Harriet G. Hosmer
American Sculptor
1830 - 1908
Harriet Hosmer was a great woman
sculptor who brought respect to both her native
land and her sex by her brilliant work. Her life
and work was proof that Americans could be
sculptors and that a woman could handle a chisel
as well as a paint brush.
Harriet Hosmer was born in
Watertown, Massachusetts into a physician’s
family. Due to the death of her mother and older
sister from tuberculosis, her father, an eminent
physician, encouraged her to spend much time
outdoors in the open air. Harriet soon became an
excellent athlete. She loved nature and became
quite adept at hunting, fishing, rowing, and
horseback riding. Spending this time outdoors
helped her to gain a thorough knowledge of
animal life, and when while she was but a child
she began to model dogs, horses, and other
animals in a clay pit near her home.
Formal education was of
secondary importance to Harriet. She attended
school at Lenox, Massachusetts and her school
days were not marked by scholarship or attention
to the routine of school life. Nature was her
school and teacher. She often despaired of those
who were appointed to be her instructors.
Finding sculpting her forte, Harriet went to St.
Louis to study anatomy, since she could not gain
admission to the conservative medical schools of
the East. Human Anatomy, which was a necessary
course of study for sculptors, was usually
forbidden to women.
Next she went to Rome and became
the pupil of the famous sculptor, John Gibson,
where she attracted the patronage of affluent
tourists. The physical strength that she built
up in her childhood enabled her to wield a four
pound mallet for eight or ten hours per day,
which was required of a sculptor. Harriet was
not the only female sculptor in Rome at this
time, but became one of a group of American
women sculptors dubbed the "White Marmorean
Flock" by author Henry James. She also joined
herself to a large circle of international
artists and writers that included Robert and
Elizabeth Barret Browning, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
and Henry James.
While she was known for her
eccentric, practical style, including
man-tailored jackets and short hair, her work
was much more conventional. Some of her more
famous works were "Puck", "The Sleeping Faun",
and "Zenobia in Chains". Harriet’s talent and,
independent spirit, and friendly demeanor
enabled her to become a great success and to
enjoy life to its fullest.
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