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October 11, 1976. SEPULCHRAL ART AND THE TRANSITIONAL EXPERIENCE: ETRUSCAN BURIAL SYMBOLS. Simon A. Grolnick, M.D.
Dr. Grolnick suggested that sepulchral art and its symbols lend themselves to an interpretation based on Winnicott's concept of the transitional object. According to Dr. Grolnick, the transitional object functions to stabilize self/object, awakening/sleeping, and concrete/abstract polarities, and this is developmentally related to humanity's persistent attempts to bridge the interface between life and death with burial art and symbols. A complex continuum exists between the bedtime rituals of children and the rituals and art complementing a culture's burial practices. Children use the comforting transitional object to allay the separation anxiety evoked by sleep and, later, by the idea of death. During periods of general regression, both the adult individual and the culture reach for the solace of familiar objects, which can be functionally, symbolically, and iconographically