X-Ref
Ramón Emeterio Betances — Puerto Rican nationalist Ludwig Borne — German political writer and satirist Pierre Bourdieu — French sociologist Alexandrine-Caroline Branchu — French opera singer Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart — French architect, best known for designing the layout of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery Salvador Bacarisse — Spanish composer Honoré de Balzac — French novelist of the 19th century Miguel Ángel Asturias — Guatemalan won the Nobel Prize : Literature in 1967 Peter Abelard — French philosopher Edmond François Valentin About — French novelist and journalist Marie d'Agoult — French author Guillaume Apollinaire — French poet and art critic Jane Avril — French dancer Maria Callas — The opera singer Jean-François Champollion — French decipherer of the hieroglyphs Claude Chappe — French pioneer of the telegraph Auguste Comte — French thinker; father of Positivism Édouard Daladier — French Radical-Socialist Alexandre Darracq — French automobile manufacturer David d'Angers — French sculptor Louis Nicolas Davout — Napoleon's "Iron Marshal" Paul Éluard — French surrealist poet Max Ernst — German artist Pierre Frank — French Trotskyist politician Manuel de Godoy — Spanish prime minister and court favorite Yvan Goll — French-German poet and his wife Claire Goll Enrique Gómez Carrillo — Guatemalan novelist, journalist — Hahnemann — physician, founder of homeopathy Georges Haussmann — French civil engineer and town planner Jerome Lalande — French astronomer and writer René Lalique — French glass designer Ferdinand de Lesseps — French architect, designed the Suez Canal Milosz Magin — Polish composer Nestor Makhno — Ukrainian revolutionary Stuart Merrill — American symbolist poet Amedeo Modigliani — Italian painter and sculptor Jim Morrison — American singer and songwriter Victor Noir — journalist killed by Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte Adelina Patti — Spanish-born opera singer Édith Piaf — French singer Camille Pissarro — French Impressionist painter Yuliya Samoylova — Russian aristocrat Georges-Pierre Seurat — French painter Gertrude Stein — American author Gerda Taro — German war photographer Marie, Countess Walewski — Napoleon's mistress Oscar Wilde — Irish novelist, poet and playwright Richard Wright — African-American author Fulgence Bienvenue — French civil engineer remembered as the Father of the Paris Metro Samuel Bing — German art dealer Alphonse — FrenchMontmartre, anthropologist and father of anthropometry — Guatemalan PèreBertillon Lachaise, Passy, Montparnasse won the Nobel Prize : Literature in 1967 Peter Abelard — French philosopher Edmond François Valentin About — French novelist and journalist Marie d'Agoult — French author Guillaume Apollinaire — French poet and art critic Jane Avril — French dancer Maria Callas — The opera singer Jean-François Champollion — French decipherer of the hieroglyphs Claude Chappe — French pioneer of the telegraph Auguste Comte — French thinker; father of Positivism Édouard Daladier — The opera singer Jean-François Champollion — French decipherer of the hieroglyphs Claude Chappe — French pioneer of the telegraph Auguste Comte — French thinker; father of Positivism Édouard Daladier — French Radical-Socialist Alexandre Darracq — French automobile manufacturer David d'Angers — French sculptor Louis Nicolas Davout — Napoleon's "Iron Marshal" Paul Éluard — French surrealist poet
Nécropole aux morts
PARIS - FRANCE
1
DESTINATION In the early 1800’s, a time of industrial change and cultural advancement, Paris became the new home for many people, overcrowding the medieval districts and spreading diseases. The city was an immense cauldron of putrefaction, misery, pestilence and sickness. Sunlight and air hardly penetrated the streets, making Paris a terrible city to live in.
The tight confines of medieval Paris were hindering the city’s potential for growth and its desire to transform into a well-organized urban center. Thus, Napoleon ordered the construction of cemeteries outside the precincts of the capital to replace the already filled graveyards. The new cemeteries were: Montmartre in the North, Montparnasse in the South, Père Lachaise in the East and finally Passy in the West. The placement was specifically selected in accordance to roman city planning concepts cardus (north-south) and decumanus (east-west).
1
DESTINATION Paris
Marcel Renault Buried in Passy
French auto racer and pioneer industrialist 1872 - 1903
With his brother Louis he founded the Renault company of automakers that bears his name in 1899. At age 21, he built his first motorcar in a small garage. After his first demonstration tour he immediately quoted 12 orders; production started. In the first half of 1899 already 80 cars were built. From 1899 to 1903, the best way to promote cars was to join in races and try to win. Demand increased, unfortunately fate intervened in 1903 Marcel Renault crashed and was killed during a race from Paris to Madrid.
1
DESTINATION
Maria Countess Walewska Buried in Père Lachaise Polish noblewoman 1786 - 1817
Maria and Emperor Napoleon met for first time in Jablonna in1806. Napoleon remembered her for her extraordinary beauty and requested to see her in Warsaw, intending to start an affair with her. As Napoleon mistress, Maria was credited for pressing Napoleon to make important pro-Polish decisions during the Napoleonic Wars. She later married Count d’Ornano. Only her heart is buried in Père Lachaise, in the d’Ornano family tomb. Her other remains were returned to her native Poland.
I propose to promote a personal curiosity for cemeteries. I will document places of two centuries of existence and their enormous art legacy. In particular, I am interested in the four main cemeteries in Paris, France which will become a study site to capture an impressive photographic sequence, as well as to gather a cultural and anthropological interpretation of the cemetery as a place that allows the passage from life to death.
1
DESTINATION Cemeteries Montmartre
Oscar Wilde
Buried in Père Lachaise
Père Lachaise
Passy
Irish Dramatist and poet 1854 - 1900
In his dark comedy of 1893, “A Woman of No Importance,” Oscar Wilde has Mrs. Arbuthnot, a respectable woman with a secret past, remark knowingly: “A kiss may ruin a human life.” One hundred years after his death, Oscar Wilde admirers kiss his Père Lachaise tomb, living lipstick marks. These enhance the impact of his remark, transforming it into a modern memorial, making it an even more fitting monument to a great decadent and aesthete.
Montparnasse
2 PURPOSE
Man Ray
Buried in Montparnasse
American dada and surrealist artist and photographer 1890–1976
One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Man Ray was forced to return from Paris to the United States due to the Second World War. He lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade, met Juliet Browner (dancer and model), and married her. Nonetheless, he called Montparnasse home and returned there later, where he died from a lung infection. Ray’s epitaph reads “unconcerned, but not indifferent”. When Juliet Browner died in 1991, she was interred in the same tomb. Her epitaph reads “together again”.
My interest in cemeteries or cities of the dead was born when I understood they represent an idealized order in the cities of the living. Cemeteries are dramatically fragmented with diverse memories and ritual experiences by the preservation of monuments, art and landscapes. I particularly selected these four cemeteries because they are outdoor art museums that remain undiscovered by many. These museums were accidentally created by Napoleon in his intent to alleviate overcrowding and disease. My wish is to document these undiscovered beauties through photographs and to share them with others who are unaware of the existence of this kind of art.
2 PURPOSE
My purpose is to show why a cemetery can be so important to a society. Monuments keep collective memory because the deceased “lives” on in the memory of those who live through their experience of the preserved monuments.
Edgar Degas Buried in Montmartre
French painter and sculptor 1834 - 1917
Well known as one of the founders of the impressionist movement, he lived by rigid rules and had an isolated life style. His argumentative nature was deplored by Renoir, who said of him: “What a creature he was, that Degas! All his friends had to leave him; I was one of the last to go, but even I couldn’t stay till the end.”
The funeral monument symbolically expresses the life of a person who has passed away in a more collective way. The cemetery becomes a setting for society’s expression and a form of art. From this perspective, cemeteries and their monuments show the life of the culture where they belong.
3
DOCUMENTATION
Édith Piaf
Buried in Père Lachaise
French singer, songwriter and actress 1915 - 1963
Her music was autobiographical, and was the reflection of her life. “La vie en rose”, her acclaimed song about love, loss and sorrow, is remembered in the hearts of those who admired her. After drifting in and out of consciousness for several months, her last words were “Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for.”
When a funerary monument is built, its purpose is to extend the memory of the absent beyond life itself. It means that the memory of the deceased will last beyond the life of his or her contemporaries. Thus a funerary monument is actually a prolongation of life. Every person buried in these cemeteries had a great life story.
A photograph is similar to a tombstone, in that they are both a memorialization of the past. The moment the photograph captured no longer exists, but the photograph allows others to remember it, and in a way, re-live it. A cemetery serves a very similar purpose through its mortuary monuments. My wish is to inspire people at HMC and beyond through a photographic documentary that will convey the possible emotions and continuous memories experienced in the cities of the dead.
3
DOCUMENTATION
Gertrude Stein Buried in Père Lachaise
American writer of novels, poetry and plays 1874 - 1946
Gertrude died at the age of 72 from stomach cancer. When Gertrude was being wheeled into the operating room for surgery on her stomach, she asked Alice B. Toklas (her lover), “What is the answer?” When Alice did not reply, Stein said, “In that case, what is the question?”
Through photographs and narrative, I will transmit the possible connection between the social, artistic and cultural backgrounds that viewers will experience in these four cemeteries. I plan on making an itinerant exhibition of these photographic sequences through HMC offices to share my journey and inspire my coworkers about the marvelous and artistic treasures one can imagine seeing in a cemetery.
I want this x-ref to inspire a curiosity for this unconventional form of art. I want to produce a reaction based on individual past events and experiences, and how each person perceives and reacts to the exhibited photographs. Every photographic sequence will trigger a story unique to its viewer, so that the exhibition comprises many stories, a narrative set by the photographic series that I will create from each cemetery.
Ramón Emeterio Betances — Puerto Rican nationalist Ludwig Borne — German political writer and satirist Pierre Bourdieu — French sociologist Alexandrine-Caroline Branchu — French opera singer Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart — French architect, best known for designing the layout of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery Salvador Bacarisse — Spanish composer Honoré de Balzac — French novelist of the 19th century Miguel Ángel Asturias — Guatemalan won the Nobel Prize : Literature in 1967 Peter Abelard — French philosopher Edmond François Valentin About — French novelist and journalist Marie d'Agoult — French author Guillaume Apollinaire — French poet and art critic Jane Avril — French dancer Maria Callas — The opera singer Jean-François Champollion — French decipherer of the hieroglyphs Claude Chappe — French pioneer of the telegraph Auguste Comte — French thinker; father of Positivism Édouard Daladier — French Radical-Socialist Alexandre Darracq — French automobile manufacturer David d'Angers — French sculptor Louis Nicolas Davout — Napoleon's "Iron Marshal" Paul Éluard — French surrealist poet Max Ernst — German artist Pierre Frank — French Trotskyist politician Manuel de Godoy — Spanish prime minister and court favorite Yvan Goll — French-German poet and his wife Claire Goll Enrique Gómez Carrillo — Guatemalan novelist, journalist — Hahnemann — physician, founder of homeopathy Georges Haussmann — French civil engineer and town planner Jerome Lalande — French astronomer and writer René Lalique — French glass designer Ferdinand de Lesseps — French architect, designed the Suez Canal Milosz Magin — Polish composer Nestor Makhno — Ukrainian revolutionary Stuart Merrill — American symbolist poet Amedeo Modigliani — Italian painter and sculptor Jim Morrison — American singer and songwriter Victor Noir — journalist killed by Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte Adelina Patti — Spanish-born opera singer Édith Piaf — French singer Camille Pissarro — French Impressionist painter Yuliya Samoylova — Russian aristocrat Georges-Pierre Seurat — French painter Gertrude Stein — American author Gerda Taro — German war photographer Maria, Countess Walewski — Napoleon's mistress Oscar Wilde — Irish novelist, poet and playwright Jim Morrison — American singer and songwriter — French civil engineer remembered as the Father of the Paris Metro Samuel Bing — German art dealer Alphonse Bertillon — French anthropologist and father of anthropometry — Guatemalan won the Nobel Prize Literature in 1967 Peter Abelard — French philosopher Edmond François Valentin About — French novelist and journalist Marie d'Agoult — French author Guillaume Apollinaire — French poet and art critic Jane Avril — French dancer Maria Callas — The opera singer Jean-François Champollion — French decipherer of the hieroglyphs Claude Chappe — French pioneer of the telegraph Auguste Comte — French thinker; father of Positivism Édouard Daladier — The opera singer Jean-François Champollion — French decipherer of the hieroglyphs Claude Chappe — French pioneer of the telegraph Auguste Comte — French thinker; father of Positivism Édouard Daladier — French Radical-Socialist Alexandre Darracq — French automobile manufacturer David d'Angers — French sculptor Louis Nicolas Davout — Napoleon's "Iron Marshal" Paul Éluard — French surrealist poet Max Ernst