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.

<i>Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).

Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century

Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro, New York, NY

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Post-Mortem on Pillow

America, 19th century

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