Edmonia Lewis - Masterpiece Curations

Please Note: This post contains a sculpture of Cleopatra that reveals her breast which you may feel is unsuitable for your children. Please use your own discretion as a parent.

“I am wedded to my art.” ~Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis (pronunciation) was an artist who focused on 19th-century American sculptors and made a name for herself as one of the earliest professional female African-American sculptors.

Early Life

She was born on July 4th, 1844 in Greenbush, New York. Her mother was of Mississauga Ojibwe (pronunciation) and African-American descent; her father a former slave of Haitian heritage. After their deaths, she was taken in by her aunts.

Oberlin College, Ohio, provided Edmonia Lewis with her education in art and sculpture. After graduating from college, she moved to Boston and worked with the studio of Edward Augustus Brackett before setting up her own studio in Rome.

This education provided aid in Edmonia developing a style all her own. She combined elements of realism and idealism, blending classical Greco-Roman styles with those of Native Americans. She was one of the first female African-American sculptors to gain a professional level of recognition in the United States.

The Death of Cleopatra (1876), Forever Free (1867), The Old Arrow Maker and His Daughter (1871), Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast (1868), and The Marriage of Hiawatha (1872), are a few of the many sculptures created by Edmonia Lewis within her career.

Additionally, she was a noted abolitionist, active in the women’s rights movement, and an outspoken advocate for Native American civil rights. Her work was praised by abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists of the time. The woman traveled to Rome in 1865, where she lived and worked until she died in 1907.

Edmonia Lewis is remembered as a pioneering artist who broke racial and gender barriers in the art world. She championed African-American and Native American-causes, and her life and work continue to inspire generations of women of color. She is regarded as one of the most influential sculptors of her era.