Newly Discovered "Indian Combat" by American Artist Edmonia Lewis Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Museum of Art Press Release

Newly Discovered Indian Combat by American Artist Edmonia Lewis Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art

Neoclassical masterpiece crafted by first non-white sculptor to gain international acclaim

Edmonia Lewis (American 1842-1907). Indian Combat, c.1868. 

Marble (Carrara); 30 x 19 x 14 3/8 in. 2011.110

CLEVELAND (November 1, 2011) — An outstanding American neoclassical work by the renowned 19th century sculptor Edmonia Lewis has been acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The multi-figured Indian Combat ranks among the most ambitious of all free-standing American neoclassical sculptures. Born circa 1842 of African American and Native American (Objibwa) descent, Edmonia Lewis holds the distinction of being the first non-white American sculptor to achieve acclaim internationally. Indian Combat had been in the private collection of a Massachusetts family since the 1950s, and remained unknown to the art world until it surfaced late last year. The acquisition enhances the museum’s distinguished American art holdings and demonstrates the museum’s dedication to add works that strengthen its historic commitment to artistic excellence.

“Edmonia Lewis’s Indian Combat is a remarkable discovery. Its acquisition builds on the museum’s commitment to collect works of art that are both seminal to the careers of individual artists and also significant benchmarks in the history of art,” said C. Griffith Mann, the museum’s deputy director and chief curator.

Indian Combat depicts three Native American men engaged in spirited—yet graceful and balletic—combat with each other. Very few examples of neoclassical sculpture feature more than two figures, and virtually no other work exhibits such a complex integration of multiple protagonists. Conceived fully in the round, Indian Combat’s dynamic composition encourages the viewer to circumnavigate the piece in order to discover the details of the action. Having carved the marble herself—without the use of assistants that was the custom at the time—Lewis rendered a wide variety of complex textures, which can be seen in the moccasins, animal hides and loin cloths worn by the figures.

Lewis specialized in Native American themes, which were widely popular in 19th century American art and literature. Her most common subjects were inspired by The Song of Hiawatha, the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was her acquaintance. By contrast, Indian Combat seems to be entirely a product of the sculptor’s own imagination.

Mark Cole, PhD, Cleveland Museum of Art associate curator of American painting and sculpture, has studied Edmonia Lewis’s work since the early 1990s. “When I first saw Indian Combat, I recognized it immediately as a masterpiece, and truly Lewis’s tour de force,” he stated. “It’s a defining work by an artist who led such a fascinating and remarkable life.”

Lewis spent the bulk of her career in Rome during the mid-19th century and earned great renown for her marble carvings. She studied at Ohio’s Oberlin College— one of the first institutions of higher learning in the United States to admit women, as well as persons of color—from 1859-1863, and subsequently apprenticed in Boston before relocating to Italy in 1866. Her studio became an important destination for wealthy Americans and Europeans on their Grand Tours, several of whom became patrons. Highly sought-after in the marketplace, Edmonia Lewis’s works are in private and public collections in a number of countries, including the United States, England, Scotland and Germany.

Indian Combat will go on view in November 2011 (date TBD) in gallery 207 of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s 1916 building.

About the Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes almost 45,000 objects and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. Currently undergoing an ambitious, multi-phase renovation and expansion project across its campus, the museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, performing arts and art education. One of the top five comprehensive art museums in the nation, and the only one that is free of charge to all, the Cleveland Museum of Art is located in the dynamic University Circle neighborhood.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has a membership of more than 21,500 households and is supported by a broad range of individuals, foundations and businesses in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. The museum is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Additional support comes from the Ohio Arts Council, which helps fund the museum with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. For more information about the museum, its holdings, programs and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit www.ClevelandArt.org.

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The Cleveland Museum Of Art 2011 Exhibition Listings

It’s never too early to plan for a visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art! Here’s a press release from the The Cleveland Museum Of Art with their 2011 Exhibition Listings:


Landscapes from the Collection
March 26 – August 14, 2011

This show contrasts iconic rivers, mountains, and valleys with landscapes that emphasize humanity’s presence and intervention. From Ansel Adams’s pristine views to Robert Adams’s pioneering photography, the show will feature around 40 images from the museum’s permanent collection.


The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art
March 27 – August 28, 2011

The Lure of Painted Poetry presents spiritual freedom as interpreted in Japanese and Korean art using Chinese classical poetry as an international cultural symbol. The show features about 80 masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection, including paintings, calligraphy, craft art, and contemporary collage.


CLE OP: Cleveland Op Art Pioneers
April 9, 2011 – February 26, 2012

Op Art—short for Optical Art—features abstract compositions, dynamic patterns, and art with a pulsating rhythm. Several Cleveland artists were internationally recognized during the Op Art movement that peaked in the 1960s. Their works are featured here in an exhibition that draws from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s permanent holdings as well as loans from private collections.


The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa
April 16, 2011 – February 26, 2012

"This exhibition features a variety of objects made by pastoral peoples belonging to different southern African cultures. The art of this vast region comprises exquisitely designed everyday objects, including snuff containers, staffs, clubs, beer vessels, and beaded garments, all characterized by their stylistic diversity and rich cultural meanings. Many of the works in The Art of Daily Life, the first exhibition of its kind organized by a major art museum in the United States, have never before been exhibited or published."


Indian Kalighat Paintings
May 1 – September 18, 2011

These rarely displayed paintings are considered the beginning of Indian modernist art. They were originally created as souvenirs for nineteenth-century tourists and sometimes mock the newly affluent with their high stylization and bright colors.

Brian Ulrich
August 27, 2011 – January 16, 2012


Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904–1965)
October 16, 2011 – January 8, 2012

In a first collaboration between the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Nanjing Museum, this comprehensive exhibition of the modern master Fu Baoshi gives a detailed look into the transformation of traditional-style painting in an age of national crisis. From landscapes and figure paintings to political artwork manifesting state ideology, the show examines the artist’s struggle and political reconciliation as well as the search for an artistic language that speaks for both the self and the nation. It reveals the complexity of artistic creativity in China’s turbulent twentieth century.


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Cleveland Museum of Natural History

One of my favorite places to visit in Cleveland is the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Located in the University Circle area – a hotbed of museums and culture – this museum offers a look into the natural history of the earth and the stars.

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History opened in 1920. The driving force behind it was Harold T. Clark, a Cleveland lawyer and philanthropist. The museum’s first headquarters were in a business office in the Lennox Bldg. at E. 9th St. and Euclid Ave, but in 1922 the museum moved many of the displays to the former Leonard Hanna mansion on Euclid Ave. But, having more displays than it had space, and with the Hanna house being affected by highway construction, a newer facility – which is also its current home – was constructed in University Circle. Between 1958 and 1961, the museum opened 5 interconnected units located at the current 1 Wade Oval address, directly across from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The museum is filled with all sorts of natural wonders, covering specimens and displays of archeology, paleontology, geology, mineralogy, botany, wildlife, and astronomy (which includes a planetarium). According to Wikipedia, here are some of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s most famed attractions:


Extensive examples of Late Devonian Cleveland Shale fish.
Nine hundred monkey and ape skeletons, and more than 3,100 human skeletons (the Hamann-Todd Collection).
The only specimen of the small tyrannosaur Nanotyrannus lancensis.
The holotype of the Haplocanthosaurus sauropod.
The most complete mount of a Coelophysis bauri.
The remains of Balto the sled dog.
An extensive mineralogy collection that includes a moon rock and the Jeptha Wade gem collection.
Replica skeletons of Triceratops and Jane, a juvenile tyrannosaurid.
Multiple mastodon and mammoth specimens.
A cast of an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, an early hominid affectionately dubbed Lucy.
A new T-rex skeleton that is now on display.

It is a great place for adults and children to learn about the earth’s past, and about all the living things that have inhabited it over the years. My personal favorites from the museum are any exhibits having to do with rocks, minerals, and gems - and the gift shop, of course.









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The Cleveland Museum of Art

Old Postcard - 1916 Building

The Cleveland Museum of Art is currently undergoing a 10-year, $350 million expansion and renovation. After completing part of the renovation, the museum recently reopened the Historic 1916 building, with 19 galleries and over 900 works of art. If the work done on the 1916 building is any indication of what will be coming for the remainder of the renovation, I think people will be very pleased with the overall results.

But first, before reviewing the renovations to date, I thought I’d give some information on the museum’s history. The museum opened on June 6, 1916, and was made possible by bequests and funding by Hinman Hurlbut, John Huntington, Horace Kelley, and Jeptha H. Wade (the latter who donated the property). The first building opened was what is now called the Historic 1916 building, which is of neoclassic style, with white Georgian marble, designed by Hubbell and Benes. The first addition was completed in March of 1857, which doubled the size of the museum and allowed for an indoor garden court. Another wing for special exhibition galleries, classrooms, lecture halls, and the education department was opened in 1971, and was designed by Marcel Breuer (of Cleveland’s "troubled" Ameritrust/Breuer Tower fame). A third addition was made between 1983-1993, to make room for the museum's library, plus 9 new galleries.

Proposed renovation

In October 2005 the CMA began its fourth – and its largest - expansion project in its history. The new design, by architect Rafael Vinoly, would greatly increase gallery space by reconstructing the museum's east and west wings. The downside to this huge undertaking was that most of the museum's permanent collection had to be placed in storage, and resulted in the museums closure to the public.

The museum reopened – partially - on June 29, 2008. allowing access to the renovated galleries on the main level of its 1916 building. Available exhibits from the permanent collection concentrate on 17th-century European to early 20th-century American art. I’ve been to this museum many times in my lifetime, and was amazed at how beautiful things look. The coloring and lighting in each gallery appears perfectly matched for the art displayed, and each work of art looks fabulous. A few of the large galleries were also lighted by diffused, overhead skylights. My test to the success of the restoration was how the museum would treat one of my favorite pieces, a sculpture called “Terpsichore, Muse of Choral Song and Dance.” I was not disappointed, with her being relocated from what I recall was a poorly lighted wall area to center stage in a gallery, with perfect lighting and surrounding art work. Of course, the museum is not complete without the Armor Court, which I recall seeing several times while attending grade school and high school, and luckily that was one gallery that was also re-opened. The court gleams from the metal and is softened with tapestries, all featured with great lighting which makes the room look more impressive than ever.

What initially seemed like a drawback was the meandering course we had to take to get to the open galleries. But, I have to give the museum high marks for having excellent signage to help get to the destination, plus ample staff on hand at each turn in the course to help find the way. The only thing that annoyed me, and it’s really a small annoyance: on the side of the museum that faces the large pond, huge plain letters flank each side of the outside entrance announcing that it’s OP – EN, the letters separated by the entrance itself. It ruins the whole look of the beauty and simplicity of the old building.

While I am very interested in the architecture of the current and new structures, this renovation means more to me for how it will enhance and improve the whole experience of viewing the art housed in the museum. In fact, based on what is viewable right now, the presentation of the exhibits seems to be art itself. So, if you were holding off on going to the museum until more of it is opened, my suggestion is there is no need to wait, there is plenty to see and plenty to appreciate right now!

The web site for The Cleveland Museum of Art can be found here.

Quick Tour of some of the Restored 1916 Building



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Cleveland’s University Circle

A section of Uniiversity Circle, Aerial View

University Circle is more than just a university, and also more than a circuitous road where it’s easy for some to get lost. It’s a hub of education, medicine, museums, music, and just about any cultural thing you can imagine.

Located a few miles east of downtown Cleveland, it was originally known as Doan’s Corners, named after Nathanial Doan, a member of the Connecticut Land Company (as was Moses Cleaveland). The “University” in University Circle got it’s name when two Cleveland universities - Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology – relocated to Doan’s Corners. (These universities are now under one name: Case Western Reserve University.) The “Circle” part of the area’s name came from a trolley turn-around that connected the universities with downtown Cleveland in the late 1800s. The area now has, in place of trolleys, a circular, sometimes confusing, street intersection of Euclid Avenue (US Route 20) and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

Over time, the area evolved into a center of culture and the arts, and later, medicine. For example, both the Cleveland Clinic and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, located in University Circle, are world renowned for their medical care.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Renovation Rendering

Here are some of the places to visit in the University Circle area:

Cleveland Botanical Garden
The Wade Oval
Cleveland Museum of Art (currently undergoing renovation)
The Western Reserve Historical Society
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Severance Hall, home of The Cleveland Orchestra
Case Western Reserve University (be sure to see the Peter B. Lewis Building, designed by Frank Gehry)
Cleveland Institute of Music
Cleveland Institute of Art
Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum
Children's Museum of Cleveland
Dittrick Museum of Medical History

Other place of interest:

The Cleveland Clinic
University Hospital of Cleveland
Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital
The Louis Stokes Veteran's Administration Medical Center

For out of town visitors, there are plenty of hotels in the immediate area. And don’t worry, there are also plenty of great places to eat.

One upcoming event taking place in University Circle at the Western Reserve Historical Society is “Vatican Splendors,” opening May 31st and running through September 7. It is one of the largest collections of art, documents and other historical items from the Vatican, and Cleveland is only one of three United States cities hosting this event touring North America. (The other US cities where this tour will be visiting are St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Petersburg, Florida.) Many of the items in this event have never been on public view. The web site for the “Vatican Splendors” tour can be found here. If you’re looking for a good excuse to explore the University Circle area, what better excuse than this event?

For more information on what Cleveland’s University Circle has to offer, check out the University Circle web site, here. There is an interactive map and plenty of detailed information on what to see, where to stay, and where to eat. If you’d like to see the cultural side of Cleveland, this is the place to visit and explore.


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