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Dec 8, 2012 · What is Victorian Post Mortem Photography? In the Victorian era (1837-1901), in most of Europe and America, photographing the dead was common practice; an expensive service provided by photographers as a special way for families to preserve the memory of their loved ones.
Oct 22, 2017 · Here is Jay Ruby, an expert on Victorian postmortem photography. He found that none of his sources included posing the dead to appear standing or in a “just hanging out” kind of pose. Instead he found that a picture in the death-bed was popular.
Many subjects in the early days may have appeared dead because of forced stillness, while others looked this way because they were indeed dead. Turns out that some of the best subjects for photography were the dead.
- Post-Mortem Photography Was A Popular Thing
- A Brief Definition of Post-Mortem Photography
- How Was This Now-Odd Genre Became A Thing?
- The Symbolic Importance of These Photographs For Families
- So, How Did They Manage to Maneuver The Stiff Bodies?
- About The Style
- Last But Not Least
Back in the days in which accessing a visual representation of the self was both scarce and luxurious, people often had just one opportunity of getting a decent portrait of family and loved ones after they were deceased. Basically, people only realized the importance of having a visual memento of a person after they had died, hence the popularity o...
This was the visual and social practice of creating portraits of recently deceased persons via photography; requiring photographers to develop a particular array of creative abilities that allowed them to pose stiff corpses into flattering gestures. And it is part of a broader branch of objects popularly known in “material culture studies” as memen...
Before chemistry made photography possible as a durable object, portraiture was done though drawing, engraving, painting and sculpture. None of them were cheap nor accessible to the broader public, therefore having a portrait was quite a luxury that very few were able to afford during the 18th and 19th centuries. After the magnificent invention of ...
Every one of these photographs had a deep symbolic value to at least one person, a mourning living one that wanted to keep a tangible memory of the recently deceased. All these photographs were commissioned by mourning relatives and families; and in a way, they helped people process their grief by allowing them to experience the presence of the abs...
I haven’t found evidence yet about the differentiated fees between photographing a living person and a corpse, but since painters were known for charging even double the price for painting deceased ones, it is quite easy to conclude that in photography things were handled in the same way. And this has nothing to do with taking advantage of the grie...
Some images were very traditional, with an obvious Victorianand ethereal look, and today some of them may appear creepy to some viewers or audiences. In fact, that morbidity might be the origin of so many myths surrounding this fascinating cultural practice. Same which, in my personal opinion, is the only genre that has disappeared from all the his...
If you want to see some of these photographs, I recommend you this gallery (although I’m very sure that the photograph of Lewis Carrol and some others slipped the curatorial criteria of it). Also, you can visit the Thanatos Archive for more information about this long-gone social practice, and this enlightening document on the social construction o...
Dec 18, 2018 · In contrast to the proliferation of post-mortem imagery during the Victorian Era, photos of corpses today are considered taboo by many. When photos of the dead are taken and shown, the viewer is frequently forewarned of their presence.
A Look at 1800s Post-Mortem Photography. There's often quite a bit of controversy around post-mortem photography. Given how stoic and unhappy many people looked in early photos, many individuals mistakenly identify a photo as being of a deceased person.
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Sep 21, 2013 · Many people wish to research historical photographers. Perhaps you are tracing your family history, a distant relative was photographer or you are trying to date an old photograph you have. The following relate mostly to photographers and concentrate on photographic resources.
