Artwork Details
- Title
- America
- Artist
- Date
- 1848-1850
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 89 1⁄8 x 35 1⁄8 x 16 7⁄8 in. (226.5 x 89.3 x 42.8 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson
- Mediums Description
- plaster and metal pins
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Dress — historic — classical dress
- Figure female — nude
- Figure female — full length
- Study — sculpture model
- Allegory — place — America
- Object Number
- 1968.155.4
Artwork Description
If you could represent the idea of the United States as a sculpture, what would it look like?
Hiram Powers's answer is the sculpture in front of you. One of the most famous American sculptors of the nineteenth century, Powers presented his design for America to Congress as an embodiment of "the youth and vigor of our great country."
In Powers's day, European and American sculptors often carved an idealized woman from flawless white marble to represent a praiseworthy abstract idea. Such works reinforced the belief in the moral superiority of whiteness and the purity of White womanhood.
While Congress considered commissioning America for the US Capitol, it abandoned the idea due to concerns that the shackle under the figure's foot represented abolition and would offend Southern politicians and their constituents.
Label text from The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture November 8, 2024 -- September 14, 2025