The Mourners and Steve Jobs
Were any of us expecting the outpouring of sentiment after Steve Jobs died? He was a billionaire CEO (not a beloved class, generally), he engaged in little to no philanthropy, and he had a serious temper.
And yet in the wake of his death people around the world spontaneously set up memorials, left notes at Apple stores, and mourned his loss with great sincerity. With the possible exception of Thomas Edison, we’ve never seen this before.
I wrote about this phenomenon and its roots in my work blog. Here I want to highlight an interesting coincidence: the best artistic representation of mourning I’ve ever seen is currently on display in San Francisco, the city nearest to Jobs’ legacy and company.
The Mournersare a group of forty small statues carved to adorn the tomb of the Burgundian duke John the Fearless, who died in 1419 They represent the members of the procession that followed his coffin through the streets of Dijon. And they’re unlike anything else you’ll ever come across.
They include people from all walks of life – bishops, monks, merchants, and so on. They’re carved from alabaster in a simple, naturalistic style. And the artists, Jean de La Huerta and Antoine Le Moiturier, absolutely nailed it.
The statues are similar in size and shape, but no two are anywhere near identical. The people have different postures, clothing, faces, and accessories, they lean at unique angles, and they’re captured in dissimilar moments. As a group, they’re endlessly interesting. I don’t know how they’re displayed in SF, but at the Met (where I saw them) they were arranged in two rows, led by a page.
I walked around the display many, many times, and always saw something new. The Mourners didn’t make me sad; they made me deeply appreciative that an artist had been able to capture a moment of human community with so much clarity, insight, and emotional force.
I have no idea if John the Fearless actually was an enlightened and beloved leader. But he’ll be seen as one for all time, thanks to the sculptors of The Mourners, because they show how unhappy his people were at his passing. They hang their heads, pinch their noses, cover themselves, and stare upward. They’re not rending their garments or wailing — they’re not incapacitated by grief – but they are sad, and showing it publicly. In short, they’re mourning.
Jobs was often described as an artist, and he was adamant that a grounding in the humanities and arts is important, if not essential, for the development of great technological products. I don’t know if he saw The Mourners before he died, but I’m confident he would have loved them.
If you’re mourning him, go be among The Mourners. They’re at the Legion of Honour in San Francisco through the end of 2011. And leave a comment to let us know what you thought of them.
