19th-century American sculptor
Vinnie Ream
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Born
| Lavinia Ellen Ream
(
1847-09-25
)
September 25, 1847
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Died
| November 20, 1914
(1914-11-20)
(aged 67)
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Nationality
| American
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Known for
| Sculpture
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Spouse
|
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Lavinia Ellen "Vinnie" Ream Hoxie
(September 25, 1847 ? November 20, 1914) was an American sculptor. Her most famous work is the
statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
in the
United States Capitol rotunda
.
[1]
Ream's
Statue of Sequoyah
and
Statue of Samuel J. Kirkwood
, both part of the
National Statuary Hall
collection. Other notable works by Ream include the
Statue of David Farragut
and the
Bust of Edwin B. Hay
, which are also both located in
Washington, D.C.
Additionally, Ream created works which were displayed at
The Woman's Building
at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
in
Chicago
.
After the
impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson
failed to result in Johnson's conviction, Ream was used as a
scapegoat
by
Radical Republicans
for their failure to secure a conviction, being accused by them of manipulating Senator
Edmund Ross
, who had been boarding at her home, to cast his vote to acquit Johnson.
Early life
[
edit
]
Lavinia Ellen Ream was born September 25, 1847, in
Madison, Wisconsin
.
[1]
Her father, Robert, was a
surveyor
for the
Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory
and a
Wisconsin Territory
civil servant. Her mother was a McDonald of Scottish ancestry.
[2]
Her brother Robert enlisted in the Confederate army, in Arkansas, serving in
Woodruff's Battery
.
Vinnie attended
Christian College
in
Columbia, Missouri
, now known as Columbia College. A portrait of
Martha Washington
by Ream hangs in St. Clair Hall.
[4]
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
In 1861, her family moved to
Washington, D.C.
After her father's health began to fail, she began working outside the home to support her family.
Ream was one of the first women to be employed by the federal government, as a clerk in the
dead letter office
of the United States Post Office from 1862 to 1866 during the
American Civil War
. She sang at the E Street Baptist Church, and for the wounded at Washington, D.C. hospitals.
She collected materials for the
Grand Sanitary Commission
.
In 1863,
James S. Rollins
introduced Ream to sculptor
Clark Mills
.
[9]
She became an apprentice in Mills's sculpting studio the next year, at the age of seventeen.
In 1864, President
Lincoln
agreed to model for her in the morning for five months, and she created a bust of his figure.
[4]
During this time, Ream also began intense public relations efforts, selling photographs of herself and soliciting newspaper attention as a marketing strategy.
Ream was the youngest artist and first woman to receive a commission as an artist from the U.S. government for a statue.
[10]
She was awarded the commission for the full-size
Carrara marble
statue of Lincoln by a vote of
Congress
on July 28, 1866, when she was 18 years old.
She had used her previous bust of Lincoln as her entry into the selection contest for the full-size sculpture. There was significant debate over her selection as the sculptor, however, because of concern over her inexperience and the slanderous accusations that she was a "lobbyist", or a public woman of questionable reputation. She was known for her beauty and her conversational skills, which likely contributed to these accusations.
She worked in a studio in Room A of the basement of the Capitol.
Senator
Edmund G. Ross
boarded with Ream's family during
the impeachment trial
of United States President
Andrew Johnson
.
[15]
Ross cast what was seen as the decisive vote against the removal of President Johnson from office, and Ream was accused of influencing his vote. She was almost thrown out of the Capitol with her unfinished Lincoln statue.
[16]
The House had passed a resolution turning the room she was using as a studio into a
Capitol Police
guardroom to house Charles Woolley while he was being held in
contempt of Congress
for his failure to answer questions presented in
a House investigation being conducted into possible corrupt influences behind the Senate vote regarding Johnson's removal
. This forced Ream to move her work into the hallway.
[15]
[17]
[18]
Conservatives accused
Benjamin Butler
of having targeted Ream with his successful resolution to turn her studio into a Capitol Police guardroom.
[19]
Much of the news press expressed outrage at this retributory action towards Ream.
The New York Times
called it a "paltry piece of petty persecution," and the
Daily National Intelligencer
called the move a "wretched piece of petty malevolence and partisan proscription.
The New York World
wrote a immensely critical article under the headline, "How Beaten Impeachers Make War on Women". A minority of press outlets, however, did support the move, with
The New York Tribune
characterizing newsmen supportive of Ream's cause as "kitten-hearted Washington correspondents" jumping to defend a woman that they claimed had proven herself apt at using "hen power" to manipulate others.
[15]
Ream feared that removing her statue of Lincoln from the studio space would destroy it.
[15]
Ultimately, the intervention of powerful New York sculptors and her friend Congressman
Thaddeus Stevens
prevented it her from being ejected from the Capitol. Stevens had been a house manager (prosecutor) in the impeachment trial.
[15]
[16]
and on July 20, 1868 the House passed a resolution granting her permission to utilize the space as a studio for another year.
[15]
[16]
Once the U.S. government had approved the plaster model, Ream traveled to Paris, Munich, Florence, then Rome, to produce a finished marble figure.
[4]
She studied with
Leon Bonnat
in Paris, also producing busts of
Gustave Dore
,
Pere Hyacynthe
,
Franz Liszt
, and
Giacomo Antonelli
.
[20]
Her studio in Rome was at 45 Via de San Basile.
She met
Georg Brandes
at that time.
[23]
While in Rome, she faced controversial rumors that claimed that it was the Italian workmen and not Ream who were responsible for her successful sculpture of Lincoln.
When the statue was complete, Ream returned to Washington. On January 25, 1871, her white marble statue of
United States President
Abraham Lincoln
was unveiled in the
United States Capitol rotunda
, when Ream was only 23 years old.
She later opened a studio at 704
Broadway
, New York City.
In 1871, she exhibited at the
American Institute Fair
.
[29]
She returned to Washington and opened a studio and salon at 235
Pennsylvania Avenue
.
She was unsuccessful in her entry in the
Thomas statue
competition.
In 1875,
George Armstrong Custer
sat for a portrait bust.
In 1876, she exhibited at the
Centennial Exposition
.
In November 1877, she produced a model for a Lee statue in Richmond.
After lobbying
William Tecumseh Sherman
and Mrs. Farragut, she won a competition to sculpt
Admiral David G. Farragut
. Her sculpture, located at
Farragut Square
, Washington, D.C. was dedicated on April 25, 1881.
[35]
Ream married
Richard L. Hoxie
, of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
, on May 28, 1878.
They had one son. Her husband was reassigned to
Montgomery, Alabama
, and
Saint Paul, Minnesota
. Her work would basically cease during her marriage because Richard felt it wasn't proper for a Victorian wife to earn money, and she followed his wishes.
[37]
Finally, the Hoxies lived at 1632
K Street
near Farragut Square,
and had a summer home at 310 South Lucas Street,
Iowa City, Iowa
.
[39]
Her
marbles
,
America
,
The West
, and
Miriam
, were
exhibited
in
the Woman's Building
at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago, Illinois.
[41]
[42]
Ream designed the
Statue of Sequoyah
, the first free-standing statue of a
Native American
to be displayed in
Statuary Hall
of the United States Capitol.
[10]
She died in Washington on November 20, 1914.
[10]
Ream and her husband are buried in section three of
Arlington National Cemetery
, marked by her statue
Sappho
.
[43]
Legacy
[
edit
]
A first-day cover stamp was issued in honor of Ream and her work on the statue of Sequoyah, the Native American inventor of the
Cherokee alphabet
.
George Caleb Bingham
painted her portrait twice.
[9]
The town of
Vinita, Oklahoma
, was named in honor of Ream.
[44]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Vinnie Ream"
.
Architect of the Capitol
. Retrieved
January 4,
2019
.
- ^
"Vinnie Ream (Hoxie) homepage"
.
vinnieream.com
. Retrieved
January 4,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Vinnie Ream, Christian College's first artist"
.
Columbia College spotlight stories
.
Columbia College
. January 24, 2011. Archived from
the original
on March 26, 2012
. Retrieved
July 19,
2011
.
- ^
"Vinnie Ream (1847?1914)"
.
Historic Missourians
. State Historical Society of Missouri. Archived from
the original
on March 28, 2016
. Retrieved
January 10,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
"Contributors to Missouri History: Vinnie Ream Hoxie"
.
Missouri Historical Review
. Vol. 90, no. 1. State Historical Society of Missouri. October 1995. p. inside back cover
. Retrieved
August 27,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Vinnie Ream Hoxie"
.
Chippewa Herald-Telegram
. November 24, 1914. p. 2
. Retrieved
March 17,
2019
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"National Gallery of Art Library"
.
library.nga.gov
. Retrieved
August 20,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Roderick, Lee (February 1976).
"Mallet, Chisel, And Curls"
.
American Heritage
.
27
(2)
. Retrieved
October 16,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Gravley, Jennifer.
"Stafford Library: Vinnie Ream: Home"
.
library.ccis.edu
. Retrieved
August 1,
2022
.
- ^
Pareene, Alex (November 21, 2019).
"Making Impeachment Matter"
.
The New Republic
. Retrieved
August 1,
2022
.
- ^
Stewart, David O. (2009).
Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy
. Simon and Schuster. pp. 299?301.
ISBN
978-1416547495
.
- ^
Wineapple, Brenda (2019).
The impeachers : The Trial of Andrew Johnson and The Dream of a Just Nation
(First ed.). New York. p. 400.
ISBN
978-0812998368
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
"Vinnie Ream"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
. Retrieved
January 4,
2019
.
- ^
Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen (1906).
Reminiscences of My Childhood and Youth
. New York: Duffield. pp.
318
.
- ^
"Abraham Lincoln Statue"
.
Architect of the Capitol
. Retrieved
July 26,
2019
.
- ^
"Vinnie Ream"
.
Architect of the Capitol
. Retrieved
July 26,
2019
.
- ^
"American Institute Fair. The Fortieth Annual Exhibition A Large Display in the Different Branches of Art, Agriculture and Manufacture"
(PDF)
.
The New York Times
. September 6, 1871.
- ^
Goode, James M (1974).
The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C.
. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp.
101
.
ISBN
0-87474-149-1
.
- ^
Scottish Rite Journal, September/October 2018, page 23
- ^
MacDonald, John J. (April 1975).
"Vinnie Ream Hoxie at Iowa and Elsewhere"
.
Books at Iowa
.
22
(22).
University of Iowa
: 20?34.
doi
:
10.17077/0006-7474.1367
. Archived from
the original
on July 10, 2018
. Retrieved
July 19,
2011
.
- ^
Nichols, K. L.
"Women's Art at the World's Columbian Fair & Exposition, Chicago 1893"
. Retrieved
January 4,
2019
.
- ^
Hoxie, Vinnie Ream (1894).
"Lincoln and Farragut"
. In Eagle, Mary Kavanaugh Oldham (ed.).
The Congress of Women: Held in the Woman's Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U.S.A., 1893
. Chicago: Monarch Book Company. pp. 603?608.
- ^
Jacob, Kathryn Allamong (1998).
Testament to Union: Civil War monuments in Washington, Part 3
. JHU Press.
ISBN
978-0-8018-5861-1
.
- ^
Vinita Oklahoma Area Chamber of Commerce promoting visitor information for the purpose of relocation & tourism
Archived
August 10, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Alsop, Stewart
(1968).
The Center: People and Power in Political Washington
. New York: Popular Library.
- Cooper, Edward S. (2009).
Vinnie Ream: An American Sculptor
. Academy Chicago Publishers.
ISBN
978-0897335898
.
- Dabakis, Melissa (January 1, 2008). "Sculpting Lincoln: Vinnie Ream, Sarah Fisher Ames, and the Equal Rights Movement".
American Art
.
22
(1): 78?101.
doi
:
10.1086/587917
.
JSTOR
10.1086/587917
.
S2CID
191491370
.
- Hoxie, Richard Leveridge
; Hoxie, Ruth Norcross (1908).
Vinnie Ream
. Press of Gibson Bros.
- Sherwood, Glenn V. (1997).
A Labor of Love: the Life & Art of Vinnie Ream
. Sunshine Press Publications.
ISBN
978-0961574369
.
- Stewart, David O.
(2009).
Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy
. New York: Simon and Schuster.
ISBN
978-1416547495
.
- Tomso, Gregory (April 4, 2011).
"Lincoln's "Unfathomable Sorrow": Vinnie Ream, Sculptural Realism, and the Cultural Work of Sympathy in Nineteenth-Century America"
.
European Journal of American Studies
(in French).
6
(2).
doi
:
10.4000/ejas.9139
.
ISSN
1991-9336
.
External links
[
edit
]
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