The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 27, 2024

Alice Montgomery (1850-1917)

Alice Montgomery (1850-1917)

1850
(American, 1823–1898)
Image: 4.2 x 5.5 cm (1 5/8 x 2 3/16 in.); Case: 8.1 x 9.4 x 1.5 cm (3 3/16 x 3 11/16 x 9/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

Children have always been particularly cherished subjects for photography. Portraits were made to preserve the memory of their stages of growth and, in an age when long-distance travel was rare, to share with faraway relatives. And, for a sadder reason: in 1840 an estimated one-third of children died before age five. Photography offered grieving parents the opportunity to immortalize their children’s features. This tragic genre of photographs, later called “post-mortems,” often depicts the children in fine clothing, laying down with eyes shut, as if merely napping.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 224
  • Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).
    Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).
  • {{cite web|title=Alice Montgomery (1850-1917)|url=false|author=Enoch Long|year=1850|access-date=27 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.22