The Peabody Essex Museum has launched "Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone," the first-ever retrospective dedicated to the 19th-century sculptor who was the first Black and Indigenous American artist to achieve international fame. Curated by Shawnya L. Harris and Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, the exhibition is the culmination of seven years of research and detective work to locate surviving marble sculptures and archival fragments. The show tracks her journey from her early life as "Wildfire" to her education at Oberlin College and her eventual professional success in Boston and Rome.
This retrospective is a landmark moment for art history, restoring visibility to an artist who died in obscurity and was buried in an unmarked grave. By overcoming the logistical challenges of transporting heavy marble works and the historical erasure of her records, the exhibition re-centers Lewis as a pioneer of Neoclassical sculpture. It highlights how she navigated the racial and gender barriers of her time to champion social causes like emancipation and Indigenous sovereignty through her art.