Existing comment:
Memorial to a Marriage
Patricia Cronin, born 1963
Deborah Kass, born 1952
In 2002, New York-based, cross-disciplinary artist Patricia Cronin created a carved Carrara marble self-portrait with her then partner, now wife, pioneering feminist artist Deborah Kass in the tradition of nineteenth-century funerary sculptures. Memorial to a Marriage presents two influential feminist artists and life partners in an eternal embrace. As a powerful commentary on gender, sexuality, and marriage, it tells both a transcendent story and one that is historically and culturally significant; the work was made a decade before Cronin and Kass were granted the right to marry in their home state of New York. The original carved marble sculpture now resides in New York City's historic Woodlawn Cemetery. Cronin made three bronze versions of the marble, including this one. Recognizing the importance of the work in the history of American art, artist Chuck Close donated this version, which he initially acquired for display in his garden, to the National Portrait Gallery.
Bronze cast after marble original, modeled 2002, cast 2013 |