Iconic Photo Analysis

                     

Post-mortem, unidentified young girl
Southworth and Hawes

              Southworth and Hawes were post-mortem photographers. They would lay a corpse on a sofa or table, and set them up to make them appear to be sleeping rather than dead. Many people wanted them to take these pictures as a way to remember their loved ones in a peaceful state. Southworth and Hawes used daguerreotype photography, which was a difficult and time consuming process but the photos came out mirror like and very detailed.

             This photo was interesting to me because it has a somber feel to it but it also looks peaceful. At first when I saw this picture I thought it was a sleeping child. I didn't realize she was dead until I read the title.

             In the 1850's, around the time this photo was taken, most of America shared the belief that America was the "inventor and owner of the present, and only hope for the future".  We were enthusiastic and began free market capitalism, territorial expansion, and supoorted republican causes abroad at a time of strife which would eventually lead us to the Civil war. The news of the daguerrotype came to America in the 1930's which was around the begging of a period of time called "the era of Young America." This is the era when Southworth and Hawes teamed up and begain capturing the faces and views of young America.