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Minnehaha

Edmonia Lewis American
1868
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 731
Like many American sculptors of the nineteenth century, Lewis, an artist of African American and Native American (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe) descent, worked in Rome, Italy. Her multiracial identity and gender were formative in her selection of subjects. Between 1866 and 1872, she completed a series of marble sculptures on the popular theme of Hiawatha and Minnehaha, drawn from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855). This cabinet-sized bust and its pendant (2015.287.1) represent the star-crossed lovers from once-warring nations (Anishinaabe and Dakota), and blend an idealized treatment of form with Native American dress and accessories.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Minnehaha
  • Artist: Edmonia Lewis (American, 1844–1907)
  • Date: 1868
  • Geography: Made in Rome, Italy
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: 11 5/8 × 7 1/4 × 4 7/8 in. (29.5 × 18.4 × 12.4 cm)
  • Credit Line: Morris K. Jesup and Friends of the American Wing Funds, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.287.2
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Hiawatha, Edmonia Lewis American, Marble, American
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Daphne
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
1853, carved 1854
Hiawatha, Augustus Saint-Gaudens American, Marble, American
Hiawatha
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Pitched It Sheer into the River . . . Where It Still Is Seen in the Summer, Frederic Remington American, Oil on canvas, American
Pitched It Sheer into the River . . . Where It Still Is Seen in the Summer
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1889
The Last Arrow, Randolph Rogers American, Bronze, American
The Last Arrow
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