“A black sculptress is rarer than a black swan”
The San Francisco Chronicle, 1866
Born in New York in 1844 to a Native American mother and African American father, Edmonia Lewis became a self-made, internationally renowned woman artist at a time when few women were able to get their artwork seen and recognized.
A shrewd marketer, she told stories of her early life to fit what her white, Victorian patrons wished to hear. According to what is known, her parents died when she was young, and she spent time with her aunts in Niagara Falls, marketing finely woven Chippewa baskets under her native name, Wildfire.
Later, she lived with her brother in Albany. After he earned a fortune during the California Gold Rush, she attended Oberlin College and with his help befriended several noted abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison. She moved to Boston in early 1860s and studied neoclassical sculpture under Edward Augustus Brackett.
In 1864, she opened her own studio in Boston where she made sculptures of John Brown, Garrison, and Charles Sumner, among others, and earned numerous positive reviews from abolitionist women reporters.
After meeting Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the African American 54th Regiment, she made a bust of him which was purchased by the family. The Shaw family gave permission for her to make one hundred plaster copies that she sold for fifteen dollars apiece. This established her as a successful artist.
In 1866, with the money she earned, she paid her way to Europe and Rome. Rome was much more welcoming of a black sculptress.
“I was practically driven to Rome,” Edmonia said in an interview, “in order to obtain the opportunities for art culture, and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color. The land of liberty had no room for a colored sculptor.”
As quoted in “Seeking equality abroad” New York Times. December 29, 1878. p. 5.
Edmonia Lewis took up residence and produced a number of sculptures with Native American and anti-slavery themes. She became a prolific and well-paid artist earning, it was reported, up to $50,000 for a commission. Her Rome studio became a popular tourist destination. In 1876, she created a three-thousand pound sculpture of Cleopatra, minus the usual slaves, which was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Fair to acclaim. After being abandoned for years, this masterwork is now in the Smithsonian. In 1877, she was most honored to be commissioned to create a bust of Ulysses S. Grant.
How Edmonia Lewis Became a Sculptor
From an interview by the The People’s Advocate, Osage Mission, Kansas June 27th, 1871
“I too can make a stone man,” she said to herself; and at once she went to visit Lloyd Garrison and told him what she could do, and set about asking him how she should set about doing it.
Struck by her enthusiasm, Garrison gave her a letter of introduction to Brackett, the Boston sculptor, and after a little talk with her, Mr. Brackett gave her a piece of clay and a mould[sic] of a human foot as a study. “Go home and make that,” said he; “if there is anything in your it will come out.”
Alone in her room the young girl toiled over her clay, and when she had done her best, she carried it to her master. He looked at her model, broke it up and said, “Try again.”
She did try again, moulded feet and hands, and at last, undertook a medallion of the head of John Brown which was pronounced excellent.
The next essay was a bust of a young hero, Colonel Shaw, the first man who took command of a colored regiment…
…The hour for applause has come to Edmonia Lewis. All honor to the brave little African girl, who has earned her own way to fame and to independence.
Works by Edmonia Lewis
The Art Story: Edmonia Lewis Photographs and details of her major works.
To Learn More About Edmonia Lewis and Her Work
Smithsonian Biography and Collection
Smithsonian Magazine Article This includes the fascinating story of unearthing Lewis’s statue of Cleopatra from a junkyard in Chicago in the 1980s.
“I have a strong sympathy for all women who have struggled and suffered.” Edmonia Lewis