Beyond Grief explores high-style funerary sculptures and their functions during the turn of the twentieth century. Many scholars have overlooked these monuments; viewing them as mere oddities; a part of an individual artists oeuvre; a detail of a patrons biography; or local civic cemetery history. This volume considers them in terms of their wider context and shifting use as objects of consolation; power; and multisensory mystery and wonder. Art historian Cynthia Mills traces the stories of four families who memorialized their losses through sculpture. Henry Brooks Adams commissioned perhaps the most famous American cemetery monument of all; the Adams Memorial in Washington; D.C. The bronze figure was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens; who became the nationrsquo;s foremost sculptor. Another innovative bronze monument featured the Milmore brothers; who had worked together as sculptors in the Boston area. Artist Frank Duveneck composed a recumbent portrait of his wife following her early death in Paris; in Rome; the aging William Wetmore Story made an angel of grief his last work as a symbol of his sheer desolation after his wifersquo;s death. Through these incredible monuments Mills explores questions like: Why did new forms--many of them now produced in bronze rather than stone and placed in architectural settings--arise just at this time; and how did they mesh or clash with the sensibilities of their era? Why was there a gap between the intention of these elite patrons and artists; whose lives were often intertwined in a closed circle; and the way some public audiences received them through the filter of the mass media? Beyond Grief traces the monuments creation; influence; and reception in the hope that they will help us to understand the larger story: how survivors used cemetery memorials as a vehicle to mourn and remember; and how their meaning changed over time.
#2135413 in eBooks 2012-04-26 2014-03-24File Name: B00J972RYM
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. AN INDISPENSABLE BOOK ON AN ENIGMATIC TOPICBy David KeymerI suspect that at least half of the readers of this book will have picked it up either because theyre acting in Lear or directing Lear. Im scheduled to be in the former category next February.No actor worth his salt turns down the role of Lear. But almost as soon as you accept it; you realize what a daunting challenge it poses. Thirty-three lines into the first scene (Act One; Scene One); Lear strides on stage; and in twenty lines; announces that he plans to abdicate; to divide his kingdom into thirds and hand it over to his three daughters (and their two husbands and; in anticipation; one of two suitors of the third daughter); and he challenges his daughters; without prior notice; to tell him who loves him most; all this in front of the entire court. The eldest daughters; Goneril and Regan; meet the challenge. They tell Lear what he wants to hear. He visibly preens himself as they speak. His favorite daughter; the youngest; Cordelia; refuses the challenge. She loves him but wont tell him so: she certainly wont tell him shell love him to the exclusion of her future husband.Lear explodes and his rage fuels the rest of the play. How you play Lear in the first scene determines how you play him for the rest of the play --through rage; madness; recovery; eventual reconciliation with Cordelia; and on to Cordelias and Lears deaths. Play it too low; treat Lear as in any way sweet or lovable; and the play loses its bite and its message. (If it has a message! This is arguably Shakespeares most anarchic and bleak play.) Play it at too high a peak and the play becomes monotonic; a Johnny One Note play.Before he became an actor full time; Oliver Ford Davies served a long apprenticeship as a drama critic and it shows in this intelligent; highly insightful look at what it entails to play Shakespeares most enigmatic and most difficult role. For the actor; it is immensely helpful following along as Davies describes preparing for; rehearsing and then performing the play. I took notes as I read the book --keyboarded them onto a Word document-- and have already; six months ahead of time; found them helpful. How demented should Lear appear at the beginning of the play? When should he begin to unravel? How does the actor accommodate the vigor of Lear at the beginning of the play (Lear still king) and his progressive deterioration later on (on the heath; the reconciliation with his daughter; etc.)? How alienated is Lear from the very start from his daughters? The questions keep multiplying. (I know that one reason I admire this book is that Daviess answers to these questions resonate with my own answers. At least so far. But theres time yet for things to change.)I dont know the answer to all; or even many of the questions I have about Lear; both the play and the character of Lear; but I suspect I will read and reread Davies many times over the coming months..4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. A great interpretation of the play.By Ralph BlumenauThis marvellous book should be on the reading list of every student of this play. The first two chapters especially are studded with question marks because; in preparing himself to play the role of King Lear at Londons Almeida Theatre in 2002; Oliver Ford Davies explored a large range of alternative interpretations of the lines and characters in Shakespeares play: which seemed most convincing to him? At each question the reader might pause to think out an answer for him or herself before reading on to discover how Davies resolved it for himself. Individual words and phrases; some of which might easily be overlooked; are carefully examined for what light they shed on the play; so our own understanding of it is greatly enriched. In the course of presenting these questions; we also get a history of what other great commentators have written (just as; in the third chapter; we learn how other great actors have played the part.) There are then four chapters about this particular production; three of them a rehearsal diary; in which further questions arise and are hammered out; and it is thrilling to see the production take shape.Davies writes very well. He is modest about himself and generous about all with whom he worked; from the Director (Jonathan Kent) to whose own view of the play he devotes a separate chapter; to his fellow actors; to the Stage and Lighting Directors and to the tailor who made the costumes. Before Lear; Davies usually played rather benign roles; and that this benignity is part of his own character can be seen in the fact there there is none of the tension or bitchiness that one sometimes finds in accounts of other productions.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Insights into acting ShakespeareBy J. Parrish"Playing Lear" is an extremely well written and entertaining book. Anyone who loves this play will enjoy learning about it from the point of view of an actor who has played the part. His comments are insightful and interesting and also very useful to anyone interested in acting in any of Shakesepares plays; not just Lear. I plan on reading it several more times.
