Edmonia Lewis Retrospective
A major Edmonia Lewis retrospective is on view at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem with 115 works on display through June 7 — a deep reappraisal of the pioneering sculptor’s legacy. It’s a rare chance to see the breadth of her work outside major metropolitan hubs. (bostonmagazine.com)
Jeffrey Richmond‑Moll (George Putnam Curator of American Art at PEM) and Shawnya L. Harris (Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art at the Georgia Museum of Art) are the co‑curators of the exhibition. (pem.org) The loaned presentation assembles roughly 30 sculptures by Edmonia Lewis alongside additional works in a range of media drawn from public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad. (pem.org) The show includes newly conserved and never‑before‑publicly‑exhibited pieces, and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art has reattributed a portrait bust that will join the exhibition’s national tour. ( ) A richly illustrated catalogue, Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone by Richmond‑Moll and Harris, was published by the University of Chicago Press to accompany the exhibition. (press.uchicago.edu) After its Salem showing the exhibition is scheduled to travel to the Georgia Museum of Art (August 8, 2026–January 3, 2027) and the North Carolina Museum of Art (April 3–July 11, 2027). (pem.org) PEM credits major support for the project to the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, among other donors. (pem.org) Curators say the retrospective reflects years of provenance research and recovery work—efforts described in press coverage as a multi‑year, near‑decade undertaking to locate, conserve, and recontextualize Lewis’s work. ( )
