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“The classic exemplar of the method of looking at icons on gravestones and relating them to religious texts in an effort to reveal their meaning was perfected by Allan Ludwig in his Graven Images, first published in 1966…This edition provides the young scholar with a time-tested model of scholarship and analysis and the seasoned scholar with new reflections on old work.” —Journal of American Folklore
The classic study of gravestone art.
In Puritan New England, with its abiding concern for things not of this world and its distrust of forms and ceremonies, one art flourished: the symbolic art of mortuary monument stonecarvers. This carefully researched, beautifully illustrated work was the first to consider this art in depth as a meaningful aesthetic-spiritual expression. It is reissued for today’s readers, with a new preface outlining changes in the field since the book appeared in 1966.
"A big, superbly printed collection . . . To leaf through this book is to confront a vanished community trying to make sense of itself through art."—Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone
"Graven Images is a classic text in American Studies. It led a generation into the graveyards of New England to look with fresh eyes on a neglected American art form. Ludwig’s insights are as original and inspiring today as they were in 1966, and this book still provides the best single source for images of New England gravestones, with its hundreds of beautiful photographs. ... Students, scholars, and anyone who brakes for old graveyards will welcome this indispensible book." —David Watters, former editor of Markers
Click here for TABLE OF CONTENTS
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