Forgotten Faces: A Window Into Our Immigrant Past (Forgotten Faces - America's Lost History) [Paperback]

Ronald William Horne (Author), Lisa Montanarelli (Author)

Book Description

Series: Forgotten Faces - America's Lost History | Publication Date: February 2004

Forgotten Faces - A Window Into Our Immigrant Past reveals, for the first time, lost American history encapsulated in a beautiful but neglected art form. Forgotten Faces is the first book to explore memorial portraiture as a distinctive art form and acknowledge its contribution to our country’s valued history. In doing so, it reveals a never-before-published photo-panorama of American immigration at the turn of the twentieth century.

Forgotten Faces presents a first-ever collection of over 350 well-preserved photo-ceramic memorial portraits. The beginning of a series titled, Forgotten Faces – America’s Lost History, it demonstrates how a similarly beautiful collection of memorial portraits awaits discovery and exhibition from every major city in the United States.

Photo-Ceramic memorial portraits are photographs of the deceased mounted directly on their tombstones. They are made of ceramics the quality of the finest china but made to last outdoors for centuries. This edition now includes 10 pages of color plates - including rare images of immigrants from 28 different nations. It includes examples from Colma, California’s historic Holy Cross and Italian cemeteries as well as other U.S. and European locations.

Forgotten Faces details the technology, history and cultural influence of memorial portraits as both art and artifact. Forgotten Faces alerts readers to the fact these treasured artifacts are vanishing from our heritage and recommends methods for documenting them before they disappear.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

America possesses stunningly beautiful art that it does not even know exits. Resting quietly in the in the fields of its ancestors, America contains an enormous cache of valuable historical artifacts overlooked and neglected by historians for almost a hundred years. Yet this precious art and valuable artifacts are disappearing from our culture’s legacy before we even know it is there.

Forgotten Faces is the first book to explore photo-ceramic portraits on tombstones. It is the first book to present a stunning collection of this art and demonstrate its inherent beauty and value. It is the first book to tell our country about the continued loss of these priceless relics. It is the first book to explore this art form in depth and instruct us how to document and preserve this vanishing heritage for future generations.

Ron Horne’s work is a compelling call to action for historians and artists to rescue an art form long neglected and misunderstood. His beautifully photographed collection demonstrates the engaging appeal of this art. His words tell us how and why we need to act now save what still remains. The chapters contributed by Lisa Montanarelli detail the history and cultural influence of this art form and adds valued insights to understanding the considerable contribution it makes to our society. Read Forgotten Faces today and discover these "Rembrandts in America’s Attic". Join the effort to preserve the thousands that still exist across every city in our nation.

From the Author

It has always been about the faces in the photographs. I believe these portraits represent remarkable works of art. I consider them compelling and valuable supplements to our history. They show us unheralded immigrants trying to forge new lives in a new nation, not cultural icons or embellished historical legends. There is value in that. These surviving photographs of our ancestors deserve recognition, preservation and protection.

I urge amateur and professional photographers throughout the United States to explore their cemeteries and capture the essence of these forgotten faces. I appeal to historians to help recover this hidden heritage. I encourage gravestone enthusiasts, who are the real experts and true guardians of the art, to document them and organize their findings.

Yet, more people vandalize these relics than preserve them. The first in the series Forgotten Faces – America’s Lost Art, other editions from the cities of Chicago, New York. Boston, Atlanta and many more will follow. Together they will represent an entirely original photo-history of America’s immigrants at the turn of the 20th century.

If you experience the faces of these portraits as so many do, reaching across the partition of time and coming alive in the minds eye, then this book will fulfill its objective, to acknowledge these portals to the past as valued art and artifacts

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Personal Genesis Publishing (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974739529
• ISBN-13: 978-0974739526
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,571,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Glimpse Into Past Lives, July 22, 2004

By 

David R. Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forgotten Faces: A Window Into Our Immigrant Past (Forgotten Faces - America's Lost History) (Paperback)

Forgotten Faces offers a surprisingly detailed look into our history. The text is easily read. Although the portraits are the heart of the book, the author's descriptions and insights enliven the images.
I was impressed by the breadth of knowledge about the portraits. Questions I had while reading were often answered in a following chapter. The book is a pleasantly thorough treatment of a little known area of our history.
This book has left me with a new outlook on memorials in general and with a hope that around the country further research into these memorial portraits will be undertaken.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars California immigrant history brought to life!, March 11, 2006

By 

D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgotten Faces: A Window Into Our Immigrant Past (Forgotten Faces - America's Lost History) (Paperback)

Galleys and unfinished titles typically aren't mentioned here but keep an eye out for the finished version of FORGOTTEN FACES: A WINDOW NTO OUR IMMIGRANT PAST: it's a unique coverage of photo-ceramic memorial grave portraits and provides an outstanding survey of memorial portraiture as its own art form. This could have been mentioned under our art review section but is featured here for its important cultural insights as well: California immigrant history comes to life in an outstanding visual and written survey of a unique art and memorial form which should not be missed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explores a unique aspect of America's history, February 6, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgotten Faces: A Window Into Our Immigrant Past (Forgotten Faces - America's Lost History) (Paperback)

Forgotten Faces explores a unique aspect of America's history - the photo-ceramic memorial portraits upon tombstones, long-forgotten art in plain sight. Black-and-white photographs througout reveal the skill and emotion behind these images, which remain perfectly preserved despite ornamenting tombstones for almost a century. The text discusses epitaphs and inscriptions on the tombstones with the portraits, as well as surveying what is known about the men and women whose likenesses have been captured to heartrending perfection. Images of immigrants from 28 nations from cemeteries in various American and European locations combine to create a unique cross-section of photographic art and history combined.