Eternal Silence
Eternal Silence is a monument in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery. It is also known as the Dexter Graves Monument or the Statue of Death.[1] The statue is a bronze sculpture set on and backdropped by black granite. It was created by American sculptor Lorado Taft in 1909.
Dexter Graves Monument | |
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According to folklore looking into the eyes of the statue will give the viewer a vision of their own death. | |
| Location: | Uptown, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States |
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| Built: | 1909 |
| Built by: | Jules Bercham |
| Architectural style: | Art Nouveau |
| Part of: | Graceland Cemetery (#00001628) |
| Added to NRHP: | January 18, 2001 |
History
Eternal Silence is a monument in Graceland Cemetery to Dexter Graves. Graves led a group of thirteen families who moved to Chicago from Ohio in 1831.[2] He died in 1844, and the monument was created by sculptor Lorado Taft in 1909. Taft's son, Henry Graves, asked him to create it.[3] In Ada Bartlett Taft's 1946 Lorado Taft; Sculptor and Citizen, it was listed as one of his most important works.[4] Images of Eternal Silence have been used in other artworks, including works by Claes Oldenburg.[4] One folktale claims that if someone looks into the eyes of Eternal Silence's hooded figure, the viewer would be shown his or her own death.[1]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bielski, Ursula. Creepy Chicago: A Ghosthunter's Tale of the City's Scariest Sites, (Google Books link), Lake Claremont Press, 2003, p. 93, (ISBN 1893121151).
- ↑ Lanctot. Barbara, ‘’A Walk Through Graceland Cemetery: A Chicago Architecture Foundation Walking Tour’’, A Chicago Architecture Foundation Walking Tour, Chicago, IL, 1992 P. 6
- ↑ Kiefer, et al., pp. 68–69.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kiefer, et al., pp. 146–47.
References
- Kiefer, Charles D., Achilles, Rolf, and Vogel, Neil A. "Graceland Cemetery[dead link]" (pdf), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, HAARGIS Database, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, June 18, 2000, accessed October 8, 2011.