The Peabody Essex Museum is hosting "Said in Stone," the first-ever comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Edmonia Lewis, a pioneering 19th-century sculptor of Black and Ojibwe heritage. The exhibition assembles a significant body of her marble works, including the landmark sculpture "Forever Free" (1867), which is recognized as the first formal visual representation of emancipation by a Black American artist. The show traces her journey from her upbringing with her Ojibwe family and her traumatic years at Oberlin College to her eventual success as an expatriate artist in Rome.
This retrospective is a major moment of historical vindication for an artist who overcame systemic racism and gender barriers to achieve international acclaim during her lifetime. By reuniting works like "Hagar in the Wilderness" and "Indian Combat," the exhibition highlights Lewis's unique ability to weave together Neoclassical techniques with themes of social justice, Indigenous identity, and African American liberation. It re-centers her as a foundational figure in American art history whose work continues to resonate with contemporary movements for racial equality.