Pretty Girls Make Graves /
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Old Cemeteries
May 19, 2018
I work several blocks away from Brooklyn’s historical Green-Wood Cemetery. And I had been meaning to get in there the entire school year. Now that the weather is relatively nice, I have taken a few opportunities to kill time, getting lost within its 478 acres. The cemetery is beautiful, quiet, secluded, spacious, teeming with birds, a perfect retreat from Brooklyn’s bustle and, well, those pesky living human beings. It also has other things I really like: bright turquoise patina, rich history, stained glass, religious imagery, Gothic architecture, enormous trees, opportunities for reflection and meditation, Manhattan skyline views…
But, c’mon, I was really there for the women. Gorgeous, inconsolable women of stone and bronze who mourn the loss of life and love. Walking about and capturing them in pictures, I felt like I was intruding on their personal lives. Their captivating forms, eroding and tarnished by the elements, sharp testaments to the worthiness of the interred. The better the man, the more heartache his loss provokes… and, also, the more beautiful the devastated woman, the stronger the statement of his greatness. In this way, cemeteries also preserve interesting sociological dynamics to explore. I explored these things in my head for several hours and 7 or so miles…
Most striking, the 8-foot woman reclining on the Merello Volta Monument on Dale Avenue. The woman depicted is Rose Merello Guarino who was killed in 1909 after a dispute with a caretaker of her widowed mother’s summer home, Pietro Silverio. She was shot trying to protect Annie Tarello, another servant whom Silverio resented taking orders from. The sculptor of this gorgeous figure is unknown. I stared at her in awe tip-toeing as if not to wake her: how on Earth do you shape bronze with this level of attention to detail? I wanted to cuddle up next to her.
I also fell in love with this sexy angel at Elizabeth M. Maben’s grave. She evoked sadness but also pissed off-ness: a beautiful combination of complexity told by her eyes and her stance. With her wings tucked to her side and her protecting her heart, she was a fascinating angel to don a memorial.
So it’s not that I was checking her out, but I kind of was. 
Another beauty: Minerva, the Roman goddess of battle and protector of civilization. (So many beautiful Italians!) That’s a mighty set of responsibilities! This fierce woman stands upon Battle Hill, the highest natural point in Brooklyn. She commemorates The Battle of Brooklyn, the first battle of the American Revolution after the signing of the Declaration of Independence which took place on Battle Hill. From her vantage point, she waves hello to Lady Liberty out in New York Harbor. (source)
The Spring trees where all blooming, as were the bright Azaleas. Life and death juxtapositions. 
There are interments ranging 200+ years at Green-Wood. But things get a bit disorganized at places. These headstones look as if they were randomly tossed from the heavens.
Arms and wings outstretched, this is Angel 101.
This bear. Its annoyed expression. He dons William Holbrook Beard’s headstone. Beard was a painter from the late 1800’s who specialized in depicting animals in human acts… like mounting headstones, I suppose. Check out his paintings here. Though this bronze sculpture looks more modern than many in the cemetery, Beard passed away in 1900.
Another more modern looking sculpture offering a kiss; Freedom Tower peeks out from behind her…
And this vegan was happy to stop and pay tribute to ASPCA founder Henry Bergh. Bergh began his animal advocacy work in 1863 after bearing witness to a carriage rider abusing his horse.
Patina
Angel and dogs at sea captain Mathisen’s place ofrest
Civic Virtue Triumphant Over Unrighteousness is a beautiful sculpture by sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies that used to sit outside Queens Borough Hall. It depicts a strong triumphant man resisting the unrighteousness represented by writhing female sea serpents and all their complicated trappings. Despite it being allegory, times began change and many interpreted the scene as misogynistic, representing the subjugation of women. Still actively a controversial piece of art, a plaque written by Michele Bogart, an Art Professor at Stony Brook University, was installed in 2013 to provide the viewer with additional context. 
Interestingly, this announcement of Bogart’s award to Visiting Professorship in Berlin contains a comment from the Great Great Grandson of artist MacMonnies! Also interesting, MacMonnies response to the critics of his controversial sculpture:
What do I care if all the ignoramuses and quack politicians in New York, together with all the damn-fool women get together to talk about my statue? Let’em cackle. Let ’em babble. You can’t change the eternal verities that way.
Can it be, that the women are angry because some man finally found the strength to resist temptation? In most instances of romantic sculpture, we have the man succumbing to the temptress. I think women should be pleased when strength is found to withstand their wonderful wiles. Antiquity is all the other way.
From Paris to Patagonia — universal allegory pictures sirens, temptresses, as woman. If you suppress allegory you suppress all intellectual effort. I gather that allegory has long been extinct in City Hall.
To the Heavens
#currentmood 
This damn bird’s on my head
On Fir Avenue between Grape Avenue and Border Avenue is the eery Archangel Azrael, the Angel of Death. He crouches upon Charles Schieren’s grave, former Brooklyn Mayor when Brooklyn was its own city. His role is to help you shake your human form to enter the spiritual realm and to soothe your grieving loved ones. Despite this, he is often depicted nefariously, shrouded in mystery. He was created by sculptor Solon Borglum, brother to Gutzon Borglum who sculpted the faces on Mount Rushmore. (source)
This sculpture reminds me of the Eternal Silence in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.
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I am going to walk in next time.
Elephant skin trees
Little headstones
A random raccoon 
I peeped into mausoleums to see their pretty stained glass.
I’ll be back, Green-Wood.
[…] didn’t have you, dear blog and reader, here to see the pictures. But after my patina love in Green-Wood Cemetery, I dug up these pictures from 2006. The reason for my visit to Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, the […]