Photography and Death
eBook - PDF

Photography and Death

  1. 216 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Photography and Death

About this book

The idea of photographing the dead is as old as photography itself. For the most part, early death photographs were commissioned or taken by relatives of the deceased and preserved in the home as part of the family photograph collection. Once thought inappropriate and macabre, today these photographs are considered beneficial in dealing with bereavement.

Photography and Death reveals the beauty, meaning and significance of images once dismissed as disturbing, perverted or grotesque by placing them within the context of changing cultural attitudes towards death and loss. Excluding images of death through war, violence or natural disasters, Audrey Linkman concentrates on photographs of natural death within the family. She identifies the range of death-related photographs that were produced in both Europe and North America, and charts changes in their stylistic treatment through the decades. The author also examines how this subject is handled by contemporary art photographers.

Photography and Death will interest photographic, art and social historians as well as practitioners in the field of bereavement therapy, or those who seek to analyse the images of long-lost ancestors who gaze back from the pages of their family photograph albums.

Information

Publisher
Reaktion Books
Year
2012
Print ISBN
9781861897916
eBook ISBN
9781780230122
Topic
Art
Subtopic
Photography
between 
Oscar 
Gustav 
Rejlander’s 
Sleeping 
Child
(illus. 
4
) 
and 
a 
Southworth
and 
Hawes 
post-mortem-portrait 
of 
an 
unknown 
child 
(illus. 
5
) 
shows
how 
closely 
the 
two 
states 
could 
be 
made 
to 
resemble 
one 
another 
in 
the 
hands 
of 
competent 
photographers. 
This 
aesthetic 
approach 
to 
the
portrayal 
of 
the 
dead 
echoed 
the 
conventions 
of 
portraiture 
from 
life
where 
professional 
rhetoric 
exhorted 
photographers 
to 
secure 
an 
idealized
portrayal 
of 
their 
sitters 
by 
highlighting 
their 
good 
points 
and 
concealing
any 
perceived 
imperfections. 
Photographers, 
themselves, 
were 
conscious 
of
the 
implications 
of 
this 
approach. 
One 
conceded 
that 
his 
post-mortem 
work 
adds 
another 
to 
the 
chapter 
of 
lies; 
but 
who 
can 
blame 
the 
perpetra-
tor? 
Ought 
he 
not 
rather 
to 
be 
blamed 
if 
he 
revealed 
the 
horrible
truth, 
which 
with 
every 
fond 
look 
would 
tear 
open 
the 
wound 
of
despair, 
which 
by 
other 
means 
has 
passed 
into 
the 
healing 
state 
of
resignation?
21
The 
death-as-sleep 
portrait 
was 
clearly 
intended 
to 
comfort 
the 
bereaved
and 
console 
the 
survivors. 
As 
we 
shall 
see, 
other 
treatments 
emerged
later 
but 
the 
death-as-sleep 
tradition 
persisted 
into 
the 
twentieth 
century.
Within 
this 
tradition 
the 
metaphor 
of 
sleep 
influenced 
every 
aspect 
of 
the
22
No 
digital 
rights
4 
Oscar 
Gustav 
Rejlander, 
Sleeping 
Child
,
mid-19th 
century, 
platinum 
print 
on 
card-
board 
mount.

Table of contents

  1. Photography and Death Cover
  2. Imprint page
  3. Contents
  4. Foreword
  5. 1. Photographing the Dead
  6. 2. Mourning the Dead
  7. 3. Exhibiting the Dead
  8. Postscript
  9. References
  10. Select Bibliography
  11. Acknowledgements
  12. Photo Acknowledgements
  13. Index

Trusted by 375,005 students

Access to over 1.5 million titles for a fair monthly price.

Study more efficiently using our study tools.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn how to download books offline
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.5M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1.5 million books across 990+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn about our mission
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more about Read Aloud
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS and Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Yes, you can access Photography and Death by Audrey Linkman in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & Photography. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.