Mary Edmonia Lewis (July 4, 1845 – 1911) was the first African American and Native American (Chippewa) woman to gain fame and recognition as a sculptor.
She was born Mary Edmonia Lewis in July 1845 in Albany, New York. Her inspiration for most her artwork came from her ethnic background. Lewis’s father was African American while her mother was Native American, of the Chippewa nation. Both her parents died when she was a child; her exact age was unknown at the time of their deaths. Lewis and her older brother resided with their mother’s family in Niagara Falls. Three years later, instead of working within the home, Lewis’s brother suggested she enroll in school.
She was then accepted and attended Oberlin Preparatory College in Ohio. Oberlin College was one of the first higher learning institutions in the United States to admit women of different races. Lewis’ decision to attend Oberlin was one that would significantly change her life. It was at Oberlin College where Lewis began to be interested in sculpting and began her art career.
After college, Lewis moved to Boston where her sculpting continued to developed. She began to study under a well-known and developed sculptor, Edmund Brackett. While working with Brackett in Boston, Lewis met Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a commander during the Civil War, and did a sculpture of him. She moved to Rome in 1865 to continue her study and practice of sculpting.
During her time in Rome, Lewis mastered her practice and specialized in portrait busts, from the shoulders and up. She set up her own studio in Rome and became a very well known sculptor. Some have speculated that what contributed to Lewis’s success in Rome may have been her exotic appearance. People were intrigued and fascinated with her East Indian resemblance and wanted to know more about her. This was quite the opposite from the attention she initially received from the United States. Her diverse background worked for her rather than against her. [1] Rome was where Lewis spent most of her adult career but she eventually came back to the United States. Her studies in Rome contributed to her neoclassical techniques and subject matter. Her surroundings of the classical world greatly inspired Lewis and influenced her work. Lewis recreated the classical art style in her own work. For instance, she presented people in her sculptures as draped in robes rather than in contemporary clothing.
Shortly after, Lewis came back to the United States where she continued to sculpt. Her work sold for large sums of money. In 1873 an article in the New Orleans Picayune stated, “Edmonia Lewis had snared two 50,000 dollar commissions.” Her new-found popularity made her studio a tourist destination. Lewis sculpted many portrait busts of important figures during that time period. Her portrait busts included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (an American poet), John Brown (an abolitionist), Charles Sumner (an American politician), Abraham Lincoln (an American President), and Wendell Phillips (an American writer). Her sculpture of Longfellow was placed at Harvard University in their Wilderner Library.
In addition to her portrait busts, Lewis was well known for her complete figure sculptures, including (but not limited to) Hagar in the Wilderness (1866), Hiawatha (1865), The Marriage of Hiawatha (1865), The Departure of Hiawatha (1867), Madonna and Child (1867), and The Death of Cleopatra (1867).
Her Forever Free sculpture is one of her most famous and influential works. This was a representation of a free African-American couple in broken chains after the Civil War. This was one of the many pieces Lewis created that expressed a political statement.
Lewis had several exhibitions during her rise to fame. One was in Chicago, Illinois in 1870, another in Rome in 1871, and another was at the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia in 1876. Both Lewis and Richard Bannister, another African-American artist, received honors at the Philadelphia Centennial Celebration.
In the late 1880s, the neoclassical genre became less popular, and Lewis’s popularity also declined. She became eclipsed by history and lost fame. The events of her later years are uncertain. Although the year of her death is debatable, many believe Lewis died in 1890. Lewis never married and had no known children.
Incident at Oberlin College
During the winter season of 1862, just several months after the start of the Civil War, while Edmonia Lewis attended Oberlin College, there was an incident which involved her and two classmates, Maria Miles and Christina Ennes. The three women planned go sleigh riding later that day. Lewis invited her friends to her home for a drink. Shortly after, Miles and Ennes fell severely ill. Doctors concluded that the two women had some sort of poison in their system and were not sure if they would survive. Days later, it was apparent that the two women would recover from the incident and because of their recovery, the authorities took no action.
However, townspeople took matters in their own hands. Walking home alone one night, Lewis was dragged into an open field and badly beaten.[5] Those responsible for her injuries were never found.[6] Due to the attack, local authorities arrested Lewis, charging her with poisoning her friends. The college defended their student throughout the trial. John Mercer Langston, an Oberlin College alum, and only practicing African-American lawyer in Oberlin, represented Lewis during her trial. Although most witnesses spoke against Lewis and Lewis did not testify, Langston did an excellent job. Lewis was found not guilty of poisoning Miles and Ennes.
Description of Most Popular Artworks
Forever Free, 1867
* This sculpture is of white marble. It represents a man standing, staring up, and raising his left arm into the air. Wrapped around his left wrist is a chain; however, this chain is not restraining him whatsoever. To his right is a woman kneeling with her hands held in a prayer position. The man’s right hand is gently placed on her right shoulder. Forever Free is a representation of the emancipation of African-American slaves after the Civil War. Lewis attempted to break stereotypes of African-American women with this sculpture. For example, Lewis portrayed the woman as completely dressed while the man was partially dressed. This drew attention away from the notion of African-American women being sexual and erotic figures. This sculpture is also a representation of the end of the Civil War. While African-Americans were technically free, they continued to be restrained, shown by the fact that the couple had chains wrapped around their bodies. This piece is at the Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Hagar, 1875
* This sculpture inspired by a Biblical character from the Old Testament was made of white marble. It shows Hagar with her hands in prayer staring slightly up but not straight across. Hagar was the Egyptian wife of Abraham and gave birth to his first son Ishmael. Abraham’s second wife, Sarah, resented Hagar and “cast Hagar into the wilderness after the birth Sarah’s son Isaac.” Lewis uses the Egyptian Hagar as a representation of the African mother. Hagar symbolizes the abuse of African women. Lewis had a tendency to sculpt historically strong women. We see this not just in Hagar but also in Lewis’s Cleopatra piece. Lewis also depicted regular women in great situations, emphasizing their strength.
Old Arrow-Maker and his Daughter, 1866
* This sculpture was inspired by Lewis’s Native American heritage. It represents an arrow-maker and his daughter sitting on a round base. They are dressed in traditional Native American clothes and have typical Native American facial features. Lewis pushed the limits with the accuracy of her sculptures. Lewis never cleaned up or generalized the appearance of those represented in her sculptures. Instead, she found truth in the stereotypes and used that in her work. She wanted to be as realistic as possible
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