NARRATOR: This winged figure of Victory is well known in the Met’s collection, but part of its story remained largely untold until recently. Karen Strickland, a genealogist and public historian from Columbia, South Carolina, helped illuminate the identity of the model for this sculpture: a talented and determined Black woman named Hettie Anderson.

KAREN STRICKLAND: I had never heard of Hettie Anderson before when someone asked me to help them with some research.

Hettie lived in Columbia until the late 1800s, and she moved to New York City.

NARRATOR: She worked as a seamstress and was likely a student at the Art Students League. As for many working-class women of her time, Anderson’s perspective remains largely hidden. But the writings of the artists she met and posed for offer valuable insights into her contributions as an artists’ model.

KAREN STRICKLAND: Augustus Saint-Gaudens wrote that she was the most handsome model that he had ever seen. She was breathtaking. 

NARRATOR: Strickland also recognizes achievements beyond her appearance.

KAREN STRICKLAND: She had the ability to pose patiently, thoroughly and steadily. Not many people can stand and pose for minutes, let alone hours.

NARRATOR: Saint-Gaudens emphasized his respect for Anderson in a letter to another artist who was working with her, writing “I need her badly.”

KAREN STRICKLAND: That was something that let me know how important Hettie was to various artists. And she was so popular at the time that she could kind of pick and choose who she wanted to work for. 

NARRATOR: As her modeling career waned, Anderson began working at The Met as a classroom attendant where, remarkably, she would have passed sculptures like “Victory” on display – the same ones for which she had once so skillfully posed.

This Audio Guide is sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.