Grave Portraits

Grave Portraits

Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, PA, just outside of Philadelphia, in the Italian section. It’s a photograph glazed onto ceramics. The dates are in the 1920’s, close to a century in the weather and they are still sharp and unfaded. I haven’t been able to find any definitive information on the photo- transfer technique used back then, one possibility is silk screen. Not all information is on the first couple of pages of a Google search. But  FORGOTTEN FACES: A WINDOW INTO OUR IMMIGRANT PAST has this: “an artisan fashioned a photograph from gold, platinum and iridium alloys and fired it onto an enamel surface. A portrait made in this way can survive in a cemetery for well over 100 years.”  Today it can be done with a laser printer.

Grave Portraits

Something is eating into this one, but note that the rest of the image is still unfaded.

Grave Portraits

Grave Portraits

This one is heartbreaking.

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Comments (6) left to “Grave Portraits”

  1. Flickr: GammaBlog wrote:

    Yeah, old photos are magic, bringing you back to that place and time.

  2. Flickr: madmaxnyc wrote:

    This series is just amazing.

  3. Flickr: GammaBlog wrote:

    Yeah, I was happy with what I got as well.

  4. Flickr: Elisha Cook Jr. wrote:

    The grave portraits are really fascinating. Nice shot.

  5. Flickr: C-Monster wrote:

    wow… these are intense.

  6. Flickr: GammaBlog wrote:

    Yeah. I almost feel like searching out more of them in local cemeteries.

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