Skip to main content

Portrait of a Woman

Date
1873
Material
Marble
Classification
Sculpture
Collection
American Art
Current Location
On View, Gallery 336
Dimensions
without base: 23 × 16 1/2 × 11 1/4 in. (58.4 × 41.9 × 28.6 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Minority Artists Purchase Fund and partial gift of Thurlow E. Tibbs Jr.
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
1:1997
NOTES
Soft facial features, a delicately carved lace bodice, and wavy hair adorned with a flower communicate not only the taste and beauty of the unknown sitter, but also Edmonia Lewis’s skill as a sculptor. Lewis’s successful early career helped her finance a move to Rome in 1867, where she lived among fellow American women sculptors, including Harriet Hosmer. There, Lewis was the first American of color to gain international fame as a sculptor, and she completed many portrait commissions for visiting tourists and patrons in the United States.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.

Scroll back to top