Mary Edmonia Lewis American female sculptor Date of Birth: 04.07.1845 Country: USA

1. Mary Edmonia Lewis: An American Sculptor
2. Education and Career Beginnings
3. Work and Recognition
4. Later Years and Legacy

Mary Edmonia Lewis: An American Sculptor

Mary Edmonia Lewis was an American sculptor who was born in Albany, New York. Her father was African American and her mother was from the Chippewa tribe. Both of her parents passed away when she was young, and she and her older brother lived with their maternal relatives in Niagara Falls. After three years, her brother encouraged her to leave home and attend school.

Education and Career Beginnings

She enrolled in the preparatory program at Oberlin College in Ohio, one of the first educational institutions in the United States to admit women of different races. It was there that Edmonia became interested in sculpture and began her career in art. During the winter semester of 1862, just a few weeks after the start of the American Civil War, Edmonia went sledding with two friends from college, Maria Miles and Christina Ennes. She then invited them to her home for a drink. Shortly after, Miles and Ennes became seriously ill. Doctors concluded that they had been poisoned, but they were unsure if the two friends would survive. A few days later, Miles and Ennes began to recover, so no action was taken by the authorities. However, angered citizens ambushed Edmonia Lewis at night and severely beat her. The attackers were never found. The assault caused public outcry, and Lewis was arrested on charges of poisoning her friends. She was defended in court by a graduate of Oberlin, John Mercer Langston, the only African American lawyer in Oberlin. Despite most witnesses testifying against Lewis and her refusal to testify, Langston was able to convince the court of her innocence.

Work and Recognition

After completing college, Lewis moved to Boston, where she continued her sculpting career. She studied under the renowned sculptor Edmonia Brackett. While working with Brackett, Lewis met Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a hero of the American Civil War, and created a sculpture of him. In 1865, she moved to Rome to further her education and practice. In Rome, Lewis specialized in creating busts, opened her own studio, and gained recognition. Her exotic appearance elicited a very different reaction in Italy compared to the discrimination she faced in the United States. Thanks to her training in Rome, she developed her technique in the neoclassical style. For example, she depicted the heroes of her sculptures not in contemporary clothing, but in ancient togas or drapery.

Upon returning to the United States, Lewis continued her sculpting work, with her pieces selling for large sums of money. In 1873, an article in the New Orleans Picayune claimed that "Edmonia Lewis illegally appropriated $50,000 received as a deposit for future work." Her growing popularity turned her studio into a popular tourist destination. Among those whose busts she created during this period were poet Henry Longfellow, abolitionist John Brown, politician Charles Sumner, President Abraham Lincoln, and writer Wendell Phillips. The sculpture she created of Longfellow was placed in the library of Harvard University.

In addition to busts, Lewis created several well-known sculptural figures, including "The Freedwoman" (1866), "Hiawatha" (1865), "The Marriage of Hiawatha" (1865), "The Departure of Hiawatha" (1867), "The Madonna and Child" (1867), and "The Death of Cleopatra" (1867). Her sculpture "Forever Free" became one of the most famous works in American sculpture. It depicts a pair of African Americans breaking free from chains.

Lewis participated in several exhibitions that brought her recognition, including those in Chicago (1870), Rome (1871), and Philadelphia (1876). In the latter, she received an award alongside another African American sculptor, Richard Bannister.

Later Years and Legacy

In the late 1880s, the neoclassical genre began to lose popularity, and along with it, Lewis lost some of her fame. The details of her later years are poorly documented, and even the year of her death remains disputed (though it is commonly believed to be 1890). Lewis never married and, as far as is known, did not have any children.