Shaping History, Envisioning the Future: Public Art by Women

From the mid-1800s, the artists featured here began challenging the idea that women could only make art at home. Rejecting pursuits like needlework, they became sculptors and architects. These were careers that required technical training and major financial resources.

In her own day, Harriet Hosmer was called “the most famous of women sculptors.” She spent most of her life in Rome, where she led a group of American women sculptors. In Italy, she built a reputation for her Neoclassical sculptures of strong women from history and mythology.

In 1860, Hosmer received a major commission for a sculpture of Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton. She thanked “the citizens of St. Louis” for entrusting her with the task, especially given “what barriers must in the outset oppose all womanly efforts.”

Dedicated in 1868, Senator Thomas Hart Benton was one of the first major public sculptures by a woman and the first public sculpture in Missouri.

In 1865, at eighteen, Vinnie Ream became the first woman sculptor to earn a federal commission. Known for modeling a bust of President Abraham Lincoln from life, she petitioned Congress to make a full-length memorial for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. This stirred a Senate debate.

Today, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney is best known as a museum founder and philanthropist. But a century ago, she was also a famous sculptor. In 1910, she set up a studio in Paris and specialized in monumental sculptures of male nudes—then a scandalous subject for women.

Whitney’s Titanic Memorial (1916–31) in Washington, D.C., however, is a tastefully draped male nude, arms outstretched in sacrifice. Begun shortly after the 1912 tragedy, it is dedicated to “the brave men . . . who gave their lives that women and children might be saved.”

Artist and educator Augusta Savage was active in New York City and Paris. During the Great Depression, she founded and directed arts organizations in Harlem. This portrait was made around the time she earned a major commission for the 1939 World’s Fair.

Savage drew inspiration for The Harp from James Weldon Johnson’s lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Although the plaster sculpture was popular, it was destroyed after the World’s Fair. There were no funds to store it or to create a lasting iteration in stone or metal.

For decades, The Harp existed in the form of souvenirs, like this postcard. Now, more than eighty years after the 1939 World’s Fair, a permanent version will be installed at the Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park in Jacksonville, Florida.

Maya Lin was an architecture student at Yale University in 1981. That year, her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was selected from 1,421 entries. She proposed two polished, black granite walls rising from below the groundline to meet in the middle.

Inscribed with the names of Americans lost in the Vietnam War, this “rift in the earth” drew controversy. First, its was unconventional. Second, Lin was a young Asian American woman. Learn about Lin’s life and work here. Next, hear about her creative process.

Printmaker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett once wrote, “Art is important only to the extent that it helps in the liberation of our people.” Black womanhood was a central theme throughout her career, much of which she spent in Mexico City. 

Shahzia Sikander’s work explores her identity as a Muslim American. She reflects: “Whenever we create art, I believe it pushes the envelope of who gets to be represented a little further. These things are integral to how art can then negotiate a space for a future generation.” 

In 2023, Sikander presented an installation at Madison Square Park and the nearby courthouse. Whereas female figures of justice are usually blindfolded, the eyes of her women are wide open. Their decorative collars nod to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

What kind of space do you envision for future generations? 


Who will memorialize our present moment, and what kind of art will they create?