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The 19th-Century Slave Sculpture that Exposed Americans to Nudity in Art

by Allison Meier on August 5, 2015



Hiram Powers, “The Greek Slave – Daguerreotype” (1848–49), daguerreotype (courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum)

The first nude sculpture of a woman widely seen by the American public depicted a slave, just decades before the Civil War. Measured Perfection: Hiram Powers’ Greek Slave now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC explores the artistic processes behind one of the most popular, and controversial, 19th-century sculptures.


Hiram Powers, “Greek Slave” (1843), plaster (courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum) (click to enlarge)

“If you had access to private collections or went on a Grand Tour, you might have seen this kind of artwork, but not if you were an average American,” Karen Lemmey, curator of sculpture and organizer of the exhibition, told Hyperallergic. Hiram Powers replicated “The Greek Slave” (1840s) in marble several times due to its huge success, where on an American tour it inadvertently became an abolitionist icon.

Ramin Haerizadeh

Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle

Eleonora of Toledo

1544-45 portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her son Giovanni de' Medici (by Agnolo Bronzino; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence):

Merce Cunningham I, 1963

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Andy WARHOL
Merce Cunningham I, 1963
Sérigraphie et peinture aérosol sur toile
90,2 x 69 cm
New York, Mugrabi Collection