Mortality and Immortality

How do humans explore our mortality through art and

architecture?

From ancient times to the present, the living make both tombs and commemorative art to serve various purposes:

→to express the cultures’ ideas and values about death and the afterlife

→to closely tie religion to ritual burials

→to promote political and social intentions

→to visually establish power

→to guarantee honor, fame and/or glory.

9.4 Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt. From left, Menkaure, c. 2525–2475 BCE; Khafre, c. 2575–2525 BCE; Khufu, c. 2600–2550 BCE.

9.7 Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, c. 490–1460 BCE.This funerary temple was a monument to the greatness of

Egypt’s woman pharaoh.

When high-ranking Egyptians began to hide tombs in hillsides, the funerary temples were enlarged and emphasized.

The Mortuary Temple of HatshepsutMortuary Temple of Hatshepsut shows this development.

The temple housed 200 statues of her, painted reliefs showing her divine birth, coronation, military victories, and other exploits.

After death, Hatshepsut’s portraits were defaced, records of her rule obscured.

They were rediscovered in the 19th C.

Dias de Los MuertosDias de Los MuertosDays of the Dead

A social traditionsocial tradition, is the Day of the DeadDay of the Dead,

celebrated in Mexico and parts of the United States.

Evidence indicates that pre-Columbian people participated in festivals dedicated to the dead many centuries ago.

In Mexico, a synthesis of pre-Columbian beliefs and European ideas occurred with the coming of the Spanish.

Ancient Goddess of the Dead: Mictlantecuhtl

In privateprivate homes, altars honor the deceased, with incense, pictures of the

dead and their favorite foods.

Families may spend the night at the graveyard, decorating the gravesites,

burning many candles.

• Many crafts are created during this holiday, including food.

• Such as this traditional sugar skull decorated with icing with a place to put your name.

In publicpublic, marketplaces are sites for parades and celebrations.

José Guadalupe Posada[Mexican Engraver, 1852-1913]

Political PrintmakingThis artist used the skeletal figure with

political satire to make commentary on the divide of social and economic classes.

Gran fandango y francachela de todas las calaveras(Happy dance and wild party of all the skeletons)BroadsideType metal engraving

Calaveras performing the rituals and pleasures of everyday, mocking the pretensions and vanity of life.

Funeral Complex of Shi Funeral Complex of Shi HuangdiHuangdi one of the most extensive tombs ever constructed.

In 1974, peasants digging a well uncovered a buried army of 6,000 life-size clay soldiers guarding the afterlife palace complex.

The torsos are hollow, the legs are solid. The bodies are standardized:

frontal

stiff

anatomically simplifiedBut each distinctly different

Funeral Complex of Shi HuangdiFuneral Complex of Shi Huangdi

MEMORIALS

• What is a memorial? • What is it expected to represent about

memory, death, loss and time?• Is it a lesson from the past, or a warning in

the present?

• Contemplate examples of both public and personal memorials you have seen or heard about in terms of their designs and intentions:

• whether they are meant to be permanent or temporary

• whether they are created by professional architects or designers or the product of non-professional individuals or groups

• whether they evoke ideas of grief, celebration or community.

WASHINGTON, DC Korean War Memorial

Korean War Memorial

WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Designed by artist Maya LinJan Scruggs, Founder and President, Vietnam Memorial Fund

Dedicated on November 13, 1982, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands in the Constitution Gardens at the National Mall in Washington D.C. Two long black polished granite walls are inscribed with the names of the 58,000+ killed during the war. The memorial was conceived by its designer, Maya Lin, as a place of healing and contemplation.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund decided to have only art professionals on the selection jury.

These are the entry panels, simple pastel drawings by Maya Lin who was an architectural student at the time.

Her simple yet meaningful design won the votes of the selection jury.

WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The mission statement drafted by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund consisted of 4 simple points:

• Design must include all 57,000+ names of soldiers missing or killed

• Design must be apolitical

• Design must be harmonious with site

• Design must facilitate a healing process

WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial

I chose black granite in order to make the surface reflective and peaceful. I never looked at the

memorial as a wall, an object, but as an edge to the earth, an

opened side. The mirrored effect would double the size of the park, creating two worlds, one we are a part of and one we cannot enter. The two walls were positioned so

that one pointed to the Lincoln Memorial and the other pointed to

the Washington Monument. By linking these two strong symbols for the country, I wanted to create a unity between the nation’s past

and present.

Maya Lin, Designer of Memorial

911 MemorialThe 9/11 Memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2011 the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in a ceremony for victims’ families.

SHANKSVILLE, PA Temporary Memorial

In the weeks and months following the crash of Flight 93 in a field near Shanksville, PA, a variety of personal, spontaneous remembrances were left near the crash site. This temporary memorial site has served as a gathering place for families and others seeking to mourn and remember those lost.

911 Memorial RenderingsThe 9/11 Memorial is located at the site of the former World Trade Center complex, and occupies approximately half of the 16-acre site. The 9/11 Memorial features two enormous waterfalls and reflecting pools, each about an acre in size, set within the footprints of the twin towers.

Pentagon MemorialThe Pentagon Memorial is designed so and individuals are welcome in the Memorial each day but guided tours are not offered; the Memorial is meant to be experienced on a more personal level. that the nation may remember and reflect on the events that occurred on September 11, 2001.

911 Museum

The National September 11 Memorial Museum serves as the country's principal institution concerned with exploring the implications of the events of 9/11, documenting the impact of those events and exploring 9/11's continuing significance.

The Museum displays artifacts associated with the events of 9/11, while presenting stories of loss and recovery.