EXHIBITION: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition
April 20 – June 30, 2019
Opening Party: Friday April 26 (more below, tickets here)

Featuring artworks by Mark Dion, Phyllis Galembo, José Guadalupe Posada, Jacques Callot, 
Shannon Taggart and pieces spanning the 17th century to the present from the collections 
of Stephen Romano Gallery, Evan Michelson, Eva Aridjis and Eye's Gallery and much more!

In the Catholic worldview, when the body dies, the soul of the deceased is sent to a location 
in the afterlife to await the final judgment, at which point it will be reunited with the 
resurrected body. The souls of the unrepentant who have perpetrated the gravest sins are sent 
to hell, while the most stainless—saints who were martyred for their faith—are delivered straight 
to heaven. The majority of people, however, are sent to a place called purgatory. In this liminal 
space—a sort of temporary hell—souls are purged of their sins until they have attained the purity 
necessary to enter heaven and reside with God.   

The idea of purgatory is a contentious one. Originally developed in the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries, it rose to popularity in the fourteenth century in response to the mass deaths wrought 
by the Black Plague. Disagreements about purgatory contributed directly to the birth of Protestantism. 
One of Martin Luther’s major points of contention in his Ninety-Five Theses of 1517 was the Church’s 
use of indulgences—papal grants promising to shorten or cancel a person’s time in purgatory. Once 
sold as ubiquitously as lottery tickets, profits were used to fund various projects including the 
construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Since that time, the popularity of purgatory has gone 
in and out of fashion. Today, it is visible only in rare bastions of belief, such as Naples, Italy, 
and parts of Latin America. The concepts of heaven and hell, however, continue to thrive in the 
Catholic ethos.

This exhibition explores Catholic visions of heaven, hell, and purgatory —via art, artifacts, and 
material culture drawn from The Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections and the greater Morbid Anatomy 
community—, tracing how they have manifested in various places and shifted and changed over time.

“Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition” and the Morbid 
Anatomy Library are free and open to the public at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse on Saturdays and 
Sundays, 12 –5 PM, from April 20 to June 30. To visit outside of these hours, email 
events@green-wood.com .

The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and 
G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicap accessible. 
Click here for our inclement weather policy.  


ENVISIONING THE AFTERLIFE: HEAVEN, HELL AND PURGATORY, EXHIBITION OPENING AND CEMETERY GARDEN PARTY
Friday, April 26, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Tickets here

Join us for a special after-hours garden party to celebrate the return of spring and the opening of 
Morbid Anatomy’s new exhibition, Envisioning the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.

Enjoy music curated by Friese Undine and complimentary refreshments while taking in the enchanting 
atmosphere. There will also be a special tour of the newly curated Morbid Anatomy Library by its 
creators, Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier, as well as an opportunity to meet the artists, 
collectors, and contributors to the exhibition.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. 
The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G 
trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

Tickets are $15 / $10 for Morbid Anatomy Patreon members of Green-Wood Members 

 
Original lobby card for the 1923 film "Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages"
                    

The New York City Book and Ephemera Fair celebrates William Mortensen's golden Hollywood years with a 
special exhibition curated by Brian Chidester. The exhibition will feature works from William Mortensen's 
personal collection that have never been shown before, as well as works from the estate of his first wife 
Courtney Crawford that will also be exhibited for the first time ever.

March 9 & 10, 2019, Sheraton Central Park / Times Square 811 7th Avenue New York

His work was startling and new. It had the power to surprise, shock, even haunt the viewer. William 
Mortensen was a highly controversial artist during his lifetime, stirring up the photographic world 
in the early twentieth century with images that were in direct opposition to the prevailing realism 
of his contemporaries. Today we recognize Mortensen as the trailblazer he was —the first to use highly 
manipulated imagery in a way that wasn’t embraced until Photoshop almost a century later.
  

The New York City Book & Ephemera Fair will mount a special exhibition of the artist’s work when it 
returns to the Sheraton Central Park/Times Square hotel on March 9 & 10. Curated by author/art historian 
Brian Chidester, courtesy of the Stephen Romano Gallery, “Celluloid Babylon” draws from the artist’s 
Hollywood years in the 1920s and '30s.

more information at www.celluloidbabylon.com

Stephen Romano Gallery presents "NOCTEM DIABOLI" (Devil's Night), a one night exhibition event at 
The Living Gallery Outpost at 246 East 4th Street NYC October 30 from 7pm to midnight.

The exhibition will be a curated installation which blends works by established and emerging contemporary 
artists, historical and vernacular images, folk art painting and sculpture, acclaimed visionary and 
outsider artists, vintage photography and works by anonymous or unknown artists all addressing themes of 
animism, witchcraft, shamanism, voodoo, magic and demonology, celebrating the themes of the evening 
preceding ALL HALLOW'S EVE .

more information at NOCTEMDIABOLI.com

"Bridging Two Worlds: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead"

curated by Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier
through Sunday, Dec 2, 2018 at The Fort Hamilton Gatehouse at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn NY

How do the dead find their way to the next life? Who directs them on their journey? And when they arrive, 
can they establish a connection to those left behind? Across time, and around the globe, people have 
imagined that the dead might live on in another, imperceptible world.

OPENING THE THIRD EYE

curated by Stephen Romano
October 3 - 7 2018 The Living Gallery NYC 

Stephen Romano Gallery is please to announce a four person exhibition of the works of Natsumi Goldfish, 
Alexis Palmer Karl, Daniel Goncalves and Barry William Hale at the Living Gallery Outpost on the 
Lower East side in New York City. The exhibition's theme will be further asserted with the inclusion 
of historical and vernacular images and objects including works by Jacob Bohme, Karl Kohl, Burt Shonberg, 
Jack Edwards, Darcilio Lima, Wolfgang Grasse, William Mortensen, spirit photography, 
as well as unknown artists.

full press release here

Stephen Romano Gallery is thrilled to announce that the art of Charles A.A. Dellschau 
is included in the exhibition "Out of This World: Artists Explore Space", curated by 
Larry Gagosian for the 2018 Seattle Art Fair's Gagosian Gallery booth, courtesy of 
Stephen Romano Gallery. 

"Gagosian is pleased to present Out of This World: Artists Explore Space, curated by 
Larry Gagosian for the 2018 Seattle Art Fair. The booth presentation gathers works 
involving artistic and scientific explorations of the cosmos, flight, and the unknown.

Human fascination with outer space is enduring, as evidenced by the worldwide media 
spectacle sparked by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s historic moon landing in 1969. 
Gagosian juxtaposes the materials and technologies of astronomical and aeronautical 
research—including early celestial maps, meteorites, and space telescopes—with the 
many artistic fantasies and interpretations that they have inspired."

Other artists in the exhibition include Richard Avedon, Andisheh Avini, Chris Burden, 
Alexander Calder, Jean-Dominique Cassini IV, Vija Celmins, Nicolaus Copernicus, 
Ellen Gallagher, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Johannes Honter, Neil Jenney, Mike Kelley, 
Yves Klein, Vera Lutter, Brice Marden, Marc Newson, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, 
Thomas Ruff, Ed Ruscha, Tom Sachs, John Senex, Taryn Simon, Joel Sternfeld, Yves Tanguy, 
Mark Tansey, Gaston Tissandier, and Andy Warhol, among others."