Evelyn Beatrice Longman: The Woman Who Sculpted Thomas Edison, Golden Boy, and Other Monuments

Poor, motherless at 5, uneducated after elementary school, Mary Evelyn Beatrice Longman made the presumptuous and ludicrous claim in 1893, at age 19, that she could create monumental public sculptures. And, despite the fact that this was a field dominated by men, she did: the Genius of Electricity atop the AT&T tower in New York City; ornamentation of Lincoln speeches inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Thomas Edison in the Deutsches Museum, Munich, and the Naval Research Lab, Washington D.C.; chapel doors at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and Wellesley College in Massachusetts; the William Boyd Allison Memorial on the grounds of the Iowa State Capitol, plus other monumental pieces and more than 100 portraits. She was the first woman sculptor to become a full member of the National Academy of Design.

The story of her success-not only as a sculptor, but as someone who established a circle of support and friendship, achieved her dream to create beauty, and lived by her guiding principle (be true to yourself)-is even now a narrative for our time. Indeed, it is in this time, at last, that the chronicles of unknown or forgotten women are being told. Too, when has it not been a challenge to recognize our deepest desire in life and find a way to live it; to make our way despite economic conditions, societal pressures, personal trials, cultural barriers, family expectations, public opinion? These are threads through the life of Evelyn Beatrice Longman.

This book tells the story of why this uneducated, impoverished young woman created beauty in such a big way; how she moved into a milieu so different from her childhood, and succeeded in a field of art that was overwhelming dominated by men. It is a multi-layered story of family separations; gender discrimination; recognizing a desire, a talent, and going for it; rising to the challenges of being an artist, doing the work with determination-and always ahead of schedule so there could be no accusations about her being a woman; finding ways to express values in art and reconcile the dilemma of creating beauty, truth, and satisfying those who gave her commissions; making choices around marriage, family and career; negotiating frequent illness, and eventually, shifts in cultural values. It is an account of sacrifice and triumph amid changing times and the timeless human challenge of negotiating life with integrity.