Women Create Prosperity & Attic grave marker (Radeke Stele)

Women Create Prosperity, 2022

Allyson Spoering

Watercolor, charcoal, and pastel on paper

I created this piece in an attempt to comment on the misogyny central to Greek burial practices. Since it was typical for a woman's grave marker to portray a generic woman rather than a specific individual I wanted to call attention to women as individuals who worked to further Greek society into the next generation through childbirth. In an effort to capture this idea, my concept was to recreate a woman’s grave marker into a symbol of life. I chose to depict this woman as the mother of all Greek prosperity by reimagining her as an olive tree. To make this piece, I chose to work with softer-bodied materials like watercolor, charcoal, and pastels. I feel the most relaxed when working with materials of this sort, and I thought these would help showcase the nature of a mother; the flow of the watercolor representing nurturing, vibrancy by pastels, and strength through binding lines of charcoal.

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Attic grave marker (Radeke Stele), 400 - 300 BCE

Athens, Kerameikos

Pentelic Marble

RISD Museum, Museum Appropriation Fund 31.278

With a quiet yet commanding presence this piece helps visitors to the RISD Museum depict the funerary practices of Ancient Greece. This grave marker, named the Radeke Stele, depicts a single woman standing and looking off to her left, she is wearing multiple layers of fabric with her right arm wrapped around her waist while she uses her left hand to remove a veil from her face. Made from pentelic marble, this piece stands 57 and ¼ inches tall by 24 and ½ inches wide and is from Kerameikos, a section of Athens. She does not possess any sort of ornamentation such as jewelry that we can see here however, during its prime this work would have been painted to reflect how this individual looked while alive and may have possessed more details unable to be viewed at its current state since over the centuries the paint has worn away. While this grave marker stands alone, ancient Greek headstones were designed to stand with other loved ones who have passed away in order to create images of the deceased enjoying time together once again. These images commonly depicted weddings and parties as well as other joyous ceremonies that were celebrated throughout Greece.

Though research is able to tell us this stele depicts a woman, there is no way to learn more about this specific individual as it was common in ancient Greece to create generic grave markers while loved ones were still living. Since these headstones were created generically, the images carved were ones that highlighted the roles Greek citizens were expected to fulfill during their lifetime. For women, this meant many images carved consisted of them as either brides, wives, or mothers. The Radeke stele here at the RISD Museum depicts a bride. We are able to tell this due to the fact she is removing a veil from her face which is a common Greek symbol used to depict marriage. Being a patriarchal society, women living in ancient Greece would have been subjects to either their fathers or husbands. Since this piece depicts a bride it allows researchers to understand that this work would have been purchased by a woman’s husband after her death in an effort to showcase her as a good and faithful wife while living. Regardless of who this woman was in her lifetime, it is clear through the depiction used on her grave marker she was much loved by those who knew her in life.