In Honor Of Black History Month: #24
Nurse KAT
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http://www.toptags.com/aama/bio/women/lewis.htm
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MARY EDMONIA LEWIS
Mary Edmonia Lewis was the first Black American to receive recognition
as a sculptress. Born in Greenhigh, Ohio in 1846, her father was a freed
Negro and a gentleman's servant, and her mother was a Chippewa Indian.
Her parents died when she was quite young, and it is not known who
reared her.
She attended Oberlin College (Ohio) and studied both Latin and Greek.
Although the school did not offer art courses, it was at Oberlin that
she conceived the notion of becoming a sculptress. During the fall term
of her fourth year, Mary's college days were brought to an abrupt end.
She later moved to Boston, the center of abolitionism and liberal
thought.
In the square of Boston's City Hall, Mary first studied the statue of
Benjamin Franklin. With renewed interest, she took in every fine detail
of the marble figure. She experienced such a powerful conviction that
she declared, "I, too, can make a stone man." She became obsessed with
an unrelenting drive to prove her worth to the world. She worked
exhaustingly and with frantic haste. She was introduced to Brackett, a
leading sculptor, who immediately saw that she possessed promising
talent. After critics pronounced her medallion of John Brown, an
abolitionist, an excellent piece of work, the energetic young artist was
well on her way.
Her portrait of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a socially prominent White
commander of Massachusett's first Negro regiment, attracted wide
attention and established her as the first Black American sculptress.
Afterwards, she received the support of a well known Bostonian family
named Story, who helped her to sell her sculptures and also encouraged
her to study in Italy.
In 1865, she went to Rome to master her technique. She worked directly
in marble and was noted for her exacting mastery of the neo-classical
style. Great artists of the day came to examine and to praise the works
of this young, self-taught Negro sculptress. She was befriended by
prominently established artists and patronized by royalty. She achieved
her greatest recognition abroad. In 1876, she returned to the United
States and was the only Black artist to exhibit in Philadelphia's
Centennial Exposition.
Mary distinguished herself with many noteworthy works. Her bust of the
famed poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, can be viewed in Harvard
University's Widener Library. In 1870, she created a bust of Abraham
Lincoln which is now in the California Municipal Library at San Jose.
Other noted pieces include: Death of Cleopatra, Hiawatha, Hagar in the
Widerness, Forever Free (a marble grouping), and The Freedwoman of First
Hearing of Her Lberty. Mary Edmonia Lewis won, by the artistry of her
own hands, the freedom to create and to achieve.
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Nurse KAT says: PEACE! ;-)