Post-Mortem Photography - Week 2
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| The youngest child has died and is propped against a stand for the picture https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36389581 |
During the 19th century, there was an eternal thirst for remembrance and recognition. This was influenced by the Victorian obsession with spirituality and the techniques of early photography. When the invention of the daguerreotype came along it was an assistant to such things, as it was now easier to capture spectral photographs of recently deceased loved ones, ultimately describing the victorian's attitude towards the correlation of death and intimacy. Take note that at this time, paintings were expensive and the new age technology of photography was increasingly affordable. Additionally, this era popularized unusual photographic trends such as post-mortem photography (images of deceased individuals) and what we now call hidden mother photography. Even though these had existed prior, it became the trend of the 19th century.
You may ask, how does hidden mother photography relate to the century's odd spirit themed trend? Well, many look as if there were a ghost in them. Whatever the technique, it gave the appearance of a strange figure in each photograph. Some would even say it gave the figure like a grim reaper. Hidden mother photography describes how Victorian mothers would hide themselves behind veils and hold their child while the long exposure image was taken. As for older children, they were held by a clamp that was connected to a chair. Of course the toddlers were too small and immature for this so the parents had to hold them still to make certain the child would not suddenly move, blurring the image. Due to the slow processing time of the daguerreotype this became a necessity. The photographers tried to discreetly place the parents behind chairs, curtains, and even blurred out the photo so it occasionally showed just hands or arms.
Post-mortem photographers were commissioned by grieving families as a sort of consolation to memorialize the dead. These photographs would become a precious possession as it was the only visual remembrance of a person. Often times children in these types of photos look like they're sleeping however, there are occasions when their eyes would be opened or the eyelids would be painted to make them appear alive still. This may seem like quite an alarming task to accomplish but look at the bright side! Post-mortem photographs were easier to take because the subjects weren't able to move and the images came out clearer. I believe all of these efforts created paths for modern-day morticians to follow. If you read about what they do now to prepare the dead for a funeral, it is much more alarming in my opinion.
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| The boy's eyelids are painted in this photo https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36389581 |
In the first half of the 19th century, it was no doubt that the new age invention of photography was an exciting never seen before medium. This said... it was used to capture the big moments in life with the most common being death. With the average lifespan being merely 40 years old, death was embraced and all too familiar. His name isn't mentioned neither can I find it, but one photographer from the time said that he had memories of parents who carried a stillborn baby into the studio. The mother asked "Can you photograph this?", showing him "a tiny face like waxwork" carefully hidden in a wooden basket (https://allthatsinteresting.com/victorian-death-photos). If that wasn't dark enough, it wasn't usual to see Victorians surround themselves with reminders of death or memento mori. The literal definition of that phrase is "remember you must die" and it was honored, reminding that the living shouldn't forget their mortality.
Bell, Bethan. “Taken from Life: The Unsettling Art of Death Photography.” BBC News. BBC, June 4, 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36389581.
Carlton, Genevieve. “The Victorians Honored Their Relatives by TAKING Exquisite Portraits of Them - Just after They Died.” All That's Interesting. All That's Interesting, July 26, 2021. https://allthatsinteresting.com/victorian-death-photos.
“Death and the Daguerreotype: The Strange and Unsettling World of Victorian Photography.” VICE. Accessed September 7, 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pgqj3z/the-daguerreotype-unsettling-world-of-victorian-photography.
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