Patricia Cronin's Memorial to a Marriage, from 2001 to 2015

Patricia Cronin, Memorial to a Marriage, Woodlawn Cemetery, 2001- 

now replaced with bronze version

Interview and article in Hyperallergic, 2011

In July 2012, my old blog Beth New York celebrated the marriage of New York artists Patricia Cronin and Deborah Kass, whose personal commitment inspired Cronin's sculpture Memorial to a Marriage, installed in Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, in 2002. The marble mortuary sculpture was meant to accomplish in death what seemed to be impossible in life.

On June 26, 2015, Cronin's sculpture was transformed from an agent for hope to a true memorial for the struggle to achieve the right to marry whomever one chooses. And it immortalizes a reality: "Love is Love."  

 Patricia Cronin, Memorial to a Marriage, 2002 in her exhibition: Bodies and Soul, Conner Gallery, Washington, DC , Febuary 4 - March 10, 2012

One day, when the struggle for the right to same-sex marriage is a distant memory, Cronin's Memorial will preserve the tireless efforts that brought us tears of joy yesterday. Hopefully, the original marble carving will be acquired by a major museum (the Met, Smithsonian or the Whitney Museum of American Art) so that its personal and political history is always remembered.    

***

And now a word or two about this beautiful work of art:

Gustave Courbet, The Sleepers, 1866

Memorial to a Marriage is based on Gustave Courbet's Sleepers or Sleep (1866) and Cronin's abiding interest in America's 19th century neo-classical movement.  Patricia Cronin studied and appropriated Harriet Hosmer's work for her exhibition Harriet Hosmer: Lost and Found, at the Brooklyn Museum,  (June 2009-January 2010).

Harriet Hosmer, Beatrice Cenci, 1856.

For more information on this sculpture, please read this article on Sculpture Magazine, January-February 2003.

Patricia Cronin's most recent work is Shrine for Girls, 2015, on view in the Church of San Gallo, during the 55th Venice Biennale.  Clarity Haynes' interview with the artist was published in Hyperallergic early this month. 

For more information on Patricia Cronin's work, please visit her website: www.patriciacronin.net/. 

(Artist Clarity Haynes' website is: clarityhaynes.com)

Best wishes for Pride Weekend!

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director, New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

France in Tears

Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830

We wish to express our sincerest sympathies to the survivors of the victims gunned down at Charlie Hebdo in Paris on January 7, 2015.  Our hearts go out to France as they suffer the shock and cope with the sadness of this event.  

I have chosen this painting by Delacroix in which Marianne, symbol of French liberty, leads the way to a higher ground.  You may notice that in the background the Cathedral of Notre Dame stands tall behind a cloud of artillery smoke.  Charlie Hebdo is in the 11th Arrondissement, not far from Notre Dame where demonstrations have taken place in the square outside the church.   

We know that Charlie Hebdo directed its satire toward all religious groups. I do not condone religious satire and have never been a fan of any publication that bases its satire on anti-religious content.

Nevertheless, I wish to note that terrorist tactics are a disturbing trend which deserve universal condemnation.  May Liberty lead the way out of this lethal mess before it destroys us all.

Dutch political cartoonist Ruben L. Oppenheimer tweeted this image.

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com