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.
Something is eating into this one, but note that the rest of the image is still unfaded.
This one is heartbreaking.
Flickr: GammaBlog wrote:
Yeah, old photos are magic, bringing you back to that place and time.
Posted on 12-Apr-08 at 3:54 am | Permalink
Flickr: madmaxnyc wrote:
This series is just amazing.
Posted on 12-Apr-08 at 8:00 am | Permalink
Flickr: GammaBlog wrote:
Yeah, I was happy with what I got as well.
Posted on 12-Apr-08 at 8:10 am | Permalink
Flickr: Elisha Cook Jr. wrote:
The grave portraits are really fascinating. Nice shot.
Posted on 12-Apr-08 at 12:36 pm | Permalink
Flickr: C-Monster wrote:
wow… these are intense.
Posted on 20-Apr-08 at 11:16 am | Permalink
Flickr: GammaBlog wrote:
Yeah. I almost feel like searching out more of them in local cemeteries.
Posted on 21-Apr-08 at 5:20 am | Permalink