Post Mortem Memorabilia: James Joyce's Death Mask

     Let me give a bit of background information before I jump into this post sounding like a crazy woman. The norm of my family is that death is strictly business. While most of you saw the grave stones we visited as beautiful, ornate works of art (and they were, certainly), all I saw were dollar signs. Having a mortician/funeral director in the home will give you funny perspectives like that. Death is a business and all the odd intricacies that goes with it. This all being said, I have a bit of a specialty when it comes to all things death-related and funeral-related: death masks included.
     Prior to the 'modern' era, capturing the visage of the dead was perfectly normal. Post Mortem photography was huge in the Victorian era with loved ones propping their newly deceased up for a quick photo shoot. Death masks (like the one you saw in the Joyce Tower) were also extremely popular. Their popularity goes far beyond photography as Neopoleon Bonaparte had a death mask created after his losing battle with syphilis. What was the purpose of these morbid works of art you ask? As with post mortem photography, death masks were used as momentos for the loved ones of the deceased. Joyce, being so regarded and so famous as he was, would certainly have his face preserved in a wax sculpture for generations to enjoy. These sculptures were also used for scientific study such as in the field of phrenology (the study of the human head in comparison to personality and behavior).
   Seeing such a thing in an otherwise tame museum really struck a chord with me. While I'm an admirer of Joyce and a literature student, the practices of death and funerals have always been fascinating for me despite them being themes of regular dinner table conversation in my household. While morbid, there is a lot both in the past and in the present that is artistic about funerals and how bodies are treated after death. Seeing Joyce's mask was a reminder for me of that fact.