Talk:Edmonia Lewis

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Date of Shaw bust?[edit]

Wikipedia's article on Robert Shaw, as well as a couple of other online sources, give the date of Lewis' bust of Shaw as 1864, not 1867. Any source on the later date? I don't want to make this change without asking, since I'm not an expert on this or any related subject. Iralith 15:59, 4 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Lewis made and sold 100 plaster copies of her Shaw bust in 1864 in Boston. She sailed for Italy the next year with commissions to put Shaw and other portraits in marble. See http://www.edmonialewis.com/chronology.htm

If I recall correctly, there were two versions of the Shaw bust, one in 1864 and one in 1867. I'll have to check my extensive references on the subject when I get home. cbustapeck 16:12, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Lesbian[edit]

According to LGBTQ, she was probably lesbian. http://www.glbtq.com/arts/lewis_me.html jcm

Harriet Hosmer page lists her as lesbian, as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thomaso (talk • contribs) 19:28, 15 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Robert J. Chandler (29 January 2014). San Francisco Lithographer: African American Artist Grafton Tyler Brown. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8061-4525-9.
--RightCowLeftCoast (talk) 00:27, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

References[edit]

References should include:

Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson, History of African American Artists from 1792 to the present (Pantheon, 1993), p. 54-77, 485-489, still the most complete biography in print.

Kirsten Pai Buick, “Sentimental Education of Mary Edmonia Lewis: Identity, Culture, and Ideal Works,” PhD diss., 1999.

Charmaine A. Nelson, The Color of Stone, (University of Minnesota Press, 2007. AlbertHenderson (talk) 14:15, 5 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mixed race?[edit]

"American sculptor of mixed race (African, Ojibwe and Haitian)" is pretty awkward in that none of the three is considered a "race". "Mixed ethnicity" would probably be best. 76.112.232.174 (talk) 04:16, 13 September 2012 (UTC)corneliusdetroit[reply]

Agreed, go for it. -Uyvsdi (talk) 05:02, 13 September 2012 (UTC)Uyvsdi[reply]


Planned Edits[edit]

I am a student at Muhlenberg College and I plan to make edits to this article for a project for a class. Here are the edits I plan to make:

Intro[edit]

Move line “In 2002, the scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Edmonia Lewis on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans” from “Death” section to Intro section. It seems out of place to have this one line follow a paragraph about how where she died. Also include in the intro that her nationality was African-American and Native American, for it was an important factor in her career.

Bibliography[edit]

Remove separate header of “Incident at Oberlin College” and add that information under the “Early life and education” section. Lewis was never actually charged with committing a crime, and the incident probably does not warrant its own section.

  • Include that her father was a gentleman’s servant
  • Clarify that establishing an accurate biography is hard because of many differing anecdotal accounts and false information given by Lewis herself (said she was born in 1854 which was impossible for she enrolled in Oberlin in 1859). Ex. One source states she was orphaned before she was five, while another states her parents died around age nine.
  • Include that her Native American name was Wildfire and her brother’s was Sunshine. Lewis changed her name to Mary Edmonia Lewis upon entering Oberlin College
  • Include that Lewis was also accused of stealing art supplies from Oberlin, and was therefore never allowed to graduate, although she was never found guilty.

Art Career[edit]

  • Explain Lewis’ struggles finding an art instructor in Boston and her reasons for later refusing additional training. Explain how Brackett instructed Lewis (he lent her fragments of sculptures to copy in clay which he then critiqued).
  • Include the names of more important men that Lewis’ modeled medallions of that the article does not mention.
  • “…Expressed her enthusiasm for emancipation in portraits of white abolitionists rather than in images of blacks celebrating their freedom.”
  • Talk more about how her gender and race affected her art career (how she was forced to deny praise because she was a black woman).
  • Sculpted the bust of Shaw from photographs. Explain that her audience in Boston was very curious and interested in her heritage and some saw Lewis as an opportunity for them to show their support for human rights. Poem by Anna Quincy Waterston shows how some of Lewis’ audience in Boston related her artistic talents to her heritage.
  • Explain why Italy was attractive for her and other American artists (long artistic traditions, classical sculpture, lots of marble, cheap labor).
  • Also include how Lewis was, according to Chadwick, able to “achieve legitimacy as a sculptor on her own terms” (she herself enlarged her wax and clay models in marble rather than hire someone else to do it, and how she would make marble sculptures before receiving their commissions – also ignored advice of Lydia Maria Child to practice in clay and plaster before turning to stone and her suggestion to earn living by crafting architectural moldings).
  • Apparently feared that her sculptures would not be considered her own if she did not do them all herself. Also apparently “refused to seek regular instruction or criticism of her work from other artists in Rome.” She did copy classical sculptures in public collections to improve her skills, which was common at the time (Young Octavian, Moses).

Work[edit]

Change the header “Work” to something like “Most popular works” and remove sub-header “Descriptions of most popular works.” This section should go into deeper analysis of how these works relate, or don’t relate, to Lewis’ overall style. It also should talk more about Lewis’ decision to exclude racial facial features from her female subjects. This section’s picture should be replaced with one of the three works being talked about.

  • Forever Free: discuss how the work shows her struggles with proportion and scale due to her “untutored perception of anatomy,” but “the awkwardness of their limbs is offset by the finer modeling of their heads and facial expressions.”
  • Old Arrow Maker and His Daughter: also Old Arrow Maker. Female figure has little resemblance to an Indian (Neo-classical treatment, idealized).
  • Hagar: may have been introduced to biblical subjects and stories after her conversion to Catholicism around 1868. “The sculpture conveys in ideal form the position of Afro-American women in a white society and expresses Lewis’ ‘strong sympathy for all women who have struggled and suffered.’”

Further Reading[edit]

The three citations for further reading are all from the same author, so look for different authors to include for more variety.

Caro.woods95 (talk) 17:10, 27 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Peer edit[edit]

The article looks very complete and professional. The information that you added is very concise and well worded. Maybe you could separate the early life and education section into two different sections and maybe add in more pictures that aren't just the work she did but otherwise it is very good. Emmashavrick (talk) 18:00, 23 November 2014 (UTC)Emmashavrick[reply]

Peer Review[edit]

This article has great information and is well written. After reading this article I did not feel like I was left with any questions. It seems very inclusive and the edits benefit the article. The introduction section that includes the short biography could include information about her legacy/what she was known for, or this could be an additional section. Alexa36 (talk) 23:47, 23 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 1 February 2017[edit]

There is a line spacing error below the introductory paragraph. 24.136.105.50 (talk) 18:34, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

 Done TimothyJosephWood 18:37, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 1 February 2017[edit]

under posthumous exhibitions: Wildfire Test Pit, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, August 30, 2016–June 12, 2017. Fred Wilson's work based on the life and art of Edmonia Lewis. Mharding (talk) 20:21, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done - Please provide reliable sources and be specific about the content you want added or changed. TimothyJosephWood 20:30, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 1 February 2017[edit]

In the Family section, remove the link for Sunset Hills Cemetery. That link is for a cemetery in Georgia, but the text says that the brother is buried in Bozeman, MT. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ideasandinfo (talk • contribs) 04:31, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:Edmonia Lewis_by_Henry_Rocher.jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for February 2, 2024. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2024-02-02. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. black history month If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you!  — Amakuru (talk) 17:56, 6 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis (1844–1907), also known as "Wildfire", was a sculptor of African-American and Native American heritage. Born free from slavery, Lewis spent her childhood in Upstate New York and New Jersey before moving to Boston in 1864 to pursue her career as a sculptor. After training with marble-bust specialist Edward Augustus Brackett, Lewis opened her own studio later in 1864. In 1866, she moved to Rome, Italy, citing "opportunities for art culture" and finding "a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color" as reasons for the move. She went on to spend most of her adult career there. Her largest and most significant work was a marble sculpture weighing more than 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) showing the death of Cleopatra, which was created for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. This albumen print of Lewis was produced in around 1870 by the German-American photographer Henry Rocher.

Photograph credit: Henry Rocher; restored by Adam Cuerden

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