For LGBT History Month we are focusing on the collection work - 'Memorial to a Marriage'. This bronze sculpture, cast by American artist, Patricia Cronin, in 2004, shows Cronin, lying in bed, embraced in the arms of her partner, and fellow artist, Deborah Kass.
'Memorial to a Marriage' was first shown by Glasgow Life Museums in 2009 as part of the exhibition ‘sh[OUT]: Contemporary art and human rights’ and acquired for the collection in the following year.
Join Katie Bruce, one of the curators involved in the 2009 programme at GoMA and the journey of the sculpture into Glasgow Life Museums’ collection.
'Memorial to a Marriage' was made when same-sex marriage was illegal in the United States of America. The only way in which Cronin’s and Kass’s relationship could be legally recognised was though documents such as wills or health care provisions that would only be enacted if either Kass or Cronin died. As it was only in death that their relationship could be ‘recognised’ in law, Cronin decided to create the sculpture for her personal burial plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx (New York) - a funerary ‘memorial’ to her relationship with Kass. The original marble sculpture was installed at Woodlawn Cemetery in 2002.
On 24th July 2011, same-sex marriage was legalised in the state of New York, and Cronin and Kass married on this same day. A bronze version replaced the marble original in September of that year to protect the marble sculpture from air pollution. The version owned by Glasgow Museums was cast by Cronin from the original marble sculpture but at a smaller two third.
Free 20 min talk. No need to book. Please meet at the info desk in the main hall 5 mins before
Patricia Cronin, 'Memorial to a Marriage' on display in sh[OUT], GoMa, Glasgow, 2009. Courtesy & © Glasgow Life Museums