Mar 22, 2022
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, who is considered the modern world’s first
professional female sculptor has work on display in museums and
collections around the world. She was a rule breaker with a blunt
personality, but very talented and bold. Her Lafayette Park statue,
"The Benton Bronze," was the first public monument in the country
given to a female artist – it is also the first monument west of
the Mississippi with a public figure as its subject. Just press
play to hear the whole story. ------
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Podcast Transcript: I’m
Amanda Clark, manager of the See STL Tours program at the Missouri
History Museum, and Here’s History, on eighty-eight one, KDHX.
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The centerpiece of St. Louis’ historic Lafayette Park isn’t a statue dedicated to the heroic French war general, but it is a gleaming bronze statue of Thomas Hart Benton, a well-known politician from the early 19th century. The statue’s place in history goes beyond its subject or its location, but to the trailblazing artist who created it. Known as the “The Benton Bronze,” it was by designed by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, who is considered the modern world’s first professional female sculptor. Her work is on display in museums and collections around the world, and her Benton statue commission was the first public monument in the country given to a female artist – it is also the first monument west of the Mississippi with a public figure as its subject. ———
Harriet was raised by her father, a widower, in Massachusett’s high society. From an early age, though, it was clear Harriet was a rulebreaker, she was known for her masculine clothing and blunt personality. She boldly traveled the American West and explored the Mississippi River without a chaperone, even winning a footrace up a high bluff in Iowa against a group of young men. This bluff still bears her name. ———
As part of her self-propelled art education, she came to St. Louis to study anatomy at the St. Louis Medical College, a pioneering school that required students to learn anatomy from cadavers. Harriet then went on to join a colony of American artists, including several women, living in Rome. Here, she established herself as a premier sculptor, and her subjects often depicted mythological figures and themes. She was drawn to female characters whose stories connected to her own strongly held beliefs in the fight for women’s dignity and strength. ———
There are other places to find Harriet’s work in St. Louis. Her sculpture, Zenobia in Chains ( from 1859), can be found at the St. Louis Art Museum. The large marble sculpture depicts a warrior queen captured by enemies and put on display for ridicule in her jewels and finery – but thanks to Hosmer’s hand – Zenobia is full of strength and resolve. The St. Louis Mercantile Library houses one of her most well-known sculptures, depicting the Italian noblewoman, Beatrice Cenci. ———
Here’s history is a joint production of the Missouri History Museum and KDHX. I’m Amanda Clark and this is 88.1 KDHX St. Louis. ———
