1862, following the outbreak of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Bell enlisted in the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers,
[William Bell obituary]
''Philadelphia Inquirer'', 30 January 1910. Retrieved from the National Museum of Health and Medicine online database, 4 April 2012. and saw action the battles of
Antietam and
Gettysburg.
After the war, Bell joined the Army Medical Museum (now the
National Museum of Health and Medicine) in Washington, D.C., as its chief photographer.
He spent much of 1865 making photographs of soldiers with various diseases, wounds, and amputations, many of which were published in the book, ''Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion''. He also took portraits of dignitaries visiting the museum, and photographed Civil War battlefields.
In 1867, he returned to Philadelphia, where he purchased the studio of James McClees.
In 1872, Bell joined
George Wheeler's survey expedition, which was tasked with surveying American lands west of the 100th meridian, as a replacement for photographer
Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840 – January 14, 1882) was a photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States.
Biography
O'Sullivan's history and personal life remains unclear as there is lit ...
.
As part of the expedition, he captured numerous large format and
stereographic
Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...
landscapes of relatively unexplored areas of the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
basin in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
and
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
.
While on the expedition, he experimented with the dry plate process, for which he would eventually become an expert.
After the expedition, Bell returned to his studio in Philadelphia, and exhibited his work at the city's 1876
Centennial Exposition. Following the exposition, he sold his Chestnut Street studio to his son-in-law,
William H. Rau. In 1882, Bell was hired by the U.S. Navy as a photographer for its
Transit of Venus
frameless, upright=0.5
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...
expedition.
En route to
Patagonia, where the Transit was observed, Bell captured a series of photographs of the
Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden in Brazil.
Bell spent most of his later years doing studio work and writing technical articles for journals such as ''Photographic Mosaics'' and the ''Philadelphia Photographer'', though he traveled to Europe in 1892 to photograph paintings for the Columbia World's Fair.
He died at his home on Boston Avenue in Philadelphia on January 28, 1910, after a long illness.
Along with his son-in-law, William Rau, Bell's son, Sargent, and daughter, Louisa, were avid photographers.
His son, Henry, was an engraver.
Works
![Bell, Perched Rock](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Bell%2C_Perched_Rock.jpg)
His career spanning six decades, Bell worked in nearly every major early photographic process, including daguerreotype, collodion processes, albumen prints, stereo cards, and early film.
He was considered a pioneer of the dry plate and lantern slide processes, and experimented with night photography, using magnesium wire for lighting.
He wrote technical articles on topics such as
gelatine emulsions, the use of
pyrogallic acid to recover gold from waste solutions, and the development of isochromatic plates.
For his Wheeler Survey photographs, Bell used two cameras – an × for large prints, and an × for stereo cards.
He used both wet and dry collodion processes on this expedition, and his photographs are characterized by dark foregrounds with elements becoming increasingly lighter in tone as distance increases.
Landmarks photographed by Bell include the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
, the
Marble Canyon
Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon.
Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for rive ...
, the
Paria River,
Mount Nebo, and the early Mormon settlement of
Mona, Utah
Mona is a city in Juab County, Utah, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,547. It is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area.
The city is about halfway between Santaquin and Nephi along Interstate 15. The populatio ...
.
Bell's work was exhibited at the
Vienna Universal Exposition and the Louisville Industrial Exposition in 1873, and at the Centennial Exposition in 1876.
His photographs are now included in the collections of the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, the
National Museum of Health and Medicine, the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
' Prints and Photographs Division, and the
George Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
.
Gallery
File:CHOCOLATE BUTTE NEAR MOUTH OF THE PARIA, ARIZONA - NARA - 524346 (cropped).jpg, Chocolate Butte near mouth of the Paria River, Arizona
Image:CANYON OF KANAB WASH, LOOKING SOUTH OR GRAND GULCH, ARIZONA - NARA - 524225.jpg, in Arizona
File:TAYLOR'S CREEK CANYON KANARA, UTAH - NARA - 524212 (cropped).jpg, Taylor's Creek Canyon, Utah
File:RAIN SCULPTURE OR SPIRES, SALT CREEK CANYON, UTAH - NARA - 524143 (cropped).jpg, Salt Creek Canyon, Utah
References
External links
Photographic Archive for William Bellat
George Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
William H. Bellat the
Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fe ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, William
Pioneers of photography
Medical photography and illustration
English emigrants to the United States
People from Liverpool
Photographers from Philadelphia
19th-century American photographers
1830 births
1910 deaths