Why a forgotten black female artist is
getting her own US postage stamp
New York Post,
by
Isabel Vincent
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
1/23/2022 1:40:20 PM
Cleopatra was found in a dusty mall storage room outside Chicago in the late 1980s—wedged in among discarded Christmas decorations, covered in graffiti and house paint. The 3,000-pound neoclassical marble sculpture depicting the death of the Egyptian queen had once been among the most prominent artworks entered into Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Its creator, Edmonia Lewis, was both praised and condemned for capturing the royal’s suicide in such heart-stopping detail. But shortly after the world’s fair came to a close, both the Cleopatra sculpture and Lewis, who was part African American, part Native American, seemed to vanish from history.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
marbles 1/23/2022 2:02:59 PM (No. 1048347)
Whoever did the stamp got the eyes and nose right but for some reason, not the lips.
3 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
FunOne 1/23/2022 2:11:56 PM (No. 1048351)
Why a US postage stamp was created for a forgotten (and pretty much unknown) black female?
For the same reason that black millionaire NFL players wear helmets proclaiming "abolish racism" across the rear section of that headpiece.
Wokesters have mandated that the degree of white supremacy, racism, and white privilege must be addressed, and liberals have decided that creating postage stamps such as this, and helmets such as this, is a way to rub the face of white folks in this great undocumented sin of RACISM--and get black votes.
4 people like this.
A nice story about a creative person getting some long overdue recognition. I have no objection to her being recognized with a stamp - heck if Daffy Duck can rate a stamp a true artist should be able to have one too. And honestly being recognized on a postage stamp has about as much cache as being inducted in to the Rock and Roll or Pro Football Halls of Fame. Good for this lady.
18 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Finally50 1/23/2022 2:53:46 PM (No. 1048378)
I agree with poster #3 - also, beats a stamp depicting Maxine Waters!
14 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 1/23/2022 2:57:03 PM (No. 1048381)
Because they are only using black people in ALL things public now, even unknown, pretty much irrelevant black people. Racists in charge.
All the white heroes will be ignored, and downgraded by the newly ascendant anti-white racists.
It's like TV commercials and shows....no new white characters, 80% of all TV commecial actors now are black or hispanic. Not eveh remotely close to their numbers in society. NOT selling to me, for sure. These racist commercials repel me, make me want to never try their product, or if I am using it, to stop.
13 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
seamusm 1/23/2022 3:00:42 PM (No. 1048387)
She was clearly talented and while a stamp is a trivial plaudit, it is still deserved. That she had to run to Europe is yet another shame.
12 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
chance_232 1/23/2022 3:13:34 PM (No. 1048395)
I googled her artwork.....but not her history. The artwork is very very good.
9 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Toby Ten Bears 1/23/2022 3:25:37 PM (No. 1048404)
This is sickening.
3 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/23/2022 3:42:19 PM (No. 1048416)
The stamp is over the top, but she is worth reading about. A very interesting story. Her sculptures are very Roman in style. Interesting to note that she was kicked out of Oberlin College, that outrageously liberal school that has caused so much trouble.
8 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/23/2022 3:50:12 PM (No. 1048425)
Re #1, we have no idea what photo they worked from when designing the stamp. It was clearly not the photo in the article which showed her from a different perspective.
Our resentment of her being honored seems spiteful. I’d rather she was honored than some NBA player...
10 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Ribicon 1/23/2022 5:03:55 PM (No. 1048483)
Set aside that she's not a very good sculptor. Far better than I could do, but the heads and bodies are out of proportion and the folds of the fabrics are crude, for starters. What makes Lewis a black woman (the stamp says "Black Heritage") when she's only half-black? Why is it OK to disregard the Native American half this way? The stamp could just as (in)accurately say "Native American Heritage." It's absurd, not unlike how Kamala Harris, who is Asian Indian and Caribbean and hails from Canada, masquerades as an African-American who always yearned for fweedom.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Highlander 1/23/2022 5:15:25 PM (No. 1048487)
#12: I liked the pictures of her work. Every artist has his own style. According to your reasoning, El Greco was a flop.
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
mc squared 1/23/2022 5:36:34 PM (No. 1048511)
Oh joy. I miss seeing blacks on all the shows, commercials and in sports. If I have used a stamp in the last year I might have noticed.
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
lakerman1 1/23/2022 5:47:31 PM (No. 1048523)
One of the nice parts of Antiques Roadshow is when someone brings in a post civil war black artist's work - there is something artistically special about the paintings, often done by self taught artists.
I will purchase her stamps, by the way. She deserves the recognition. and she is an excellent sculptor, by any measure.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Omen55 1/23/2022 6:03:06 PM (No. 1048539)
For 98% of the people putting that stamp on the envelope she will still mean nothing.
She will also,once again,be forgotten while the great sculptors,like Michelangelo live on.
Where's his stamp?
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 1/23/2022 7:01:52 PM (No. 1048592)
She's no Gian Lorenzo Bernini (my favorite sculptor), but she (or her assistants) had talent.
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Hugh Akston 1/23/2022 8:14:30 PM (No. 1048647)
Why recognize her on a stamp? Who will see it? Stamps are about as useless as my checkbook. I may...may...use 10 stamps/year. Obviously don't send Christmas cards...or mail bill payments.
1 person likes this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/23/2022 8:42:07 PM (No. 1048670)
I agree with #13. Art is very subjective. Hers is interesting.
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/23/2022 11:08:16 PM (No. 1048758)
Just saw this Steve Sailer article and it made me think of this thread. About art and culture in general and blacks. Sailer is always worth a read.
https://www.takimag.com/article/master-baiting/
1 person likes this.
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Comments:
"Black Heritage" means that a half-Indian sculptor whose rudimentary works have the perspective all wrong, with the actual work being done by a dozen assistance in Italy, is counted as Black, because the postage stamp committee can't find enough black people whose accomplishments amounted to more than simply being black.