American sculptor, Vinnie Ream (1847*-1914), was the first woman and the youngest artist to receive a sculptural commission from the government of the United States.
EARLY LIFE
Born in a log cabin in Madison, Wisconsin, when it was little more than a hamlet, Vinnie Ream was one of the most well-known sculptors of the Gilded Age. Her father, Robert Ream, was a government surveyor who made the earliest maps of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. When the Civil War broke out, the Reams who were against slavery, moved to Washington City, where her father drew maps for the War Department, and Vinnie became one of the first women to be hired by the United States Post Office, where she worked in the dead letter office.
Vinnie Ream’s early talent in art and music was first recognized at St. Joseph’s Female Academy, and later Columbia College (at the time, a female academy), in Columbia, Missouri, which she attended with her sister. A portrait she painted of Martha Washington still hangs at the college.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Discovered by sculptor Clark Mills and encouraged by political friends of the family, Vinnie Ream gained fame for sculpting President Abraham Lincoln from life at the age of eighteen.* This led to her winning the commission for the marble sculpture of Lincoln, installed in 1871, and which now stands in the Capitol Rotunda. She was also commissioned to create the sculpture of Admiral David Farragut that stands in Farragut Square, Washington, D.C.
Abraham Lincoln by Vinnie Ream
The following excerpt is from a speech given at the District of Columbia Public Schools annual exhibition of drawing and penmanship. Vinnie Ream’s remarks were recorded in the Washington Evening Star.
“I have a warm sympathy for all of you who are studying art, whether it may be for the sake of its many useful applications, or for the purpose of making it your profession in life, as painters or sculptors. For the few who may contemplate this, every moment is precious. A drawing from nature, a sketch from life, will never be thrown away. Go into the woods and study the humblest of God’s works. Do not come back from any stroll, or drive or picnic with your sketch book empty, but each day return with something. These will be the suggestions which will fill your mind with riches laid up for the rainy day–the less fortunate hour, when you cannot go into the woods to study them.
“If you lie down to rest on the green grass, watch the sunlight glisten and the leaves glow; coax the birds to come and sing to you. Watch them build their nests and take lessons from their cunning. Watch the ants toil and take from their patience. Watch the spider weave its web and take lessons from its skill. Listen to the thousands of voices and hear how busy nature is. She does not lose a moment. She does not tire. Why should we?
“Watch the clouds as they canopy you in fleecy folds and arise from your dreaming with a desire to imitate these wonderful works of nature. She is the great teacher and every true artist bows down before her. Her brightest robes and sunniest smiles beckon the discouraged onward and in her transient frown, the lowering Heaven and the storm-tossed billows, there lies an immortality for him who can impress his image on the canvas.
“As art more nearly approaches Nature, it is the more excellent. The truth we can never quite attain, but perfect Nature stands forever before us. Never sneering but encouraging to greater effort–a just and generous critic. How naturally and intuitively we desire to paint the green meadows that we may view them in the bleak days of winter. To paint the storm-tossed sea and contemplate the picture in quiet hours. When we leave our homes, we desire to take with us pictures that will recall dear and familiar scenes, and when we return, to bring back pictures of the wonders and the beauties of nature which we have visited. What a comfort they are! Here in our rooms hang the sketches of Venice and we are in the gondola again. It is moonlight, the air is full of music, and we are floating over the lagoons. Here are the pictures of Naples and we are again in the shadow of Vesuvius. Here are the pictures of Trieste. We are again on the Mediterranean and can hear the melancholy waters as they dash themselves against the Palace of Maximilian.”
* Based on my research and confusing census records, I believe she was several years older. On the 1850 census, for example, she is listed as being born in 1851.
Want to learn more about Vinnie Ream?
A NEW NOVEL Prairie Cinderella by Joan Koster
Prairie Cinderella
My newest book in the Forgotten Women series
Release Day – February 12th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
References
“Vinnie Ream” Historic Missourians. https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/vinnie-ream/
Labor of Love: The Life & Art of Vinnie Ream by Glenn Sherwood Sunshine Press, 1977.
Vinnie Ream: An American Sculptor by Edward S. Cooper Academy Chicago Publishers, 2004.
Vinnie Ream: The Story of the Girl who Sculpted Lincoln by Gordon Langley Hall, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1963.
The Vinnie Ream and R. L. Hoxie Papers are available at the Library of Congress.
“To succeed in anything we may undertake means hard, constant, and earnest work. Especially so if it is in art. And he who is not prepared for such a struggle, and to encounter and overcome all obstacles, had better seek some other field of usefulness.
~ VINNIE REAM ~