(b New York, 1845; d after 1911). American sculptor. Born to an African-American father and a American Indian mother, she was the first Black American sculptor to achieve national prominence. During her early childhood she travelled with her family in the Chippewa tribe, by whom she was known as Wildfire. At 12 she attended school at Albany, NY (1857–9), then a liberal arts course at Oberlin College, OH (1860–63). Lewis then went to Boston (1863) to study with Edward Brackett (1818–1908) and Anne Whitney. Her medallion of the abolitionist John Browne and a bust of the Civil War hero Col. Robert Shaw were exhibited at the Soldiers’ Relief Fair (1864), Boston; the latter sold over 100 plaster copies, enabling Lewis to travel to Rome (1865). There she was introduced to the White Marmorean Flock, a group of women sculptors, including Harriet Hosmer and Emma Stebbins, who worked in a Neo-classical style. Examples of Lewis’s own work include Forever Free (1867; Washington, DC, Howard U., Gal. A.), a depiction of a slave breaking his bonds and several sculptures evoking her American Indian heritage, inspired by the Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, such as Minnehaha (1867; Detroit, MI, Inst. A.). Notably successful was Hagar (1875; Washington, DC, N. Mus. Amer. A.; see AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, fig. 1), portraying the servant of Abraham cast into the wilderness by his wife, Sarah. Many of her works are in the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

• Lewis, (Mary) Edmonia
  • Women and art history, §II, 1(iii): Modern
  • works
    • African American art, §1: Before c 1920