THE SCULPTOR Edmonia Lewis

An African-American woman with short hair and wearing a long beige dress, dark-colored velvet shawl and dark fez sits in a fringed circular chair. — Edmonia Lewis c 1870
Albumen print, Henry Rocher
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

What if you had a vision for your life, but absolutely everyone around you told you it was impossible? Edmonia Lewis lived a life so improbable, that if we didn’t have the actual evidence that she really existed, we’d never believe it! The orphaned daughter of a Native American mother and Caribbean father in mid 19th century America, she set out on the most unlikely path: to become a famed classical sculptor in Rome, all while people of her race were literally enslaved in her homeland. Her journey to gain the education that was denied her, to buy her own boat fare, and make her impossible way in the world, defied the expectations of everyone, and still does.

Our guest is Dr Charmaine Nelson, author of The Color of Stone and professor at McGill University.

A marble statue of a woman in a draped robe, leaned back in a throne in an expression of distress — Death of Cleopatra (1876)
marble, 160 x 79.4 x 116.8 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Gift of the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois.

A marble bust in Neo-Classical style of a woman — Minnehaha (1868)
marble
collection of the Newark Museum
photo by Uyvsdi

A marble statue in Neo-Classical style of a woman weraing a draped robe and standing with clasped hands — Hagar (1875)
marble, 133.6 x 38.8 x 43.4 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Gift of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

A marble statue in Neo-Classical style of a woman with clasped hands on her knees next to a man in draped shorts reaching upwards with loosed chains — Morning of Liberty/Forever Free (1867)
marble, 105 x 56 x 43 cm
Howard University Art Gallery
Washington, D.C.

A marble bust in Neo-Classical style of a Native American man with one-shoulder robe, necklace, and top-feather headdress — Hiawatha (1868)
marble; 13 3/4 × 7 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Purchased by Friends of the American Wing, Morris K. Jesup Fund.

A passport application listing the description of Edmonia Lewis — Edmonia Lewis’ Passport Application
21 August 1865
National Archives
United States

A photo shows a decayed stone slab with no inscription, topped with a new black and gold marker with Lewis' name and birth/death dates lying in green grass — Edmonia Lewis’ Grave
Saint Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Hammersmith, London, UK
photo credit: Charmaine A. Nelson

Charmaine Nelson is a Professor of Art History at McGill University in Montreal. Her ground-breaking scholarship, and her website Black Canadian Studies, examine Canadian, American, European, and Caribbean art and visual culture. She has made enormous contributions to the fields of the Visual Culture of Slavery, Race and Representation, and African Canadian Art History, and is the author of seven books.