Kirsten Buick on Edmonia Lewis

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 877 Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the renowned art historian, Kirsten Pai Buick to discuss EDMONIA LEWIS! Edmonia Lewis (1844–1907) is hailed for her stunningly chiselled marble busts and figurative sculptures – with their elegantly coiled hair, elastic-like folds of drapery, idealised nudes with strong, robust builds. She was the first sculptor of African American heritage (of any gender) to achieve such fame and recognition. Buick is the author of a highly distinguished book Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History’s Black and Indian Subject – about the sculptor acclaimed for her marble busts and figures that portray local people to mythical subjects, as well as deal with vital political narratives of the late 1800s. In this episode we go into depth about Lewis's life and work – focussing on how Lewis reworked classical narratives from a distinctly female perspective. We also look at how she interpreted vital political narratives of the time in artworks such as Forever Free, 1867, referencing the Emancipation Proclamation of four years previously. Originally titled The Morning of Liberty, this smaller-than-life-size, yet weighty and mighty statuette immortalises an empowered, freed African American couple. Muscular and heroic, on the right we see a Herculean male figure breaking from his chains and raising a clenched fist. Buick’s vital scholarship explores the material and visual culture of the first British Empire, the art of the US, African American art, landscape representation, women as patrons and collectors of art. She also focuses on pro- and anti-abolitionist images in the Atlantic world. In 2022, Buick was named Distinguished Scholar by the College Art Association, and is currently working on a book – In Authenticity: Kara Walker and the Eidetics of Racism, about the artist renowned for her work that dismantles racist imagery through cut outs, and colossal sculptures, challenging the imperialist language that surrounds us. ENJOY!! -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.instagram.com/famm.mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 ENJOY!!! Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to series 10 of the Great Women Artists podcast.
0:05.9	I am so excited to say that this series is supported by the Levit Collection,
0:10.6	a vast and varied art collection of which a major portion is dedicated to fantastic works by women artists.
0:17.4	The Levit Collection's support for women in the arts is such that preparations are in full swing for the creation of the new museum, FAM, FAMM, which will be opening in June 24 in Mujan in the south of France.
0:31.6	It will be the first major museum in mainland Europe dedicated to solely female artists and will exhibit a myriad of
0:39.5	artworks all from the collection. Impressionist, surrealist, modern and contemporary art created by women
0:45.8	from around the world will take pride of place in the Levitt's New Museum, female artists of the
0:50.8	Mujan Museum. But in the meantime, stay tuned by following at fam.m.m
0:56.1	and don't miss the beautiful book, abstract expressionists, the women, published by Marelle,
1:01.4	which presents a selection of works from the collection, alongside richly illustrated essays by
1:06.2	scholars LNG Landau and Joan M. Marta, all available now. I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:17.0	Hello everyone and welcome to The Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
1:25.2	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists. An Instagram account,
1:28.6	I set up in October 2015, which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging from
1:34.3	young graduates to old masters. Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast is
1:40.5	all about celebrating female artists from a variety of backgrounds and histories.
1:45.4	And I am so excited to be interviewing artists on their career or artists, writers, curators,
1:50.9	or general art lovers on the women artist who means most of them.
1:54.9	What I want this podcast to do is celebrate female artists in all different capacities
1:59.5	so you, the listener, can gain a look
2:02.1	into the greatest female artists working now or from art history.
2:08.9	I am so excited to say that my guest on the Great Women Artist podcast
	...

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