Word: edmonia
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Edmonia Lewis and Henry...
...Edmonia Lewis and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Images and Identities," exhibit at the Fogg Museum shows an admirable interest in a nineteenth century artist who has been mostly forgotten by history. But the exhibition attempts to cover too much ideological ground, and unfortunately trivializes its subject. Edmonia Lewis, the first African-American woman to make her living as a sculptor, was the daughter of a Black father and a Chippewa Indian mother. Longfellow, though his reputation has been eclipsed by that of Walt Whitman in the past century, was the most famous living American poet of his time...
...exhibit tries to play up. Similarly, a marginalized artist's interest in a patriarchal icon like Longfellow is intended to serve as a metaphor for the difficulty of communication between members of a society polarized by racial and gender issues. In the grand scheme of "Images and Identities," Edmonia Lewis is seen not as an artist, but as a symbol. The subtle condescension towards Lewis is one of the exhibit's central flaws. It can't decide whether it wants to be a showcase of Lewis' works, or a political statement...
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