Under the Willow

December 5
art-history: Hiram Powers The Greek Slave  1843 Marble  65¼ in high Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut The Greek Slave was the single most celebrated work of sculpture in nineteenth-century America. Its pose—inspired by the well-known Medici Venus—represents a Christian girl captured by the Turks during the Greek War of Independence, for sale in the slave market of Constantinople. The first nude statue by an American artist, it provoked both ecstatic praise and puritanical concern when first exhibited in the United States. Its combination of noble sentiment and unprecendented nudity challenged conventional notions of “decency” in high art. Overnight, the expatriate Powers became one of the most famous sculptors of his day. By proving that ideal nudity could be used as a symbol of virtuousness, Powers opened the way for the depiction of the female nude by other American sculptors. The Greek Slave inspired an outpouring of prose and poetry and became an anti-slavery symbol for abolitionists. —Yale University Art Gallery

art-history:

Hiram Powers 
The Greek Slave  1843 
Marble  65¼ in high
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

The Greek Slave was the single most celebrated work of sculpture in nineteenth-century America. Its pose—inspired by the well-known Medici Venus—represents a Christian girl captured by the Turks during the Greek War of Independence, for sale in the slave market of Constantinople. The first nude statue by an American artist, it provoked both ecstatic praise and puritanical concern when first exhibited in the United States. Its combination of noble sentiment and unprecendented nudity challenged conventional notions of “decency” in high art. Overnight, the expatriate Powers became one of the most famous sculptors of his day. By proving that ideal nudity could be used as a symbol of virtuousness, Powers opened the way for the depiction of the female nude by other American sculptors. The Greek Slave inspired an outpouring of prose and poetry and became an anti-slavery symbol for abolitionists.

—Yale University Art Gallery