The "Bird Girl" is the eerie sculpture featured on the cover of the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was then dramatized. The 50" bronze statue was commissioned by a Massachusetts family and created by Illinois artist Sylvia Shaw Judson (1897-1978) in 1936. Judson cast four of the statues from the original plaster cast, one of which was purchased by Lucy Boyd Trosdal, who had it placed on the family plot in Savannah, Georgia's Bonaventure Cemetery. After the book became a bestseller, the sculpture drew so many tourists to the cemetery that the Trosdal Family removed it and loaned it to the Telfair Museum of Art, so that it can be seen (and safe). I am torn about leaving cemetery monuments in situ (and at risk of vandalism and deterioration) and removing them to museums, where they are conserved, but lose some mystique when they lose their context. I find this especially true of grave markers which thereby no longer mark the grave.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bird Girl
The "Bird Girl" is the eerie sculpture featured on the cover of the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was then dramatized. The 50" bronze statue was commissioned by a Massachusetts family and created by Illinois artist Sylvia Shaw Judson (1897-1978) in 1936. Judson cast four of the statues from the original plaster cast, one of which was purchased by Lucy Boyd Trosdal, who had it placed on the family plot in Savannah, Georgia's Bonaventure Cemetery. After the book became a bestseller, the sculpture drew so many tourists to the cemetery that the Trosdal Family removed it and loaned it to the Telfair Museum of Art, so that it can be seen (and safe). I am torn about leaving cemetery monuments in situ (and at risk of vandalism and deterioration) and removing them to museums, where they are conserved, but lose some mystique when they lose their context. I find this especially true of grave markers which thereby no longer mark the grave.
I found your post -- and your wonderful web site -- while looking for images of the Bird Girl. I added you to my bookmarks bar!
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in my recent post about Bonaventure Cemetery. Many photos!
http://www.jennyweber.com