"Forgotten Faces" Becomes the First Book to Present and Preserve Lost American History and Precious Immigrant Art Vanishing from our Country's Heritage and in Danger of Being Lost Forever.

Ron Horne's new book, "Forgotten Faces A Window Into Our Immigrant Past" reveals for the first time, rare photographs from the turn of the 20th century still perfectly preserved despite being outdoors for almost a century. Overlooked by historians and artists alike, enameled photo-ceramic memorial portraits mounted on tombstones present a stunningly beautiful and uniquely engaging art form rich in American immigrant history. Yet this valued treasure of our nation's legacy is disappearing due to neglect and vandalism before it can be researched, documented and preserved.

San Francisco, CA July 13, 2004 -- "Forgotten Faces" is the first book to alert readers to this national problem by displaying a collection of 350 well preserved memorial portraits from California and across the United States while recommending methods for documenting the thousands that still remain. Forgotten Faces celebrates memorial portraiture as a distinct art form. It emphasizes its important historical contribution. It explores the hundred year old technology that created images capable of surviving outdoors for centuries. In doing so, it opens a window in time on the private faces of Americas immigrant past. "Forgotten Faces" examines this working class tradition and explores the historical and cultural influence of immigrants who came to America from 28 different nations.

Photo-ceramic memorial portraits will surprise you with their beauty and engaging appeal. They yield a personal history that dramatically reflects our countrys diverse origins. "Forgotten Faces" brings their stories back to life. Witness the photographs and be enchanted by these faces forsaken in the field of our ancestors. Like finding Rembrandts in the attic, youll discover amazing art and valued history no one even knew was there and is now in danger of being lost forever. Find out what can be done and why it is so important to act now. Read "Forgotten Faces" and find yourself transported in time and uplifted in spirit.

"Forgotten Faces is a stunning gallery, filled with haunting echoes of the past. It is a wonderful selection of beautiful photographs . It is an important addition to the study of both cemeteries and immigrant life in the U.S. This collection is wonderful with so many hopeful, eager, mysterious, proud faces offering eloquent testimony about American life and the American past."

Gary Collison, Editor of Markers: A Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Available on www.Amazon.com - See details on www.ForgottenFaces.org

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