Postmortem Restorative Art: Principles, Methods, and Applications - Paperback

Postmortem Restorative Art: Principles, Methods, and Applications is a mortuary science text on returning a face to something viewable.

What's inside

Anatomy first: the bone and soft tissue of the head, then proportion and profile, then how color and light behave on skin that no longer supplies its own.

Cosmetics, waxes and brushes are classified rather than listed, so the reader learns why a material gets chosen and not only that it exists.

The hardest chapters take on gunshot injury, road trauma, and the changes left behind by jaundice and edema.

Good to know

The photography is the one thing readers push back on. Several say the example images are too poor to learn from, in a book where the picture is the lesson.

Who it's for

Funeral service students use it as coursework. Practitioners who already have the fundamentals describe it as where they go for the difficult reconstructions.

From the publisher

Postmortem Restorative Art: Principles, Methods, and Applications provides readers with an authoritative exploration of the techniques involved in restoring a natural and dignified appearance to the deceased. Emphasizing the importance of viewing the dead, this textbook advances the professional standards of mortuary science, addressing a comprehensive range of methods from cosmetics to severe trauma restoration.

The opening chapter defines restorative art and traces the evolution of restorative practices within mortuary science. Additional chapters stress anatomy and morphology; the skeletal and soft tissue structure of the head and face; and the intricacies of craniofacial proportions, shapes, and profiles.

Readers learn about the anatomy and restoration of facial features, the interplay of color and light, and the practical classification of cosmetics, brushes, and waxes, culminating in thorough assessments and treatments for both soft tissue and the craniofacial skeleton.

Readers also learn restoration methods associated with the challenges of gunshot wounds and other acts of violence, motor vehicle accidents, and pathological conditions such edema and jaundice.

Postmortem Restorative Art is ideal for courses in funeral service programs and mortuary science and is also a valuable resource for new and experienced professionals. Its comprehensive coverage makes it the quintessential text for those striving to master the art and science of restoring natural form and color to the deceased.