Edmonia Lewis and Wendell Phillips: In Conversation with Kirsten Pai Buick and Hélène Quanquin
Description:
Kate Clarke Lemay, interim director of PORTAL and acting senior historian at the National Portrait Gallery, will moderate a conversation between Hélène Quanquin, professor of American Studies, University of Lille (France) and Kirsten Pai Buick, professor of art history; associate dean of equity and excellence for the College of Fine Arts; and inaugural chair of Africana studies, University of New Mexico. Join us for a conversation about the anti-slavery movement centered on the biographies and portraits of Wendell Phillips and Edmonia Lewis. Known for her medallion busts, sculptor Edmonia Lewis often portrayed abolitionists, African Americans and Native Americans, in addition to biblical and mythological figures. Early in her career, Lewis created a medallion bust of Wendell Phillips, an abolitionist who also advocated for temperance, women’s rights, Native Americans’ rights and labor rights. Through his conversational speaking style, Phillips became a key orator for the abolitionist movement. The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the recent passing of Daniel B. Greenberg, whose generosity and that of his wife, Susan, makes the Greenberg Steinhauser Forum in American Portraiture possible. The program is hosted by PORTAL, the Portrait Gallery’s Scholarly Center.
