Civil War Art: “The Graphic War” with Sal Cilella

Sal Cilella writes a monthly column for Civil War News called “The Graphic War,” which looks at Civil War-era artwork. As part of ECW’s blog series “Civil War Art of the Era & Eyewitnesses,” I reached out to Sal to talk a bit about the work of artists and printmakers. We talked about his years writing about the imagery of the war as well as his years collecting that imagery. Sal is a former museum curator, so going behind the scenes of the Civil War-era art scene offered some interesting insights.

As it happens, Sal is also an expert on Union Brig. Gen. Emory Upton of the 121st New York. At the end of our conversation, I asked him to speak a little about his Upton work.