Sepulchral Portraits
I became interested in sepulchral portraits of a certain era after finding a large number of them in a certain part of Old Calvary Cemetery in Queens. These portraits, most from the early part of the 20th century, embody a distinct style of portraiture in which smiles are rare. Cracked, clouded-over, and vandalized, the physical condition of these old portraits on tombstones could be said to express the passage of time and the fading memory of our forbears. Many of these portraits are from Old Calvary but this series uses pictures from other NYC burial grounds, including St. Michael's in Astoria, New Calvary in Queens, Mt. Zion in Maspeth, and others.
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Recent comments
aha, no, i did not make a point of connecting these faces to their names. many of the stones were unreadable to begin with but i intentionally avoided documenting the identities. i was going for a tableau, a wall of anonymity that characterizes the cemetery to most visitors, and a wall of anonymous people whose faces fill a style of portraiture that i happen to love. this page is not so much about the gravestone context as the style of portraiture. a few months after i started in to this project i was chagrined, but ultimately not surprised, to learn that others had already focused on this style of tombstone portraits. john yang did it best in his mount zion series while ronald william horne had a different approach focusing on the stories behind the faces. look for the book "forgotten faces" by ronald william horne if you can find it, it's a well done survey of this style of grave portraits in california, with a lot of research into who the people were. john yang's book (which i like better) is called "mount zion sepulchral portraits".
Posted by mark thomas on Sat 31 Oct 2009 11:51:38 PM EDT
pictures on headstones
what a great project--do you have the names to go with the pictures ???
Posted by lillian (guest) on Sat 31 Oct 2009 01:15:30 PM EDT
WOW!
These are really great. I wonder who defaced some of them and why. random acts of vandals? Or deliberate attacks by someone they new with a grudge?
I love the one of the deep sea diver in his suit holding his dive helmut. Great!
Posted by Waits (guest) on Fri 10 Jul 2009 12:43:19 PM EDT