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Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in America
Death and the way society comes to terms with it have become a major area of scholarly and popular interest, as evidenced in the work of such well-known figures as Philippe Aries and Elisabeth Kubler Ross. Photographs and other forms of pictorial imagery play an important role in these investigations. Secure the Shadow is an original contribution that lies at the intersection of cultural anthropology and visual analysis, a field that Jay Ruby's previous writings have helped to define. It explores the photographic representation of death in the United States from 1840 to the present, focusing on the ways in which people have taken and used photographs of deceased loved ones and their funerals to mitigate the finality of death.
Sometimes thought to be a bizarre Victorian custom, photographing corpses has been and continues to be an important, if not recognized, occurrence in American life. It is a photographic activity, like the erotica produced in middle-class homes by married couples, that many privately practice but seldom circulate outside the trusted circle of close friends and relatives. Along with tombstones, funeral cards, and other images of death, these photographs represent one way in which Americans have attempted to secure their shadows.
Ruby employs newspaper accounts, advertisements, letters, photographers' account books, interviews, and other material to determine why and how photography and death became intertwined in the nineteenth century. He traces this century's struggle between America's public denial of death and a deeply felt private need to use pictures of those we love to mourn their loss. Americans take and use photographs of dead relatives and friends in spite of and not because of society's expectation about the propriety of these means. Ruby compares photographs and other pictorial media of death, founding his interpretations on the discovery of patterns in the appearance of the images and a reconstruction of the conditions of their production and utilization.
Sometimes thought to be a bizarre Victorian custom, photographing corpses has been and continues to be an important, if not recognized, occurrence in American life. It is a photographic activity, like the erotica produced in middle-class homes by married couples, that many privately practice but seldom circulate outside the trusted circle of close friends and relatives. Along with tombstones, funeral cards, and other images of death, these photographs represent one way in which Americans have attempted to secure their shadows.
Ruby employs newspaper accounts, advertisements, letters, photographers' account books, interviews, and other material to determine why and how photography and death became intertwined in the nineteenth century. He traces this century's struggle between America's public denial of death and a deeply felt private need to use pictures of those we love to mourn their loss. Americans take and use photographs of dead relatives and friends in spite of and not because of society's expectation about the propriety of these means. Ruby compares photographs and other pictorial media of death, founding his interpretations on the discovery of patterns in the appearance of the images and a reconstruction of the conditions of their production and utilization.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 26, 2019
This book has been on my TBR shelf for a very long time In fact, it's been there so long that it's gone out of date. When Secure the Shadow was published in 1995, no one carried internet-connected cameras in their pockets. The ability to photograph a deceased loved one -- without the intercession of a photographer, funeral director, or photo processing -- along with the ability to upload those photos and share them across social media has changed the game. I saw someone sharing photos of her father's funeral on Facebook just yesterday. (For the record, they were tasteful and beautiful.)
Ruby tries to refute the notion that postmortem photos were rare when photography was new. To support that, he resorts to photographers' records of the number of times they traveled to take such photos in family homes. Not many of those photographs have survived to come down to us now, probably because intervening generations found them in "bad taste" and disposed of them.
One of the chapters talks about photo plaques on cemetery monuments, including the rare instances of postmortem photos on gravestones. It doesn't couch those images in the larger context of statues of dead people on their own graves, whether "sleeping" babes or women holding their dead infants while they lay on their deathbeds. That subject remains to be explored.
The part of the book that fascinated me most was the final chapter, which examined the resurgence of artful photos taken of stillborn or infants who die shortly after birth. Many of the psychological justifications for taking those photos -- whether the families want them at the time or not -- could apply to any postmortem photos. I think there is a market to be explored.
Overall, I found the text of the book repetitive, either because each chapter was designed to stand alone or because the author didn't read his book from beginning to end as I did. The information is interesting, but the books from the Thanatos Archives have better illustrations.
Ruby tries to refute the notion that postmortem photos were rare when photography was new. To support that, he resorts to photographers' records of the number of times they traveled to take such photos in family homes. Not many of those photographs have survived to come down to us now, probably because intervening generations found them in "bad taste" and disposed of them.
One of the chapters talks about photo plaques on cemetery monuments, including the rare instances of postmortem photos on gravestones. It doesn't couch those images in the larger context of statues of dead people on their own graves, whether "sleeping" babes or women holding their dead infants while they lay on their deathbeds. That subject remains to be explored.
The part of the book that fascinated me most was the final chapter, which examined the resurgence of artful photos taken of stillborn or infants who die shortly after birth. Many of the psychological justifications for taking those photos -- whether the families want them at the time or not -- could apply to any postmortem photos. I think there is a market to be explored.
Overall, I found the text of the book repetitive, either because each chapter was designed to stand alone or because the author didn't read his book from beginning to end as I did. The information is interesting, but the books from the Thanatos Archives have better illustrations.
April 13, 2024
Excellently written and extensively researched. My one small criticism is that I wish the author didn't feel the need to disparage other prominent memorial portraiture authors, it's just fine for multiple works to exist. But yeah, very high quality research and writing.
January 24, 2016
Secure the Shadows is a wonderful book about the history and usage of postmortem photography. It is more in depth and has some amazing photos but if you want more of a photo book then Sleeping Beauty would be a better option. The thing I really enjoyed about this book was the author branching out to include the evolving death industry and mourning rituals with straying to far from the topic of photography.
August 28, 2011
Excellent book with fascinating photographs dating from early victorian to the 1980s. The only bad thing I can say is that I don't have a copy (very expensive!).
August 7, 2013
Fairly academic, but a terrific resource if you want to learn about death photography. I was particularly impressed by the firsthand accounts from photographers in the 19th century.
January 15, 2024
Solid, if not necessarily what I needed for my research. Some very insightful passages about the hesitations and taboos around death and photography.
May 30, 2015
In Secure the Shadow there are some great postmortem images I hadn't seen before, including a very creepy postmortem of a baby with painted eyes to give the illusion of life, and postmortems of dogs. I loved the brief descriptions of mourning jewelry and dress. If you enjoy goth aesthetic check out these old photographs of widows. Some of my favorites were the beautifully shot exaggerated poses of solemnity and grieving.
A lot that is touched on in this book are topics that could fill many more books, so this probably isn't the most in-depth writing on the subject, but it is still worth checking out. The book is also very dated, as most books looking at the historical use of a technology tend to be. The funeral industry is a massive market and nowadays you can find a plethora of goods related to memorials. Photos were often taken to send to family and friends who couldn't attend a funeral, nowadays people can just get on Skype, though with even more access to cameras via smart phones, perhaps postmortems are a secret out in the open that sometimes still manages to offend peoples sensibilities (see: controversy over funeral selfies). Its a shame that the "talking tombstone" never took off.
Its sad that so many people destroy their families postmortem pictures or hide them away out of shame, fearing the judgment of others or the invading thoughts of mortality. With all the violence surrounds us on a daily basis, broadcast nightly on the news as simulacra or encountered in the world, it is strange that pictures of death would appear to anybody as abhorrent. As technology advances we have even more options for postmortem imagery, yet we still seem further away than ever from preparing for and accepting death.
A lot that is touched on in this book are topics that could fill many more books, so this probably isn't the most in-depth writing on the subject, but it is still worth checking out. The book is also very dated, as most books looking at the historical use of a technology tend to be. The funeral industry is a massive market and nowadays you can find a plethora of goods related to memorials. Photos were often taken to send to family and friends who couldn't attend a funeral, nowadays people can just get on Skype, though with even more access to cameras via smart phones, perhaps postmortems are a secret out in the open that sometimes still manages to offend peoples sensibilities (see: controversy over funeral selfies). Its a shame that the "talking tombstone" never took off.
Its sad that so many people destroy their families postmortem pictures or hide them away out of shame, fearing the judgment of others or the invading thoughts of mortality. With all the violence surrounds us on a daily basis, broadcast nightly on the news as simulacra or encountered in the world, it is strange that pictures of death would appear to anybody as abhorrent. As technology advances we have even more options for postmortem imagery, yet we still seem further away than ever from preparing for and accepting death.
January 3, 2011
Great book about post mortem photography and its evolution. A must read for those who is interested in this topic. The book has a lot of pictures and illustrations which makes for a better reading since there are a lot of visuals.
December 17, 2013
I have had this book since 1999. It is a wonderful source of information for postmortem photography. The pictures are somber, but the history is fascinating. This book inspired me to start a collection of Victorian mourning memorabilia.
October 22, 2009
Amazing history of death photography in the US. Beautiful and touching examples of the various styles. Not for the faint of heart.
January 31, 2014
A fun and fascinating book on an interesting topic. To be honest, I didn't read every word, just the parts that really interested me.
The old postmortem photographs were eerily beautiful.
The old postmortem photographs were eerily beautiful.
Want to read
January 5, 2014on p 141
November 20, 2014
This is a gtreat book on a subject many of us know nothing about.While I surmised the actions behind death photography I had no idea what people of the time thought.Highly recomended!
January 3, 2017
La fotografía postmortem en la América del siglo XIX.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews