Harriet Hosmer was born in 1830 in Watertown, Massachusetts to physician Hiram Hosmer. Her mother and three siblings died when she was young. That may be why she was encouraged by her father to pursue physical sports such as rowing, skating, and riding. He also allowed her to travel alone across western United States.

Harriet’s interest in sculpture began early. She wasn’t allowed to take sculpting classes because she was a woman. Instead, she studied human anatomy with her father and then took anatomy classes Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell at Missouri Medical College. Dr. McDowell was a Spiritualist who was interested in devising experiments to test psychic phenomena.

In 1851, Harriet wrote of one of several psychic events she experienced during her life. She was out riding her horse when she saw a fence rail move. It traveled several yards and rounded a post before standing upright. Like her mentor, Dr. McDowell, Harriet believed that the laws of the physical world also governed the spiritual world and that with study, they would be revealed.

In 1852, Harriet moved to Rome with her father and her lover, Charlotte Cushman. She studied under Welsh sculptor, John Gibson, from 1853-1860. She was welcomed by the local artist colony and visited Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning in Florence.

While in Italy, Harriet experienced a spiritual visit. Her maid, Rosa, was sick and went home to recover. Harriet woke in the middle of the night after hearing someone in her room. She saw Rosa looking at her from the edge of the bed. “Now I am content, now I am happy,” Rosa said. Harriet found that Rosa had died the next day. Harriet also experience a premonition in 1866, when she saw a carriage accident just minutes before it happened.

As a woman of her time, Harriet was one of a small number of women sculptors. Now she is considered an innovator in the field for woman. She followed a Neoclassical style, creating works that represented mythological icons. The Sleeping Faun, created in 1865 in Rome, is one of her most celebrated works. Like many of her pieces, according to Colbert, she “had to discover an apt vehicle of expression for her faith while not offending those in her audience who were practicing Christians.”

Harriet was romantically involved with Lady Ashburton who provided her with a studio at Albert Gate Studios near Kent House in Rutland Gardens for 25 years. She later lived in Chicago and Terre Haute, Indiana. She designed machinery and developed new processes of modeling to take the rough shape of a statue in plaster and coat it with wax to work out the finer forms.

Harriet Hosmer died at Watertown, Massachusetts in 1908. Along with her sculptures, she contributed to art history and feminist and gender studies. When asked about her career path, she said, “I honor every woman who has strength enough to step outside the beaten path when she feels that her walk lies in another; strength enough to stand up and be laughed at, if necessary.”

Additional Reading:

Colbert, Charles (1996) “Harriet Hosmer & Spiritualism.” American Art, Vol 10 No. 3.

Sherwood, Dolly (1991) Harriet Hosmer: American Sculptor, 1830-1908. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.