Abstraction in Central Massachusetts gravestone carving in the 18th century.

Gravestone art from early New England still has the capacity to surprise us. The designs used are often so entirely out of sync with what we think we know about New England Puritans and their descendants. One of the things the Puritans were famous for in England was smashing up idols. So, when they got to create their new Puritan religious culture in America they would forbid religious imagery… which makes the flourishing of gravestone art, in a new and vernacular American style completely unexpected.

I have included pictures of just one style of abstract “soul-effigy” face in this post which really exemplifies the abstraction I am talking about. Many of these carvings are attributed to Jonathan Worster. The skulls typical of earlier gravestones give way gradually to face motifs in the mid-late 18th century. These are generally referred to as “soul-effigies” and are often winged, some look very much like cherubs or angels which ties them into a more instantly recognizable western visual language. But images like these, with a tear-drop shaped face, two bold eyes, a vertical bar suggesting the nose, connecting down to a horizontal bar for the mouth are much more like something out of an abstract expressionist painting than what we think of as the religious artwork of old-fashioned white colonials.

It is my belief that the vernacular abstraction in these images points to a very universal human impulse to represent the human face in a simple way. It also makes art history feel more non-linear than how it is usually presented.

These faces resemble nothing so much as the traditional wooden masks carved in many cultures all over the world. Some of this is the nature of the material: carving is carving to some extent and can lead to similar results. But there’s probably more to it than that and I think it suggests a universality human art and self-expression that I find very compelling.