Assisi: An Online Journal of Arts & Letters Volume 4, Issues 1 & 2 | Page 26

hills in the cemetery. During the past two years, and at different times of the year, I have
rolled a blue Whole Foods cart jammed with a collapsible chair, a large Bristol pad,
pencils, oil and chalk pastels and oil sticks to Civic Virtue, opened my chair, laid my
materials in dirty piles on the ground, and wrestled the images accompanying this essay
onto sheets of Bristol paper.
My first visit to Civic Virtue’s new home was in the Winter/Spring of 2013. I
entered the Cemetery through its enormous, Gothic filigreed front entrance on Fifth
Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I rolled my cart southward, up the gradual incline of
Battle Avenue. Battle Avenue is named for the Revolutionary war battle between the
American army and British
troops in the Battle of Brooklyn.
The battle took place in August
1776 in the vicinity of what
would become Green-Wood
Cemetery. I wandered past a
mausoleum in the shape of a
Pyramid flanked by sphinxes
and the Virgin Mary with the
Christ Child adorned in
Egyptian headgear. I turned east
onto Border Avenue with its
expansive views of New York
harbor and the skyline of Lower
Manhattan. Border Avenue
gradually descends into a
clearing. On a pedestal rising
above the low slung monuments
stands Civic Virtue.

How a r d S k r i ll , C i vi c Vi r tu e T r iu mph a n t o ve r
Un r i ght eou sn es s fr om G r een - W ood C em ete ry , O i l Pa s te l,
[ pr e-i n st a ll a t i on vi ew ] O i l Pa st el on P a per , 1 1” x 1 4” .
© 20 13

Civic Virtue is a marble figure of a male standing in the midst of a large base
comprised of a highly textured mound bearing the appearance of coiled seaweed. The
figure is nearly nude, except for a tentacle of the netted seaweed rising towards its midriff,

Assisi !20