3D Design

Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the problem of art history's Black and Indian subject by Kirsten Buick Throughout this illustrated study, Kirsten Pai Buick investigates how Edmonia Lewis and her work were perceived, and their meanings manipulated, by others and the sculptor herself. She argues against the racialist art discourse that has long cast Lewis's sculptures as reflections of her identity as an African American and Native American woman who lived most of her life abroad. Instead, by seeking to reveal Lewis's intentions through analyses of her career and artwork, Buick illuminates Lewis's fraught but active participation in the creation of a distinct "American" national art, one dominated by themes of indigeneity, sentimentality, gender, and race. Analyzing four of Lewis's most popular sculptures, each created between 1866 and 1876, Buick discusses interpretations of Hiawatha in terms of the cultural impact of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha; Forever Free and Hagar in the Wilderness in light of art historians' assumptions that artworks created by African American artists necessarily reflect African American themes; and The Death of Cleopatra to broader problems of reading art as a reflection of identity.

Edmonia Lewis by Rinna Wolfe A book about the life & work of a woman with African/Chippewa Indian roots who overcame racism to get a college education, went to Europe to develop her talent, & became the first American woman of African/Chippewa heritage to achieve international acclaim as a sculptor.

The Indomitable Spirit of Edmonia Lewis by Harry Henderson; Albert Henderson Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907), born to a Chippewa mother and African-American father, was the most controversial sculptor of her day. Her story was told in 28 pages twenty years ago by Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson in A History of African American Artists from 1792 (1993), a "landmark" tome and standard reference that you have in your collections. Our narrative of Lewis's life and art updates that article with more than 100,000 words, 50 illustrations, 800 references, a bibliography, an index, and a reference list of more than 100 works with notes on museum holdings. It provides discussions of her fans, her critics, other 19th-century artists, and much more. This first full-length biography reveals Henderson's decades of original research. It digs into hidden relationships, identifies many new sources, and casts new light on well-known works of art.

Pieces of Freedom: The Emancipation Sculptures of Edmonia Lewis and Meta Warrick Fuller by Lee Ann Timreck; Alex Bostic (Afterword by) The history of racism in America is also the history of ordinary Black Americans who accomplished extraordinary things in their pursuit of freedom. Faced with oppression throughout their journey, they built vibrant communities and lived purposeful lives. "Pieces of Freedom: The Emancipation Sculptures of Edmonia Lewis and Meta Warwick Fuller" brings that history to life by analyzing the first fifty years of Black freedom through the emancipation sculptures of two nineteenth-century African American sculptors, Mary Edmonia Lewis (1844-1909) and Meta Warrick Fuller (1877-1968). Lewis's and Fuller's sculptures-and their visual narrative of a people's strength and humanity in the face of oppression-present a textured historical diorama of Black life during an era of transformative, yet sorrowful, events.

Race and Racism in Nineteenth-Century Art: The Ascendency of Robert Duncanson, Edward Bannister, and Edmonia Lewis by Naurice Frank Woods; George Dimock (Foreword by) Author Naurice Frank Woods Jr. provides an in-depth examination of the strategies deployed by Duncanson, Bannister, and Lewis that enabled them to not only overcome prevailing race and gender inequality, but also achieve a measure of success that eventually placed them in the top rank of nineteenth-century American art. Unfortunately, the racism that hampered these three artists throughout their careers ultimately denied them their rightful place as significant contributors to the development of American art. Dominant art historians and art critics excluded them in their accounts of the period. In this volume, Woods restores their artistic legacies and redeems their memories, introducing these significant artists to rightful, new audiences.