BIOGRAPHY
Famous for the probing perspectives of her sculptures, Meta Warrick Fuller's long career anticipated and included the flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance. Born Meta Vaux Warrick, she was raised rubbing shoulders with culture and affluence in Philadelphia, studying at the Pennsylvania Museum and School for Industrial Art. She traveled to Paris in 1899 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the Académie Colarossi, during which time one of her pieces caught the eye of Auguste Rodin. Exhibiting regularly at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Fuller's work, with themes of death and sorrow, was characterized by a powerful expressionism. At the Tercentennial Exposition (1907), she was awarded a gold medal for the Jamestown Tableau, a 15-piece sculpture that recorded the settlement of the black community of Jamestown in 1607.
In 1909, her marriage to Solomon Carter Fuller, a doctor, brought her to Framingham, MA. Her husband expected her to settle in the home to raise their children, receive visitors, and keep up appearances. However, after the loss of her early work in a fire in 1910, she was more driven than ever to express herself and her convictions through art. She built a new studio, where she executed sculptures on a variety of subjects, from children to saints. She made numerous works on the theme of racial injustice and African heritage: for instance, Ethiopia Awakening (1914) depicts an African queen emerging from her mummy-like wrapping, suggesting rebirth from a long sleep. Later, her themes became even more universal, such as her 1937 portrayal of a kneeling nude black man gazing intently at a skull (Talking Skull). Working in wax, plaster, and bronze, she commemorated great African American figures, including Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, and created symbolic works protesting war, such as Peace Halting the Ruthlessness of War (1917). Social injustice of every kind, from women’s suffrage to the plight of immigrants, concerned Fuller and her art. In the late 1980s, museums in Framingham, MA and Harlem, NYC, exhibited retrospectives of her remarkable work.
Famous for the probing perspectives of her sculptures, Meta Warrick Fuller's long career anticipated and included the flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance. Born Meta Vaux Warrick, she was raised rubbing shoulders with culture and affluence in Philadelphia, studying at the Pennsylvania Museum and School for Industrial Art. She traveled to Paris in 1899 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the Académie Colarossi, during which time one of her pieces caught the eye of Auguste Rodin. Exhibiting regularly at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Fuller's work, with themes of death and sorrow, was characterized by a powerful expressionism. At the Tercentennial Exposition (1907), she was awarded a gold medal for the Jamestown Tableau, a 15-piece sculpture that recorded the settlement of the black community of Jamestown in 1607.
In 1909, her marriage to Solomon Carter Fuller, a doctor, brought her to Framingham, MA. Her husband expected her to settle in the home to raise their children, receive visitors, and keep up appearances. However, after the loss of her early work in a fire in 1910, she was more driven than ever to express herself and her convictions through art. She built a new studio, where she executed sculptures on a variety of subjects, from children to saints. She made numerous works on the theme of racial injustice and African heritage: for instance, Ethiopia Awakening (1914) depicts an African queen emerging from her mummy-like wrapping, suggesting rebirth from a long sleep. Later, her themes became even more universal, such as her 1937 portrayal of a kneeling nude black man gazing intently at a skull (Talking Skull). Working in wax, plaster, and bronze, she commemorated great African American figures, including Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, and created symbolic works protesting war, such as Peace Halting the Ruthlessness of War (1917). Social injustice of every kind, from women’s suffrage to the plight of immigrants, concerned Fuller and her art. In the late 1980s, museums in Framingham, MA and Harlem, NYC, exhibited retrospectives of her remarkable work.
REFERENCES
Biography adapted from Margaret Barlow. "Fuller, Meta Vaux." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T030178>.
Biography adapted from Margaret Barlow. "Fuller, Meta Vaux." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T030178>.
Artwork behind title: Meta Warrick Fuller's Emancipation (detail)
