invited by Marcia Bennett Male
Edmonia Lewis
1843-1907, given her additional name ‘Wildfire’
from her mother a Native American Chippewa
Indian; her father was a free African American from
Haiti. She was the first black sculptor to achieve
national and international critical recognition.
Her specialty was depicting her dual African
American and Native American ancestry and the
leading abolitionists of the period. She spent most of
her artistic career in Rome. She died and was buried
in London. Edmonia was a formally trained sculptor
working in marble to a high classical finish.
As a trained architectural stone carver and letter
cutter myself, I regard her as an old friend.
South London Women Artists I’m Inside, Ring The Bell
15