The Death of Cleopatra
The Death of Cleopatra (1876) by Edmonia Lewis, leading black female artist of the nineteenth-century, inspires discussion of race and sex in America. The Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis is a neoclassical sculpture that portrays the moment following the Egyptian queen’s suicide. It was the only major work of art displayed by an African American at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and therefore subject of much critical attention. Sadly, within a few years after its first public appearance in Philadelphia, the statue was thought lost until its acquisition and restoration by the National Museum of American History in the 1990s.
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876
The Death of Cleopatra was first exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Memorial Hall, an opulent glass and iron structure that boasted 75,000 square feet of space for paintings and 20,000 square feet for sculptures. Of the 673 sculptors exhibiting at the Exposition, Lewis was the only African American.
Edmonia Lewis’s unique status as the only internationally recognized African American woman artist of the nineteenth-century attracted both positive attention and scrutiny. In its review of the sculpture, the African American weekly publication, The People’s Advocate , commented that Cleopatra “excites more admiration and gathers larger crowds around it than any other work of art in the vast collection of Memorial Hall” (Woods, 67). The Depiction of Race and Sex in Cleopatra
Much of the attention and controversy over Lewis’s sculpture centered upon nineteenth-century attitudes regarding race and sexuality. Cleopatra’s race was subject of debate in art, literature, and scholarship. Artistic presentations and discussions of a black Cleopatra in the United States evoked popular images of women of mixed racial ancestry as defined by an abusively racist culture. The black Cleopatra could therefore signify internal conflict, exotic beauty, and sexual availability. On the other hand, abolitionists promoted the idea of a black Cleopatra as symbolic of the nobility of African civilization and the worth of its people.
Lewis’ portrayal of Cleopatra is often compared to that of William Wetmore Story, another American sculptor in Rome with strong abolitionist ties. Edmonia Lewis was undoubtedly aware of Story’s portrayal of Cleopatra as black and of the abolitionist celebration of this image, but she chose to model her Cleopatra after classical images portraying the iconic queen with classically Greek features. Critics have debated whether this was indicative of Lewis’s internalized racism or simply an example of her loyalty to the formalism of the neoclassical sculptural tradition. Critics also note that in contrast to Story’s sculpture of a queen contemplating her suicide, Lewis shows Cleopatra after the act is accomplished. The popular Victorian conception of Cleopatra was far more sexualized goddess than historical figure. Lewis’s decision to portray Cleopatra in death challenges masculine consumption of her as a sex object and may be read as representative of those women who literally chose death over the risk or continuation of slavery and sexual violence. As such, Lewis’s Cleopatra offers commentary on the African monarch’s agency, if only in death, and serves as a rebuke against the sexual exploitation of women under systems of American slavery and European imperialism.
Loss and Restoration of Cleopatra
Lewis displayed The Death of Cleopatra at the Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition of 1878. The sculpture found an unlikely buyer in “Blind John” Condon, a racetrack owner desiring a memorial for his favorite horse, Cleopatra. The statue served this purpose for many years until the racetrack was closed and the statue was moved to a salvage yard near Forest Park, Illinois. During this time, the art world thought the statue lost. In the mid-1970s a fire inspector found the statue and gave it to the Forest Park Historical Society which in turn donated it to the National Museum of American Art. After significant restoration, the National Museum of American Art put The Death of Cleopatra on display to the public in 1996.
The Death of Cleopatra
The Death of Cleopatra (1876) by Edmonia Lewis, leading black female artist of the nineteenth-century, inspires discussion of race and sex in America. The Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis is a neoclassical sculpture that portrays the moment following the Egyptian queen’s suicide. It was the only major work of art displayed by an African American at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and therefore subject of much critical attention. Sadly, within a few years after its first public appearance in Philadelphia, the statue was thought lost until its acquisition and restoration by the National Museum of American History in the 1990s.
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876
The Death of Cleopatra was first exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Memorial Hall, an opulent glass and iron structure that boasted 75,000 square feet of space for paintings and 20,000 square feet for sculptures. Of the 673 sculptors exhibiting at the Exposition, Lewis was the only African American.
Edmonia Lewis’s unique status as the only internationally recognized African American woman artist of the nineteenth-century attracted both positive attention and scrutiny. In its review of the sculpture, the African American weekly publication, The People’s Advocate , commented that Cleopatra “excites more admiration and gathers larger crowds around it than any other work of art in the vast collection of Memorial Hall” (Woods, 67). The Depiction of Race and Sex in Cleopatra
Much of the attention and controversy over Lewis’s sculpture centered upon nineteenth-century attitudes regarding race and sexuality. Cleopatra’s race was subject of debate in art, literature, and scholarship. Artistic presentations and discussions of a black Cleopatra in the United States evoked popular images of women of mixed racial ancestry as defined by an abusively racist culture. The black Cleopatra could therefore signify internal conflict, exotic beauty, and sexual availability. On the other hand, abolitionists promoted the idea of a black Cleopatra as symbolic of the nobility of African civilization and the worth of its people.
Lewis’ portrayal of Cleopatra is often compared to that of William Wetmore Story, another American sculptor in Rome with strong abolitionist ties. Edmonia Lewis was undoubtedly aware of Story’s portrayal of Cleopatra as black and of the abolitionist celebration of this image, but she chose to model her Cleopatra after classical images portraying the iconic queen with classically Greek features. Critics have debated whether this was indicative of Lewis’s internalized racism or simply an example of her loyalty to the formalism of the neoclassical sculptural tradition. Critics also note that in contrast to Story’s sculpture of a queen contemplating her suicide, Lewis shows Cleopatra after the act is accomplished. The popular Victorian conception of Cleopatra was far more sexualized goddess than historical figure. Lewis’s decision to portray Cleopatra in death challenges masculine consumption of her as a sex object and may be read as representative of those women who literally chose death over the risk or continuation of slavery and sexual violence. As such, Lewis’s Cleopatra offers commentary on the African monarch’s agency, if only in death, and serves as a rebuke against the sexual exploitation of women under systems of American slavery and European imperialism.
Loss and Restoration of Cleopatra
Lewis displayed The Death of Cleopatra at the Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition of 1878. The sculpture found an unlikely buyer in “Blind John” Condon, a racetrack owner desiring a memorial for his favorite horse, Cleopatra. The statue served this purpose for many years until the racetrack was closed and the statue was moved to a salvage yard near Forest Park, Illinois. During this time, the art world thought the statue lost. In the mid-1970s a fire inspector found the statue and gave it to the Forest Park Historical Society which in turn donated it to the National Museum of American Art. After significant restoration, the National Museum of American Art put The Death of Cleopatra on display to the public in 1996.