I don't want you to praise me...Some praise me because I am a colored girl, and I don't want that kind of praise. I had rather you would point out my defects, for that will teach me something.
I was practically driven to Rome in order to obtain the opportunities for art culture and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color. The land of liberty had no room for a colored sculptor.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the challenges faced by Edmonia Lewis as a Black artist seeking acceptance and opportunities in a society that discriminated based on race.
Edmonia Lewis's quote reflects her journey as a Black woman artist who felt compelled to leave her homeland in pursuit of artistic opportunities and a more accepting social environment. She highlights the stark reality of racial discrimination that hindered her ability to thrive as a sculptor, revealing the struggles that many artists of color faced during her time and the continuing quest for equality in the arts.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a gallery talk about racial diversity in art history, this quote can illustrate the challenges faced by artists of color.
More from Edmonia Lewis
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The desire for symmetry, for balance, for rhythm in form as well as in sound, is one of the most inveterate of human instincts.
Poetry is adolescence fermented, and thus preserved.
I've spent most of my life embracing violence in wars and revolutions. Even a famine is a form of violence. Because I photograph people in peril, people in pain, people being executed in front of me, I find it very difficult to get my head around the art narrative of photography.
Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out.
It seems to me that it had no other rationale than to show that we are not simply the country of entertainers, but also that of engineers and builders called from across the world to build bridges, viaducts, stations and major monuments of modern industry, the Eiffel Tower deserves to be treated with consideration.
I shall, in due time, be a Poet.