Helen Ruthven Waterston

Sculptor Edmonia Lewis was part of a group of late-19th century American women artists living and working in Rome. She sculpted this portrait of Helen Ruthven Waterston, daughter of the white abolitionist U.S. poet Anna Quincy Waterston. Anna Quincy Waterston and her husband contributed funds to help Lewis buy her first marble in Italy. This portrait memorializes Helen, who died at seventeen. Lewis, who was Black, had many abolitionist patrons, particularly wealthy white American women. Some of these patrons treated Lewis in a racist and disparaging way. White abolitionist Lydia Maria Child, for example, discouraged Lewis from pursuing more ambitious projects, and withheld resources in order to control her. Undaunted, Lewis continued to carry out yet more ambitious projects, generating significant acclaim. This bust showcases Lewis’s exceptional ability to convey texture, such as in the delicate lace of Waterston’s collar and the way the dress fabric is shown to ripple around the figure’s armpits.