09.04.08
Icons of Early American Tombstones: Photography by Daniel Farber, September 2008
A new art exhibit has just arrived at the YCCC Library and will be on display through September 29. These nine photographs by Daniel Farber provide a glimpse of colonial American history as carved in stone: angels, hour glasses, and even the grim reaper. Stop by to take a look today! Jason Jolda’s artwork will also continue to be displayed during this time.
The following information was provided by the University of Maine Museum of Art about the artist and this collection:
In the winter of 1958, Daniel Farber began working with the gravestones of Colonial America. He realized the value of the tombstones to the research of art historians, archaeologists, genealogists, and scholars of American history as examples of early American sculpture. However, the stone reliefs were eroding due to neglect, vandalism, weather damage, and eventually would be destroyed and lost forever. For those reasons, Farber realized the need to photographically record their images. To accomplish this, Farber developed a technique to control the angle of sunlight, creating a slight shadow across the carving, by using a large mirror fitted on a tripod. This technique allowed him to capture a three-dimensional image of each gravestone at virtually any time of the day, anywhere in the graveyard. Farber’s images capture the carvings in great detail, and reveal the symbols commonly associated with death and the passage of time hundreds of years ago. The most common folk art images from that era symbolizing death – death-heads, hour glasses, angels, flowers and sickles – are still recognized today. Farber has photographed 7500 different stones, as well as coordinated and participated in efforts to ensure the preservation of several of these grave markers.
