166 PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ART IN THE MODERN CEMETERY 
An Address before the Milwaukee Convention of the Association of American 
Cemetery Superintendents by O. C. Simonds, Landscape Gardener , of Chicago 
The subject which has been assigned 
for this paper includes everything in a 
cemetery which makes it different from 
a prairie or a tract of wild woods. 
More broadly speaking, it would even 
include what may be appropriated of 
woods or prairie, for Nature is called 
the Art of God, and Art and Nature 
include all knowledge and experience. 
This paper, however, will speak only 
of those features of a cemetery affect- 
ed by the hand of man. These would 
include roads, lawns, planting, build- 
ings, bodies of water, monuments, head- 
stones, vases, seats, and any other ar- 
tificial object. The roads are needed 
first to make the grounds accessible, 
and, as you have heard many times, 
there should be as few of them as pos- 
sible while bringing every point of the 
cemetery within about one hundred and 
fifty feet of their margins, and making 
the sections not over eight or nine hun- 
dred feet in length. They should, of 
course, be made on easy grades. If 
they are simply roads without nicely 
defined edges and carefully studied lines 
they may be merely a product of Art, 
but if all their lines are carefully con- 
sidered, if their curves are made just 
right, including their vertical as well 
as their horizontal lines, they may be 
in the domain of Fine Art. In this 
domain also would belong the treat- 
ment of grass edges and the planting 
of trees, shrubs and flowers along the 
border. The drainage and construc- 
tion would bear the same relation to 
roads when considered as products of 
Fine Art that the mixing of pigments 
bears to painting. 
The beauty of a lawn depends not 
alone upon its velvety texture and its 
fresh green color but quite as much 
upon its grade. We speak of the beau- 
ty of the human figure, of the beauty 
of horses, lions, cattle, dogs, and other 
animals, of the beauty of landscapes, 
clouds, trees, leaves, and flowers, this 
beauty depending very largely upon the 
gracefulness and strength of curved 
lines. In like manner, the beauty of a 
lawn depends upon the gracefulness and 
strength of its curves. The arrange- 
ment of trees, shrubs, ground and wa- 
ter so as to form attractive landscapes 
is akin to painting, but the grading of 
land bears a strong resemblance to 
sculpture. We have learned that the 
lower part of a slope should be con- 
cave while the upper part is convex, 
thus imitating the grades of nature, 
but if these concave and convex curves 
are made too pronounced they become 
weak. To be really beautiful there must 
be gracefulness and delicacy combined 
with strength. When rightly done, the 
grading of a lawn is as truly a fine art 
as the shaping of a statue. The outlining 
of a lake, giving to it something of mys- 
tery by having some portion always hid- 
den, the creation of margins having a 
natural appearance, the arrangement of 
trees with branches reaching far out 
beyond a projecting point, the plant- 
ing of bushes where their red and white 
berries will be reflected by the smooth 
surface of the water, the placing of 
boulders where they will look as though 
they belonged with their surroundings, 
are all included within the sphere of 
landscape gardening. To create a real 
picture, a representation of which a 
painter will desire to depict upon his 
canvas, is certainly a Fine Art. The ar- 
rangement of trees and other plant 
growth so as to form pleasing sky lines, 
inviting bays of foliage, shadows con- 
trasting with light, different colors har- 
monizing with each other, the arrange- 
ment of backgrounds as foils for flow- 
ers having complementary tones all be- 
long in the same category with the suc- 
cessful treatment of water. Picture to 
yourselves the most beautiful rolling- 
lawns bordered with foliage, the most 
charming valleys and hillsides, the most 
pleasing contrasts of shade and color, 
the most enticing effects of water ; in 
short, the most beautiful landscapes 
which can be imagined, and you will 
have in mind the result that should 
come from Art in the Cemetery. Into 
such scenes, however, there is apt to 
intrude a motley array of objects which 
belong to art indeed, but usually not to 
Fine Art. These objects are the product 
of the stone cutter’s art. Sometimes 
they are purchased with the idea of 
getting the greatest number of cubic 
feet of stone for a given amount of 
money. The size of a monument is 
sometimes thought to measure one’s af- 
fection for the departed. Sometimes it 
is supposed to indicate one’s position in 
his community. In most cases, these 
stones really mar the beauty of ceme- 
teries. It is in the selection of monu- 
ments and headstones that we exhibit 
our weakness, and our lack of appre- 
ciation of real beauty. Occasionally 
there will be a monument which is truly 
artistic, such as is seen in the work of 
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, of Daniel 
French or Lorado Taft. Sometimes 
even the humblest monuments will have 
good, unpretentious lines but too often 
they are meaningless blocks of stone. 
The location of a grave may be defi- 
nitely shown by a rectangular or oval 
stone set even with the sod. Such a 
marker is modest and unobtrusive and 
serves its purpose. The custom of 
erecting family monuments is a curious 
one. It has lasted so long that there is 
small hope of a decided change occur- 
ring in the near future. Probably there 
is not one cemetery represented at this 
meeting where a photograph might not 
be taken showing monuments as close 
together as trunks of trees in a forest. 
Suppose that such a view were thrown 
upon a screen and after remaining long 
enough for its effect to be noted, that 
the monuments dissolved from view and 
the headstones diminished in size until 
they were scarcely noticed in the lawn 
or other ground cover. Then let foliage 
appear resting upon the ground and ris- 
ing to various heights, coming forward 
more or less irregularly at the sides 
thus partially enclosing a central open 
area. From the surrounding foliage or 
from some space beyond, an elm or a 
maple might extend its graceful branch- 
es into the sky. Here each spring the 
leaves of trees and shrubs would burst 
forth with renewed life, flowers would 
appear and fruit develop. Here birds 
would build their nests and sing their 
songs. Is not the last picture more 
pleasing than the first? 
For the present condition of our cem- 
eteries in so far as monuments and 
stone work are concerned the monument 
dealers and stone cutters are not wholly 
to blame. They have tried to make an 
honest living. They do not realize that 
their monuments are ugly and mar the 
landscape. This fact is not realized by 
the people who buy monumental stones. 
The latter often regard the erection of a 
monument as a sacred duty, and though 
they may not fully approve the design 
selected will say we must put up some- 
thing and this is the best we can get. 
It is sometimes said that, “A cemetery 
should be a cemetery and not a park.” 
What is the rational view of the mat- 
ter? During waking hours a man works, 
eats, plays and is a social animal, but 
when night comes he seeks a sweet and 
quiet place in which to sleep. During 
life a man observes, studies, plans, and 
enters into various activities for the 
purpose of securing his own comfort or 
adding to the welfare of his race, but 
when life draws to a close he seeks a 
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