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SPECIAL SECTION T H E F I G U R E I N A R T
Figurative
FORMS
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n inscrutable bronze sculpture of a draped figure marks the grave of Clover Adams in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams (1843-1885) was the wife of Henry Adams (1838-1918), the great-grandson of President John Adams (1735-1826). Adams commissioned Augustus SaintGaudens (1848-1907) to create a memorial for Clover, advising him to consider the ideas of Buddhist thought and, especially, the figure of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who embodied compassion. Avalokitesvara is often
represented in Chinese art as a woman robed in white. The sculpture is in a setting Stanford White (1853-1906) designed as a place for contemplation. Sunlight casts a shadow over the figure, rendering it genderless. The figure itself is androgynous when it becomes visible. The drapery appears as a funeral shroud, refers to Avalokitesvara, and adds to the aura of mystery. The public calls it Grief and Saint-Gaudens referred to it tortuously as The Mystery of the Hereafter and The Peace of God that Passeth Understanding. Adams wrote to the artist’s son, “Do
By John O’Hern
not allow the world to tag my figure with a name! Every magazine writer wants to label it as some American patent medicine for popular consumption— Grief, Despair, Pear’s Soap, or Macy’s Mens’ Suits Made to Measure. Your father meant it to ask a question, not to give an answer; and the man who answers will be damned to eternity like the men who answered the Sphinx.” Drapery in art can refer to many things, it can indicate modesty and it can be used as the subject itself as in extraordinary drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and the contemporary glass
1 Adams Memorial, Rock Creek Cemetery, Section E, entrance at Webster Street & Rock Creek Church Road Northwest, Washington, D.C. Historic American Buildings Survey, Engineering Record, Landscapes Survey. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 2 Serge Marshennikov, In the Twilight, oil on linen, 22 x 15". Courtesy T.H. Brennen Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona.
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