The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York, has opened "Carving Out History," the first-ever exhibition dedicated solely to 19th-century sculptor Emma Stebbins, creator of Central Park's iconic Bethesda Fountain. Curator Karli Wurzelbacher spent over five years assembling 14 marble sculptures from around the world, including pieces from Oregon, Rome, and Belfast, after a descendant of the artist contacted the museum in 2021. The exhibition is accompanied by a 256-page book and aims to establish Stebbins among the canon of great Neo-Classical sculptors.
This exhibition matters because it rescues a boundary-pushing female artist from historical obscurity, highlighting her explorations of gender, sexuality, ecology, and public health—themes that resonate with contemporary concerns. Stebbins's work, including the Bethesda Fountain's horizontal-winged angel, has long held special meaning for LGBTQ+ communities, partly through Tony Kushner's play "Angels in America." By reconstructing Stebbins's social network of women artists and her expatriate life in Rome, the show challenges traditional art historical narratives and underscores the importance of inclusive scholarship.