I see dead people
- added May 7, 2008
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- smorrisey
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- Art and Style (17986)
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Postmortem photographs were taken more than any other kind of photograph in the Victorian era — especially in the U.S. — and in many cases these carefully-arranged, meticulously staged pictures were the only ones ever taken of their subjects
A common theme in Victorian-era postmortem photography was the staged scene of mourning, which was often highly melodramatic. Another style was the photograph in which the dead were posed to look alive - eyes-open, for example.
These photographs were a common aspect of American culture, a part of the mourning and memorialization process. Surviving families were proud of these images and hung them in their homes, sent copies to friends and relatives, wore them as lockets or carried them as pocket mirrors. Nineteenth-century Americans knew how to respond to these images. Today there is no culturally normative response to postmortem photographs.
A common theme in Victorian-era postmortem photography was the staged scene of mourning, which was often highly melodramatic. Another style was the photograph in which the dead were posed to look alive - eyes-open, for example.
These photographs were a common aspect of American culture, a part of the mourning and memorialization process. Surviving families were proud of these images and hung them in their homes, sent copies to friends and relatives, wore them as lockets or carried them as pocket mirrors. Nineteenth-century Americans knew how to respond to these images. Today there is no culturally normative response to postmortem photographs.
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