Emmet M. Mann

Emmet Mann as child and adult

Well this is one post I hate like hell to have to write. We are terribly saddened to learn of the death of Emmet Mann, most famous to the world as one of the luminous subjects of one of the great American photobooks of the 20th century, his mother Sally's Immediate Family. As an adult he suffered from schizophrenia, and worked as a landscaper. He had many interests and causes; he was a musician, aspired to be a writer, and had many friends.

Our sorrows and heartfelt condolences to Sally and Larry, his sisters Jessie and Virginia, and all his family members and friends. He was 36.

Mike
(Thanks to Niall M. and Kent P.)

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

No featured comments yet—please check back soon!

Comments

[Eolake]

Just what you said.
Tears.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Yes, very sad news, Mike.

A full obituary can be found on The News-Gazette.

[Bill Mitchell]

Really sad.

[Kalli]

I was shocked when I heard the news. Thinking about it, there are probably not many people of whom I own more photographs.

So very sad.

[John Seidel]

So very sad. Life is beautiful, but in no way fair. Condolences to his family. He will always be the happy-looking young guy in the photographs.

[Derek]

Terribly sad, indeed. Condolences to a family who has generously offered us glimpses of their own humanity.

[Dogman]

Very sorry to learn of this.

[John Camp]

Anyone who suffers from schizophrenia, and manages to work and hold a job, and even play in a band, and hold a sense of humor about his condition, is to be nothing but admired.

[Fred Mueller]

The sadness of this makes me mad, or at least that's the best way I know to describe the feeling I have when I hear things like this. I don't know Sally Mann or her family except through her work and writing. But it makes me mad that people have to live through things that are so sad.

[robert quiet photographer]

So sad to know this, RIP
robert

[Tom Bell]

Very sad to hear this. My thought are with his mother and all who loved him and who were touched by him

[John Sarsgard]

I never know what to say about happenings like this, so I will just say what I feel. I am sad.

[sandy rothberg]

There are no words that make it alright that a child had died.

[Darlene]

So very sad. Peace be with his family and loved ones.

[Andrew Molitor]

The only thing I know for sure is that his mom is pretty amazing, but I'll take her word for it that the rest of the family are pretty great. My sympathies to all.

If you follow links around a little you can find info on where to send memorial stuff.

[Steve Rosenblum]

Any parent's nightmare...the death of one's child no matter at what age. My heart goes out to the Mann family. Sally's amazing book "Hold Still" gives a penetrating look into her family going back several generations and into the present. Even though I have never met her, I feel as though I know her enough to share in their grief. Very sad indeed.....

[John Krumm]

I read Sally Man's memoir Hold Still shortly after Christmas. I can't imagine the pain the family is going through. I have no idea how he died, but according to some research the average life expectancy of people with bi-polar or schizophrenia is shortened by 10-20 years. By middle age most of us have seen some form of mental illness pop up in the family, close or distant, it seems.

[Marcelo Guarini]

It is a different kind of sadness, a more profound and distressful one I would say, when people do not fulfill our expected life span. My condolences to his family.

[JOHN GILLOOLY]

Very sad to read that news the other day. While I knew of her work a bit, it was really Mike's reviews of Hold Still and Immediate Family that got me to purchase and read those books. I absolutely love Immediate Family and one of my favorite images in that book is of Emmet wading through the river - I referenced that image in a blog post of my own about Sally Mann a few months back. There was also a great story behind the making of that image in Hold Still. The tragedy of his loss also gives new and changed meaning in some ways to the images. We might look at them differently now? Time itself has a way of slowly changing what we see in an image. A traumatic change in the subject like this makes that metamorphosis almost instant. They are more important now. Their value has grown.