Einar Jónsson

            First off, apologies this wasn’t up yesterday.  There was an issue at work and I was called in early, before I had time to schedule this to post yesterday.  So here it is a day late, but no worse for wear. ;)

            So if you remember back two weeks to the pictures from the south of Iceland, you might remember a picture from out in the sculpture garden at the Einar Jónsson Museum in Reykjavik.  I fell in love with those sculptures the first time I was in Iceland, and being able to go back in go in the museum and see more was just wonderful.  I figured who better to learn a bit more about than Einar.  I didn’t find a whole lot of varying information on Einar, so this might be a bit brief, but I’ll try and make up for that with pictures.

            Einar Jónsson was born on May 11, 1874 at Galtafell, the family farm in southern Iceland.  There isn’t much known about Einar’s childhood other than that he had “an artistic bent” (1).  We know he went to Reykjavik for the first time when he was fifteen, and first saw parliament and the paintings there.  When he was seventeen, he moved to Reykjavik and began to learn English and drawing (2).

            At this time there wasn’t a heritage of sculpting in Iceland.  In 1893 Einar left Iceland for Copenhagen, Denmark, where he first learned wood carving.  He then began learning true sculpting, and took night classes. (3)  And from 1896 to 1899 Einar studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.  Einar studied under the Danish sculptors Vilhelm Bissen and Theobald Stein.  Beginning in 1902, Einar studied in Rome on a grant from the Althing (Icelandic Parliament).

            This time in Rome seems to have shifted something in how Einar worked.  While living in Rome he was able to visit throughout Germany, Austria, and Italy.  When he left Rome, Einar “completely rejected naturalistic depiction and publicly criticized the classical art tradition, which he felt had weighed artists down” (4).  Einar became focused on the need for artists to figure out their own style and path, following what they wanted to do rather than trying to follow what others had done.

            Personally, Einar turned to German symbolism, also using personification and allegory in his pieces.  He also became interested in the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg and theosophy, working this into his art as well.  While he was concerned about these abstract themes, he also wanted his art to be accessible and so always used concrete imagery that the public would understand and interpret themselves. (5)

            In 1909, Einar made a deal with the Althing.  They would build him a home, studio, and museum (all in one), and he would donate all of his works to Iceland.  It took some time, but in 1914, the Althing accepted this proposal.  Parliament pitched in for one-third of the cost and a national collection was taken up to provide for the other two-thirds. (6)  For his workspace/museum, Einar chose the highest point in Reykjavik and built the building to his own plans, though officially it was designed with Einar Erlendsson.

            Throughout this whole time he was away from Iceland, he was still creating Icelandic works either on his own or through commissions.  In this period he created “The Outlaw” (1900), “Jónas Hallgrímsson” (1907), and “Jón Sigurðsson” (1911); the statues of Jónas Hallgrímsson and Jón Sigurðsson are both displayed in Reykjavik.  He also took commissions for statues of Ingólfur Arnarson (in Reykjavik) and Þorfinnur Karlsefni (in Philadelphia; a second in Reykjavik).

(A note on all these people: Jónas Hallgrímsson was a poet and author; Jón Sigurðsson was a saga expert and politician who led Iceland’s independence movement; Ingólfur Arnarson, with his wife, was the first permanent settler in Iceland and founded Reykjavik; Þorfi.nnur Karlsefni was an explorer whose son, Snorri, was the first European child born in North America.)

            At this time, in 1917, Einar married Anne Marie Jørgensen (Anna Jörgensen).  Together they travelled to the United States so Einar could continue work on the statue of Þorfinnur Karlsefni.  This statue was the first part of a bequest to “create a series of sculptures ‘emblematic of the history of America’” (7).  In 1920, Einar and Anne moved back to Iceland, and the following year his second major North American work was commissioned: a statue of Jón Sigurðsson for the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg.

            Finally, in 1923, on Midsummer’s Day, the Einar Jónsson art museum opened.  This was the first art museum in Iceland.  The museum was on the main floor, Einar’s apartment was on the upper floor, and his studio was on the lower floor.  These positions shifted slightly over the years as Einar and Anne grew older and couldn’t move throughout the building as easily, including a building out back in what is now the sculpture garden.

            Einar and Anne put work into the garden out back, and some of the bronze casts in the sculpture garden were cast while he was alive.  Einar died October 18, 1954 at the age of 80; Anne died October 2, 1975.  The sculpture garden didn’t open until June 8, 1984.

            Einar Jónsson wasn’t like most sculptors.  Most sculptors work in clay, but due to the geologic makeup of Iceland, there wasn’t the clay for him to use.  Instead, Einar used plaster to create his pieces.  This also allowed him to continue working on a piece for much longer than modelling clay would allow (sometimes up to a decade) (8).  Only towards the end of his life and after his death were his works cast in bronze.

            In addition to the twenty-six pieces on display in the sculpture garden at the museum, Einar created eight public monuments and did at least four private commissions.  In the museum you can see the plasters Einar created for some of his well-known pieces, pieces in the garden, and pieces that were never cast in bronze.  It’s a really wonderful museum and it was great being able to travel throughout Iceland and see his pieces across the country.

1, 8 - Einar Jónsson

2, 3 - The Einar Jónsson Museum - Timeline

4, 5, 6 - The Einar Jónsson Museum - Carreer [sic] and viewon art

Edmonia Lewis

            This is another person I found on Pinterest.  Edmonia Lewis’s caption reads “Mary Edmonia Lewis (ca. July 4, 1845 - ca. 1911) was the first African American and Native American woman to gain fame and recognition as a sculptor in the international fine arts world.  She was of African American, Haitian, and Ojibwe descent” (1).  If that doesn’t sound interesting, I don’t know what does.  When I started reading about her, she’s even more interesting, but with some said parts to her story as well.

            It’s not entirely clear where or when Mary Edmonia Lewis was born.  She claimed July 4, 1844 for her birthdate.  She could have been born any time between 1840 and 1845 though.  She was probably born around Greenbush, New York (now in either Rensselaer or East Greenbush).  It’s also possible she was born in Albany, New York or Newark, New Jersey.  In one interview she said she was born in Greenhigh, Ohio.  July 4, 1844 in Greenbush, New York seems to be the agreed upon date and place.

            Edmonia was the daughter of an African-American gentleman’s servant and a Mississauga Ojibwe/African-American weaver and craftswoman.  Both of her parents died when she was young.  Her mother’s two sisters took in Edmonia and her brother Samuel (who was about twelve years older than Edmonia).  At this point Edmonia was known as Wildfire, and Samuel went by Sunshine.  Edmonia lived with her aunts for about four years in the area near Niagara Falls.  She helped sell Ojibwe baskets and other souvenirs to the tourists that came to Niagara Falls.

            In 1852, Samuel went to California to look for gold.  He must have been fairly successful because he was able to send money back to Edmonia for a number of years.  Samuel helped pay for Edmonia’s education at the New York Central College in McGrawville.  This school was a Baptist, abolitionist school.  Edmonia started at NYCC in 1856 but left after just three years “when she was ‘declared to be wild’” (2).

            In 1859 Edmonia started at Oberlin College with help from her brother and some abolitionists.  Oberlin was one of the first schools to admit women and minority students.  At Oberlin, Edmonia began studying art, excelling at drawing.  It was around this time that Wildfire chose to be called Mary Edmonia Lewis; a few years later she would drop Mary and just be Edmonia Lewis.

            At Oberlin, Edmonia boarded with the Reverend John Keep and his wife.  Keep was an abolitionist and an advocate for coeducation.  Keep was also a member of Oberlin’s Board of Trustees.  At the Keep residence also lived two white students, Christine Ennes and Maria Miles.

            In the winter of 1862, Edmonia, Christine, and Maria were going out for a sleigh ride and had some spiced wine.  Edmonia didn’t have as much as the other girls and the other girls got very sick.  It was discovered that they had been poisoned with Spanish Fly.  They were very sick for a while, but recovered.  It was believed that Edmonia had poisoned them, but since they recovered, no charges were filed.  People in town were very upset by this though, and Edmonia was dragged off to a field and beaten.  Due to public pressure, she was charged with poisoning Christine and Maria.

            Oberlin defended Edmonia.  Her lawyer, John Mercer Langston, was shot by one of the sick girls’ fathers.  In court, Langston argued that “the contents of the girls’ stomachs had never been analyzed, and thus the charges against Lewis could not be proved” (3).  Witnesses testified against Edmonia, and she didn’t take the stand.  She was either acquitted or the case was dismissed, and so she was free to go.  (Langston “would go on to become the first African-American elected to public office in the United States and a founding dean of Howard Law School” (4).)

            The following year Edmonia was accused of stealing art supplies from Oberlin, but was acquitted of this charge as well.  The women’s principal would not allow Edmonia to register for classes for her last term, though, and so she never graduated.

            After leaving Oberlin, Edmonia debated returning to the Niagara Falls area and her mother’s tribe, but instead went to Boston.  The Keeps’ wrote to friends in Boston, introducing her to William Lloyd Garrison.  Garrison introduced Edmonia to area sculptors and writers.  She tried at least three people before she found a teacher willing to take her on in Edward A Brackett.  Brackett specialized in marble busts and had abolitionists for clients.  He lent Edmonia fragments of his pieces for her to copy and be critiqued.  It’s not clear what happened, but Brackett and Edmonia split and it was unamicable.

            In 1864, after a solo exhibition, Edmonia opened her own studio.  Her pieces at this time were mostly of abolitionists.  Her 1863 and 1864 subjects included John Brown and Robert Gould Shaw.  Shaw’s family purchased her bust of him, and the success of that allowed her to make plaster copies and sell them for $115 each.  She also made medallion portraits of Brown and Garrison.

            Between 1864 and 1871, Edmonia was written about by a number of prominent Boston and New York abolitionists.  While she wasn’t opposed to the coverage she was getting, Edmonia didn’t want false praise.  “She knew that some did not really appreciate her art, but saw her as an opportunity to express and show their support for human rights” (5).

            Due to the success of her bust of Shaw, and the medallions of abolitionists, Edmonia was able to save up enough to travel to Rome in 1866.  In Rome, the sculptor Hiram Powers gave her some room in his studio.  She also was supported by Charlotte Cushman, a Boston actress, and Maria Weston Chapman, an anti-slavery advocate.

            In Rome, Edmonia first began sculpting in marble.  She also started pieces about Emancipation, the first of which was Freedwoman and her Child.  She used the neoclassical forms and mediums to create pieces related to blacks and Native Americans.  Edmonia was profiled in London in Atheneum and Art-Journal.  In 1868, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited her in Rome and she sculpted his bust; his family praised the piece.  She had previously created pieces based on Longfellow’s poem, Song of Hiawatha, and it’s possible he saw these pieces when he visited her.

            Edmonia was rare in Rome at the time because she did all of her own work.  Most sculptors would create the model and then hire Italian workers to carve the marble.  Edmonia did all the carving herself, possibly “to forestall expected suggestions that a black woman could not possibly have created works of such skill and accomplishment” (6).  Because of this though, “fewer examples and duplicates of Lewis’s work survive than other sculptors of the period” (7).

In 1870 Edmonia had an exhibition in Chicago, and in 1871 in Rome.  In 1873, Edmonia received two $50,000 commissions.  Her studio became a tourist spot in Rome, being featured in guide books as a destination.  A big boost to her profile was having a piece in the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.  For this Edmonia created a 3,015 lb., full length sculpture of The Death of Cleopatra.  People weren’t sure about the subject matter dealing with death, but thousands still came to view it.

After Philadelphia, Cleopatra was exhibited in Chicago in 1878.  It was eventually purchased by a gambler and was used to mark the grave of a racehorse named Cleopatra.  After this it was put in storage and damaged by some Boy Scouts who painted the sculpture.  Eventually the piece was rediscovered by the Forest Park Historical Society and was donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1994.  Cleopatra was cleaned and restored to near-original condition.

As neoclassical art decreased in popularity, so did Edmonia.  She had become a Catholic in 1868 and continued to do work for Catholic patrons, but her profile was on the decline.  She travelled to the US for exhibits of her works.  In 1883 she created an altarpiece for a church in Baltimore.  Two of her pieces, Hiawatha and Phyllis Wheatley, were exhibited at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

In 1901, Edmonia moved to London, but after that little is known of her life.  She never married and never had children.  It was speculated that she died in 1911 in Rome, or in Marin County, California (she had travelled to San Francisco at some point).  But recent digging has discovered that she died on September 17, 1907 in Hammersmith Borough Infirmary in London from chronic kidney problems. 

Edmonia’s pieces had faded from memory, but many have been recently rediscovered.  As mentioned, Cleopatra is now at the Smithsonian.  Other pieces are at Howard University’s Gallery of Art.  In the early 2000s, a play about Edmonia, Wildfire: Black Hands, White Marble, was written by Linda Beatrice Brown.

1- Pinterest caption

2, 5 - Edmonia Lewis

3, 6 - Edmonia Lewis

4, 7 - The Life and Death of Edmonia Lewis