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Henry Rocher, Edmonia Lewis, ca. 1870, albumen silver print, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution NPG.94.95

Name
Edmonia Lewis
Too Known every bit
Built-in
Greenbush, New York
Died
London, England
born Greenbush (now Rensselaer), NY 1844-died London, England 1907
Agile in
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Oberlin, Ohio
  • Rome, Italia
Nationalities

American

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Edmonia Lewis was the first sculptor of African American and Native American (Mississauga) descent to achieve international recognition. Her father was Black, and her mother was Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indian. Orphaned at an early historic period, Lewis grew up in her female parent'due south tribe where her life revolved around angling, pond, and making and selling crafts. In 1859 she attended Oberlin College in Ohio, one of the first schools to accept female and Blackness students. She developed an interest in the fine arts, but an accusation of poisoning, probably racially motivated, forced Lewis to leave the school before graduating. She traveled to Boston and established herself as a professional person artist, studying with a local sculptor and creating portraits of famous antislavery heroes. Moving to Rome in 1865, she became involved with a group of American women sculptors and began to work in marble. Sculptors ordinarily hired local workmen to cleave their last pieces, simply Lewis did all her own stonework out of fear that if she didn't, her work would non be accepted as original. In addition to creating portrait heads, Lewis sculpted biblical scenes and figural works dealing with her Native American heritage and the oppression of Black people.

Works past This Artist (viii items)