Indian Combat by Edmonia Lewis - 1868 - 76.2 x 48.3 x 36.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art Indian Combat by Edmonia Lewis - 1868 - 76.2 x 48.3 x 36.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art

Indian Combat

marble • 76.2 x 48.3 x 36.5 cm
  • Edmonia Lewis - c. July 4, 1844 - September 17, 1907 Edmonia Lewis 1868

Edmonia Lewis studied at Oberlin College and apprenticed with a sculptor in Boston before relocating to Rome in 1866. Of Native American (Ojibwe) and African American ancestry, she became the first non-white American sculptor to achieve international renown. Lewis’s most popular works were Native American subjects, readily purchased by patrons on both sides of the Atlantic. Indian Combat, a spiraling composition with three intertwined figures, ranks as her most dynamic and complex creation. Although Lewis’s Native American subjects typically exist in multiple versions, this example appears to be unique.

Growing up in her Ojibwe community, Lewis went by a name that translates as "Wildfire."

We present today's sculpture thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

P.S. Here you can read about the fabulous sculpture and mysterious life of Edmonia Lewis!