Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance [Hardcover]

Geoffrey Batchen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1568984502 | ISBN-13: 978-1568984506 | Edition: 1

Since its invention, photography has always been inextricably tied up with remembrance: photographers recall family, beloved friends, special moments, trips and other events, speaking across time and place to create an emotional bond between subject and viewer.
Forget Me Not focuses on this relationship between photography and memory, and explores the curious and centuries-old practice of strengthening the emotional appeal of photographs by embellishing them -- with text, paint, frames, embroidery, fabric, string, hair, flowers, bullets, cigar wrappers, butterfly wings, and more -- to create strange and often beautiful hybrid objects. This spellbinding book features color photographs of eighty such objects, extraordinary works of art -- part memento, part Joseph Cornell -- created by ordinary people from the mid-19th century to mid-20th century.
In addition, Forget Me Not offers an alternative way to look at the history of photography, a history that effectively excludes most of the photographs -- candid views, family snapshots, and the like -- taken since the invention of the camera. Noted photography historian Geoffrey Batchen adopts a different tone in this original and engaging book -- a personal and speculative voice that speaks to the objects rather than about them while offering a visual treasure chest of both mysterious and beautiful images.
Forget Me Not is published with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and accompanies an exhibition of the same name that opens at the Museum in March 2004.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Do photographs replace memory? Or do they enhance it, allowing us to remember moments that would otherwise fade away? These are two of the questions posed by this short-but-sweet "meditation" on the various manifestations of photography as a mnemonic device. The book, which accompanies an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, features 80 color illustrations of a range of photography-art objects, including lockets, photo "jewelry" and even photo-furniture. By and large, the pieces are touching bulwarks against mortality. As Batchen explains, "these otherwise humble portraits declare ‘do not forget me’ with as much intensity of purpose as any pharaoh’s tomb, a declaration made all the more poignant by the anonymity to which most of these sitters have been consigned." But in many cases, the objects themselves are far from humble: rather, they are breathtaking manifestations of the ingenuity inspired by the effort to keep memories alive. Flat images made three-dimensional through elaborate framing take on a mystery and power akin to that of Cornell box. Locks of hair are the least of it; some of the photo-sculptures include spiky bullet frames, elaborate flower arrangements, tiny canoe paddles and even deer legs (presumably belonging to the deer in the photo). A series of Indian portraits, in which only the photographed face is left visible behind beautifully painted clothes and exteriors, are a compelling amalgamation of "old" expression and "new" technology. While the compact size of the volume is evidently meant to evoke the intimacy of its subject, the images are in some cases so intricate that one wishes they were slightly larger, but otherwise the reproductions are of impressively high-quality, accompanied by a thoughtful and questioning text.
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Review

"These beautiful objects bear witness to the age-old struggle to spare photography's subjects from oblivion. Thinking outside the box, Batchen once again combines an innovative curatorial practice with a provocative brand of art-historical writing." - Artforum --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568984502
• ISBN-13: 978-1568984506
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,032,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "the desire to remember, and to be remembered", July 11, 2007

By 

K. Gray "you know, that guy" (Oneonta, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance (Paperback)

Batchen's book fills a crucial hole in the story of the history of photography, and his understanding of the medium of photography as more than a simply visual experience is refreshing.

From the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, photography was an extremely important tool for rememberance, arguably moreso than in the present day when there's so much photography that it seems disposable. Photographs were often embellished in elaborate frames, delicate lockets, and velvet-lined cases. Dried flowers, human hair, butterfly wings, and other elements were sometimes included with these images as an attempt to include something tactile, even more real than the photograph itself, in order to invoke a clearer memory and enhance the "immortality" of the person. Batchen uses some very fine examples of early tintypes, daguerreotypes, and various other early photo processes to make his points. The book is rather short, mostly because Batchen is a fantastic writer who is clear, concise, academic, and accessible all at the same time.

The only thing that I wish would have been touched upon in the book is the common practice of post-mortem photography in the 19th century. It would have been interesting to read Batchen's opinion of this practice and how it relates to the idea of memory and photography as it is discussed in this book.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars suicide hotline, here i come!, November 17, 2010

By 

Mrs. Dungbottoms - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance (Hardcover)

the images in this book are so gorgeous, i want to DIE! (literally.) i'm thinking hanging is much more romantic than bloodshed or pill popping. i want someone in velveteen pinstripe to record my fashionably limp body on 35mm as i swing my way to the pages of such a book; a gothic "Vogue" of sorts. i'm sewing a frothy white baptismal costume for myself for the occasion. i'll post the pictures when i can! or one of my family members will, as my final request! ciao, world!