This paper engages the subject of performance and ritual by analyzing specific body performances in the history of early photography: it will, thus, compare postmortem-portraits taken in Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria), in the United States, and in Mexico in the second half of the nineteenth century.
As has been extensively documented, ...
(Show more)This paper engages the subject of performance and ritual by analyzing specific body performances in the history of early photography: it will, thus, compare postmortem-portraits taken in Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria), in the United States, and in Mexico in the second half of the nineteenth century.
As has been extensively documented, the history of early photography and the history of death are closely connected. This is not only owing to the well-known medial affinities (1) between dearth and photography but also due to the chief subject of analysis. After the patenting of Daguerre’s process in 1839, portraits — in conjunction with subjects such as architecture, urban spaces, and landscapes — became one of the the central motifs in early photography.
Since postmortem-portraits are well-known in the United States and in Great Britain (2), recent studies mostly refer to American and British material (3). My aim, however, is to explore the presence of such portrait form in other European countries with a Christian majority and in Mexico. In this paper I will present three common versions of corpses as portraiture: in deathbed-photographs, in the performance of the dead body as a form of „sleeping beauty“, or in a pose that can be described as „dead yet alive“. It is relevant to note that, in some cases, postmortem-photographs present the deceased surrounded by family members and mourners. Contextualizing some pertinent methodological concerns from within visual history and visual anthropology, the paper will not only focus on the visual performance of the individual dead body but also on the question of the specific way(s) in which mourning rituals are represented. Grounded through reflections on the socialhistorical background (photographers, prices, production process, confessional background etc.), the paper will thus explore not only cultural fantasies related to this form of photography but also engage with the question of the ways in which visual history can provide insights into studying the cultural history of death and the history of the body in the nineteenth century.
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