EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR “DAMER, THORNYCROFT, AND LEWIS: Three Women Sculptors in 18th and 19th century Britain”
Presented by Dr. Meghan Callahan
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Date & Time:
Thursday, March 13, 2025
2:00 – 3:00pm ET | 11:00am – 12:00pm PT |
7:00 – 8:00pm London
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “DAMER, THORNYCROFT, AND LEWIS: Three Women Sculptors in 18th and 19th century Britain”
Presented by Dr. Meghan Callahan
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Women artists tended not to become sculptors, as the more physical work of sculpting was seen as “man’s work.” However, since the 16th century and into the 21st, women carved marble and designed bronzes.
This talk will cover the art of sculptors Anne Seymour Damer (1748–1828), Mary Thornycroft (1809-1895), and Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907). Damer and Thornycroft were English and were involved with the Royal Academy in London. Lewis was Black and Native American and lived and worked in the United States and Italy before moving to London where she died. All were inspired by Italian art and worked within the NeoClassical tradition. We will explore the challenges and successes of being a woman sculptor in 18th and 19th-century Britain.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
Please note:
Dr. Meghan Callahan has lived and worked in London since 2006. Like Rocky, she earned her Master’s degree in Art History from Syracuse University as a Florence Fellow. She has a Ph.D. in Art History from Rutgers University. Meghan is the Director of Ithaca College London, where she teaches a history course called Underground London.
She worked on the reinstallation of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and then with the sculpture dealer Patricia Wengraf. Meghan has published various articles and essays on the 16th-century mystic nun Sister Domenica da Paradiso, miraculous paintings in Renaissance Florence, and Italian Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.