Edmonia Lewis was the first professional African American and Native American sculptor. She became an internationally acclaimed artist in the 1860′s and 1870′s. Lewis was notable for incorporating themes relating to the Black experience and Native American culture.
Smithsonian Institution

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Edmonia Lewis was the first professional Black American and Native American sculptor. She became an internationally acclaimed artist in the years after the American Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877). Lewis worked in a Neoclassical style. Neoclassicists often use subjects from ancient history to make observations about contemporary events. She was notable for incorporating themes relating to the Black experience and Native American culture.

Mary Edmonia Lewis was probably born around July 4, 1844, in Greenbush (now Rensselaer), near Albany, New York, to a free Black American father and a mother who was Black American and at least part Chippewa. Mary Edmonia was orphaned when she was a child. She and her older half-brother Samuel were adopted by her mother’s sisters and raised in a nomadic Native American community on the New York-Canadian border. Mary Edmonia was given the Chippewa name Wildfire.

Samuel became a gold miner in California and financed his sister’s early schooling. In 1859, he also helped her to attend Oberlin College in Ohio. While there, she asked to be called Edmonia Lewis. At Oberlin, Lewis boarded at a minister‘s home with white female students. In 1862, she was accused of poisoning two of her housemates. Days later, she was beaten by a white mob. Although the charges against her were dropped for lack of evidence, Lewis was subjected to a highly publicized hearing. She was later accused of stealing art supplies at the college. That case was also dismissed. However, Oberlin would not allow Lewis to finish her final term and graduate.

In 1863, with Samuel’s help, Lewis traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, where she became acquainted with the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. She also met the sculptor Edward A. Brackett, who gave her some lessons in sculpture. Soon, she set up her own small studio. In 1864, Lewis created busts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a Civil War hero who had died leading the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment, and the abolitionist John Brown. With the money she earned from sales of the Shaw and Brown busts and some clay and plaster medallions she created, Lewis traveled to London, England; Paris, France; and Florence, Italy; before settling in Rome, Italy, where she continued her work as a sculptor.

One of Lewis’s most acclaimed works is Forever Free (1867). Commemorating the 1865 abolition of slavery in the United States, the sculpture depicts a Black man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery. Lewis embraced her Native American heritage with works inspired by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his epic poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855), about the great Native American leader Hiawatha. These included the sculpture Old Arrow Maker (modeled in 1866, carved in 1872) and the busts Hiawatha and Minnehaha (both 1868). Lewis created an acclaimed bust of Longfellow in 1871.

Lewis also carved busts of American presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, as well as sculptures of mythic, Biblical, and historical scenes. In 1876, she created a sensation at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with The Death of Cleopatra (1876). Lewis’s 63-inch- (160-centimeter-) tall marble sculpture depicts the Egyptian queen in the throes of death.

Lewis continued to exhibit her work until the 1890′s. Little is known about her later years. Lewis is believed to have died in London on Sept. 17, 1907. A number of her sculptures are now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, D.C.

November 17, 2017

Today, November 17, marks the 100th anniversary of the death of prolific French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Earlier this year, the Grand Palais in Paris, France, celebrated the anniversary with “Rodin: The Centennial Exhibition” from March through July. The Grand Palais (an exhibition hall and museum complex) collaborated with the nearby Rodin Museum to feature numerous masterpieces created by Rodin, largely considered the greatest sculptor of the late 1800’s and early 1900′s. The Rodin exhibit and celebration extended to art museums in Berlin, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and other world cities.

Auguste Rodin poses before a work in progress. Credit: © Bridgeman Art Library/SuperStock

Rodin created an enormous number of sculptures of the human figure. Many of them have a great deal of emotional intensity, and explore a wide range of human passions. The inner feelings of his figures are expressed through a vigorous sense of movement and by gestures that emphasize different parts of the body. Many of his figures are incomplete or fragmentary. These works consist of just a torso, a head, or hands.

Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker is one of the French sculptor’s most famous works. Several versions of this statue exist. Credit: The Thinker (1880), bronze statue by Auguste Rodin; Musee Rodin, Paris, France (© Timothy McCarthy, Art Resource)

Rodin was primarily a modeler, preferring to work with clay and wax rather than to carve in stone. After he created the original model, his assistants would translate it into marble or bronze. Inspired by the Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo, Rodin’s marble figures are often beautifully smooth and finished, emerging from parts of the marble that are often very rough. The surfaces of his bronze works combine a thorough understanding of anatomy with a rough texture that allows light and shadow to enliven the work.

Rodin was born in Paris on Nov. 12, 1840. He did not win public recognition for many years, and he had to earn his living designing popular sculpture and ornament for commercial firms. Indifference and misunderstanding greeted his first exhibits, but appreciation for his work gradually spread. By 1880, his genius began to be more widely appreciated, and by the 1900′s, he was world famous.

In 1880, Rodin was commissioned by the French government to create a large sculptural door for the Museum of Decorative Art in Paris. The subject was the “Inferno” from Dante’s Divine Comedy. The door was never finished, but Rodin created many figures for it. Later, he developed many of them as independent sculptures. The best known include The Thinker and The Kiss. Rodin’s most important later works include the monumental group The Burghers of Calais and the monument to author Honoré de Balzac.

February 14, 2017

World Book continues its celebration of Black History Month with a look at Edmonia Lewis, the first professional African American and Native American sculptor. In the years after the American Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877), Lewis overcame gender, racial, social, and economic barriers to become an internationally acclaimed artist. She worked in a Neoclassical style and was notable for incorporating themes relating to the black experience and Native American culture. Neoclassicists often use subjects from ancient history to make observations about contemporary events.

Edmonia Lewis, c.1870 Credit: Smithsonian Institution

Mary Edmonia Lewis was born in 1844 in Greenbush (now Rensselaer), near Albany, New York, to a free African American father and a Chippewa mother. Orphaned as a child, Mary Edmonia and her older half-brother Samuel were adopted by her mother’s sisters and raised in a nomadic Native American community on the New York-Canadian border. Mary Edmonia was given the Native American name Wildfire.

Samuel Lewis became a gold miner in California and financed Wildfire’s early schooling. In 1859, at a time when slavery was still legal, he also helped his 15-year-old sister to attend Oberlin College in Ohio. While there, she asked to be called M. Edmonia Lewis. At Oberlin, Lewis was falsely accused of poisoning two white roommates. Days later, she was captured and beaten by a white mob. Although the charges against her were dropped, she had to endure a highly publicized trial. She was later accused of stealing art supplies at the college. Again, the case was dismissed. However, Oberlin would not allow Lewis to finish her final term and graduate.

The Death of Cleopatra (1876) by Edmonia Lewis. Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum

In 1863, with Samuel’s help, Edmonia traveled to Boston, where she befriended the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. She also met the sculptor Edward A. Brackett, who taught her sculpture and helped her set up her own studio. In 1864, Lewis created busts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a Civil War hero who had died leading the all-black 54th Massachusetts Regiment, and the abolitionist John Brown. With the money she earned from sales of the busts, she traveled to London, Paris, and Florence, before settling in Rome, where she continued her work as a sculptor.

One of Lewis’s most acclaimed works is Forever Free (1867). Commemorating the 1865 abolition of slavery in the United States, the sculpture depicts a black man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery. Lewis embraced her Native American heritage with works inspired by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his epic poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855), about the great Native American leader Hiawatha.

Lewis also carved busts of American presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, as well as sculptures of mythic, Biblical, and historical scenes. In 1876, she created a sensation at the International Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia with The Death of Cleopatra (1876). Her two-ton marble sculpture depicts the Egyptian queen in the throes of death. Lewis was the only artist of color invited to exhibit at the exposition.

Lewis continued to exhibit her work until the 1890’s. Little is known about her later years. Some sources say she died in London in 1907; others say she was still living in Rome in 1911. However, in recent decades, Lewis’s life and work have been reexamined and lauded. Her sculptures are now part of the Howard University Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.