Consecrated Ground: Funerary Art of New Orleans

by Lisa L. Cook

Released 1998. 271 pages. Includes dust jacket. This is a 7 pound book. Shipping will be the most economical which is Media Mail. Consecrated Funerary Art Of New Orleans, Lisa Cook presents a collection of her photographs. These haunting images show cemetery memorials as seen through the particular artistic eye of the author. A brief history of each cemetery represented in this volume has been included to provide background information on cemetery origins, and, also, to give the photographic subject matter some context. The work within this volume reveals a collection of artistic memorials ranging the entire spectrum, from massive, costly monuments spiking heavenwards, to the most humble, handmade remembrances. The graves depicted here are in various states of maintenance, from the pristine to the totally collapsed and desecrated. These opposites evidence what many consider uniquely characteristic of New Orleans. This oversize and heavy volume features a full color,matte-laminate dust jacket, sewn binding, and is covered in a maroon leather-like vinyl fabric. The dust jacket front cover depicts in black and white one of the many photographs represented within this volume. Under the dust jacket, on the cover of the book fabric is a gold-stamped stylized crucifix Each volume weighs approximately 7 Lbs. The pages inside the book are from a heavy duty, fine quality paper. The book pages/photographs are printed in black and white. The photos themselves are predominately full page size (12"w x 15"h).The images are huge and detailed. There are nine chapters of cemetery photos, plus bonus chapters discussing funerary symbols and their meanings, forms of interment throughout Louisiana (necrogeography), and a complete listing of all New Orleans cemeteries including the address/locale of each one. Lastly, an index and bibliography are included. I am the actual author of this book, so if you have any questions please ask.

272 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Loren · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you truly love someone, impress her with this magnificent book. It’s 12x15 inches and chock full of black-and-white photos of grave monuments in New Orleans. Cook focuses on the old favorites of Metairie Cemetery’s lovely marble maidens and Holt Cemetery’s handmade tributes, but she also ranges into the less-often viewed St. Louis #3 and St. Patrick cemeteries, documenting beauties where even a dedicated cemetery maven might fear to tread.

Cook’s kooky perspective initially disorients the viewer. Often her photos are tilted to the left, swaying drunkenly across the uneven ground. Cook is fascinated by telling details on the monuments before her: the lopped-off branches on a wrought-iron fence, the grain of stone in an angel’s robe, the words “No Fer-goat” hand-lettered on a board, the stone feathers on a broad-chested double-headed eagle, the tendons crossing the back of a bronze hand, the coils of a maiden’s ringlets. The elements that capture her attention make this wonderfully idiosyncratic book a window into the soul of the artist behind it.

In addition to some truly spectacular photos of angels and muses, Cook features some pinnacles of ironwork. I don’t remember ever seeing such a fine collection of it elsewhere. She also turns her camera onto broken tombs and vandalized statuary which, in perspective of the wonders surrounding it in this book, make the damage that much more poignant. She drives her point in the most telling way possible.

Also included in the book are Cook’s beautiful pencil sketches, a brief historical essay of each on the nine graveyards she visits, a key to cemetery symbolism, and a bibliography.

This huge book is clearly a labor of love. It’s worth finding space on your shelves for it.

This review originally appeared in Morbid Curiosity #6, after I met Cook at the Association for Gravestone Studies' conference in San Francisco.