MEMENTO MORI..continuing black_pathology's thread

[p4irs]

Early postmortem photographs have more variety than later ones. The body, for instance, may be depicted outside of the coffin, whereas in later pictures this almost never happens. Before the days in which the undertaker directed the proceedings, the photographer was given relative freedom to place and pose the body. After those days, the photographer was in most cases merely documenting the work of the undertaker. The pictures, like the funerary proceedings, followed a routine formula.

Even the early examples have predictable variations. Subjects are depicted either closeup or full length, either in profile or full face. The camera may be above or below the subject, but it is much more frequently at the same level. The face is almost always emphasized. The result is a very direct confrontation with a dead person. In later postmortem photographs, this confrontation is mitigated by the presence of flowers, sometimes to such an extent that the body becomes difficult to locate.

[p4irs]

moar








Postmortem photography was widespread in Europe and America during the nineteenth century.18 The practice of photographing people after death, which began very early in the history of the medium, was performed as a special service by portrait photographers. Like portraiture, it was at first accomplished almost exclusively by the daguerreotype process.

During the first few years of its existence, the daguerreotype--a small, highly detailed picture on polished silver--was an expensive luxury. As the number of photographers increased throughout the 1840s, the cost of daguerreotypes diminished. Other, less costly procedures were introduced in the 1850s, along with novel forms of portraiture like the ambrotype (on glass), the tintype (on thin, cheap metal), and the carte-de-visite (on paper). By the 1860s, photographic portraiture was affordable to virtually all members of society.

The making of a portrait photograph was a memorable occasion. The results had an importance for their subjects that would diminish in the twentieth century, after photography had ceased to be a novelty. A portrait photograph was an expression of identity and of individual worth. It was particularly valued in America, a nation undergoing a process of self-definition, and in which individualism was seen as a national trait.19 A postmortem photograph, which represented the loss of an individual, had a value beyond that of an ordinary portrait.

That value was reflected in its cost. As a specialty item, a postmortem photograph was more expensive--sometimes considerably more expensive--than an ordinary portrait. 20 In part, this had to do with the unusual requirements of its making, if only because the photographer had to come to the subject rather than the other way around. However, this by itself could not have justified the high price of a postmortem picture. Photographers, no less astute than other business people, were charging an extraordinary fee for a product desired with extraordinary fervor by their customers. Whatever the reason for the high fees, the commissioning of a postmortem photograph often involved an economic sacrifice.

more http://138.23.124.165/exhibitions/me...y.html:beagle:

[janine]

Thank you so much p4irs very intersting read

[vagon]

Very interesting thread!Thanks for posting...

[double6]

5 Star thread

Thanks

[Melon Collie]

Excellent examples, p4irs. Thank you.

[black_pathology]

Great Job!

[C_R]

:d great

[p4irs]

yep..enjoy..i've always a fan of thread with info and good source..interesting fact to satisfy my curiosity