{"id":42,"date":"2021-02-20T17:20:20","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T17:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmonialewis.org\/elBlog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2023-02-14T15:43:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T15:43:11","slug":"the-death-of-cleopatra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmonialewis.org\/elBlog\/index.php\/2021\/02\/20\/the-death-of-cleopatra\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death of Cleopatra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Edmonia Lewis, The Death of Cleopatra, 1876, marble. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. Image credit: SAAM. <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Death of Cleopatra<\/em> was Edmonia Lewis’ most ambitious project<\/strong>: A large marble sculpture (weighing almost 3 tons), completed for the 1876 Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to say about this sculpture, and I am currently working on a scholarly essay. I will sum it up here when it’s done, but for now, here is a video to give you a start. If it sounds a bit like a student presentation, that’s because it started out as one (I gave it in the fall of 2020 in a class in an American Art survey). I no longer agree with some of the things I say here about the “meaning” of the sculpture–in particular, I no longer believe that Lewis’ sculpture is so very different from other Cleopatras of her time. In fact, for the essay I am writing, I focus on why it is that Lewis deliberately created a sculpture that does *not* stand out. (Side note: Recalibrating your thinking is one of the most important and most exhausting parts of doing academic research.) But the video is still accurate on the fact; it gives you the basics about the Death of Cleopatra<\/em>, and then a bit more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n