The Merry Cemetery ( Romanian : Cimitirul Vesel pronounced [tʃimiˈtirul ˈvesel] ) is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța , Maramureș County , Romania . It is famous for its brightly coloured tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there in addition to scenes from their lives. The Merry Cemetery became an open-air museum and a national tourist attraction. It has been listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Romania by Imperator Travel .
31-564: The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it diverges from the prevalent belief, culturally shared within European societies, that views death as something indelibly solemn. A collection of the epitaphs from the Merry Cemetery exists in a 2017 volume called Crucile de la Săpânța , compiled by author Roxana Mihalcea, as well as in a photography book titled The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta by Peter Kayafas . The cemetery's origins are linked with
62-731: A donation from Laurence A. and Preston Robert Tisch that made possible the acquisition and renovation of the location at 721 Broadway where most of the school's programs are housed. In recognition of the generosity of the Tisch family, the school was renamed Tisch School of the Arts in 1982. Tisch School of the Arts has three institutes and 16 programs and offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Professional Studies (MPS), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees. Tisch also offers
93-449: A failed lawsuit brought by three former students. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 , which forced NYU to move academic instruction online, many Tisch students demanded a tuition refund, believing that virtual classes did not adequately meet their academic needs as a school for performing, cinematic, and media arts. In one of many pandemic-related emails, the school's dean sent students
124-505: A few years. Following the creation of the undergraduate Department of Drama in 1974, the school expanded to include the Interactive Telecommunications Program , Department of Dramatic Writing, Department of Performance Studies , Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Department of Photography and Imaging, and The Department of Art and Public Policy. In 1982, the school's second dean, David Oppenheim , solicited
155-521: A monograph. The book, Peter Kayafas: The Way West , is the third monograph of Kayafas' work photographing along the roads of the United States, released in 2020. It includes an essay by writer Rick Bass , as well as images from ten years and thousands of miles of travel in the Plains States of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. According to a review of
186-609: A printer for Rosalind Fox Solomon and Sylvia Plachy , and studied with Nan Goldin , Anthony Barboza , and A. D. Coleman . Kayafas spent the summer and fall of 1991 in San Francisco where he did an independent study with Henry Wessel, Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute , and worked for Andy Grundberg at the Friends of Photography . In 1990, he met and began working for Leslie George Katz , founder and publisher of
217-568: A selection of classes to NYU students not enrolled in any of its programs through the Open Arts curriculum. The three institutes are: The school also offers an inter-disciplinary "collaborative arts" program, as well as the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music (founded by Arista Records CEO Clive Davis ), one of the few programs in the US to combine musical arts and business strategies in
248-626: Is a collection of photographs by Kayafas taken between the years of 1991 and 2002, which depicts swimmers in the summertime as well as the Polar Bear Club in the winter. A book featuring this work was published in 2021 by Purple Martin. Kayafas travelled to Cuba in 2000 and 2001. The New Yorker called his Cuba photographs "crisp and direct, and the best of them vibrate with understated graphic tension." Kayafas' pictures from Cuba were exhibited in Two Views of Cuba with photographer Lou Jones , at
279-624: Is an American photographer, publisher, and educator based in New York City. He creates black and white photographs that are "simple and spare, yet quietly overpowering with their evocation of a history on a scale beyond that of individual human lives." Kayafas is the Director of the Eakins Press Foundation and is a Guggenheim Fellow in photography. He is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of
310-816: Is the performing , cinematic, and media arts school of New York University . Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the arts, and filmmakers. The school is divided into three Institutes: Performing Arts, Emerging Media, and Film & Television. Many undergraduate and graduate disciplines are available for students, including acting , dance , drama , performance studies , design for stage and film , musical theatre writing, photography , record producing , game design and development , and film and television studies . The school also offers an inter-disciplinary "collaborative arts" program, high school programs, continuing education in
341-640: The DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts in 2002. Romania is a collection of photographs that was made during several trips to Romania by Kayafas from 2003 to 2005. The collection was created by driving more than 10,000 kilometers and photographing the Romanian countryside and many Romanian cities. These photographs were exhibited at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City (2005) and
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#1732890829553372-845: The Eakins Press . In 1993, Katz appointed Kayafas the Director of the press, a position he has continued for three decades. Kayafas' photographs have been published in five monographs: Peter Kayafas: Coney Island Waterdance (2021), Peter Kayafas: The Way West (2020), Totems (2012), O Public Road! Photographs of America (2009), and The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta (2007). His photographs have also been published in various magazines and journals—including DoubleTake Magazine and The Southern Review —as well as in photography books, including Bystander: A History of Street Photography (2001 and 2017), and The Spirit of Family by Al Gore and Tipper Gore (2002). Kayafas has had numerous solo exhibitions in New York City and Boston. In 2018 he became Co-Chair of
403-465: The Board of Directors of the Corporation of Yaddo . In 2019, Kayafas was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for photography. As a publisher and editor running the Eakins Press Foundation for three decades, Kayafas has produced books by photographers. He has been teaching photography at Pratt Institute since 2000, and has been represented by Sasha Wolf Projects since 2003. Coney Island Waterdance
434-677: The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, the Interactive Telecommunications/Interactive Media Arts programs (ITP & IMA), and the Game Center; these programs work in collaboration with departments in media technology from NYU's Tandon School of Engineering and Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development . As of 2019, 22 Academy Award winners, 17 Emmy Award winners, 12 Tony Award winners, and four Grammy Award winners have been affiliated with Tisch alumni and faculty . As of 2017 ,
465-697: The Corporation of Yaddo and was an adjunct associate professor of photography at Pratt Institute for 21 years. Kayafas' photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art , the Art Institute of Chicago , the New York Public Library , New Orleans Museum of Art , the Brooklyn Museum of Art , the RISD Museum , and SFMOMA , and there are five monographs of his photographs in print. Kayafas
496-651: The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City (2005) and the Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC (2006). Published in coordination with the Sasha Wolf Gallery in 2004, People In New York is an exhibition catalogue that includes a selection of 13 photographs by Kayafas of people on the streets and in the parks of New York City . The book includes a short essay on that common occurrence in the city:
527-556: The Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC (2006). Designed by the Dutch designer Tessa van der Waals and produced in Holland in 2007, The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta is a book about the carved graves in the remote Merry Cemetery . There are photographs of the colorful tombstones and their respective epitaphs, with translations by Adrian Sahlean. The book also includes an essay by the Romanian scholar Sanda Golopentia. These photographs were exhibited at
558-402: The arts for the general public, as well as the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, which teaches entrepreneurial strategies in the music recording industry. A dual MFA / MBA graduate program is also offered, allowing students to take coursework at both Tisch and NYU's Stern School of Business . It is located at 721 Broadway (the intersection of Broadway and Waverly Place ), adjacent to
589-469: The arts. NYU's first branch campus abroad was the result of a partnership with Singapore Government agencies under Singapore's Global Schoolhouse program. Tisch Asia was also Singapore's first graduate arts school and offered Master of Fine Arts degrees in animation and digital arts, dramatic writing, film, and international media producing. Summer programs included professional workshops and non-credit certificate courses. The campus opened in fall 2007 on
620-541: The book in Hyperallergic from April 14, 2020: "Kayafas has come back with what surely constitutes one of the most exhaustive, vivid photographic studies of a region to be produced anywhere in recent decades." Kayafas' work is held in the following public collections: Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch )
651-462: The facts on the ground. The lyric impulse is sharpened by the documentary convention." Mexico City is a collection of photographs that were made by Kayafas between 2012 and 2016. Since more than half of Mexico City's 21 million people are under twenty-five, Kayafas chose to focus on various rituals of the youth sub-culture that are prevalent in many parts of the city. The Way West is a photographic project by Kayafas that includes exhibitions and
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#1732890829553682-490: The familiar glance from a stranger. O Public Road! Photographs of America is a 2009 book of photographs published by Purple Martin. It features 160 pages of black and white photographs of landscapes, road signs, and people made by Kayafas during two decades of road trips across America. The book includes an essay by Allan Gurganus and a song by Eef Barzelay . Totems is an exhibition and publication project by Kayafas that consists of photographs of abandoned buildings in
713-649: The former Ministry of Education & Republic Polytechnic grounds at 3 Kay Siang Road, Singapore, with the intention to enroll approximately 250 students. The anticipated enrollment figures were not achieved, financial losses and embezzlement were alleged and Tisch Asia President Pari Sara Shirazi was dismissed from her post by NYU in November 2011. She subsequently lost a lawsuit claiming defamation and breach of contract. The Tisch Asia campus closed in 2014, with polarised recollections, ranging from positive endorsement, to allegations that it had been "an educational scam" in
744-1033: The interred person in a light-hearted way or reference a general trope about family relations. The following is an example of an epitaph wrote by a man in honour of his mother-in-law : Sub această cruce grea Zace biata soacră-mea Trei zile de mai trăia Zăceam eu și cetea ea. Voi care treceți pă aici Incercați să n-o treziți Că acasă dacă vine Iarăi cu gura pă mine Da așa eu m-oi purta Că-napoi n-a înturna Stai aicea dragă soacră-mea Under this heavy cross Lies my poor mother-in-law Three more days should she have lived I would lie, and she would read (this cross). You, who here are passing by Not to wake her up please try Cause' if she comes back home She'll scold me more. But I will surely behave So she'll not return from grave. Stay here, my dear mother-in-law! 47°58′17″N 23°41′44″E / 47.97139°N 23.69556°E / 47.97139; 23.69556 Peter Kayafas Peter Kayafas (born 1971)
775-534: The name of Stan Ioan Pătraș , a local artist who sculpted the first tombstone crosses. In 1935, Pătraș carved the first epitaph and, as of the 1960s, more than 800 of such oak wood crosses came into sight. The inscription on his tombstone cross says: De cu tînăr copilaș Io am fost Stan Ion Pătraș Să mă ascultaț oameni buni Ce voi spune nu-s minciuni Cîte zile am trăit Rău la nime n-am dorit Dar bine cît-am putut Orișicine mia cerut Vai săraca lumea mea Că greu am trăit în ea Since I
806-430: The recording industry . A dual MFA / MBA graduate program is also offered, allowing students to take coursework at both Tisch and NYU's Stern School of Business. It also offers high school programs (the "Tisch Summer High School Program" and "Spring Future Artists Programs") as an outgrowth of the undergraduate classes, and professional courses for the general public as part of a commitment to continuing education in
837-518: The school had more than 25,000 alumni working in the arts and related professions, and the school has more alumni in Broadway theatre than any other school for theater in the United States. The School of the Arts at New York University was founded on August 17, 1965, to provide conservatory training in theater and film in the context of a research university. The school created additional departments such as dance, theatre design, and cinema studies within
868-563: The university's Department of Philosophy building and the Gallatin School of Individualized Study , in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan , New York City. In 2013, NYU opened a new technology hub on its Brooklyn campus called the Media and Games Network (MAGNET). Located at 2 MetroTech Center and, beginning in 2019, 370 Jay Street , MAGNET houses three Tisch programs:
899-487: The west that The New Yorker said "have both sculptural presence and a symbolic weight." The book Totems is a 2012 monograph by Kayafas, with an essay by art critic, Jed Perl . Of the Totems photographs, Perl writes: "Kayafas's explorations of an endangered vernacular architecture are at once straightforward records and unabashedly poetic meditations, a matter of the photographer testing the quality of his attentiveness against
930-404: Was a little boy I was known as Stan Ion Pătraş Listen to me, good people There are no lies in what I am going to say All along my life I meant no harm to anyone But did good as much as I could To anyone who asked Oh, my poor World Because It was hard living in it The cemetery is noted for featuring a large number of humorous epitaphs that generally poke fun at
961-596: Was born in Boston in 1971 and raised in Concord, Massachusetts . His father, Gus Kayafas, founded the undergraduate photography program at Massachusetts College of Art , and his mother Arlette Kayafas, is the founder and owner of Gallery Kayafas in Boston. He moved to New York City in 1989 to study photography at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts , from which he received a BFA in 1993. During his college years, he worked as