iRichard H. Driehaus MuseumRiver North / Near North Side
Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History
Thirteen marbles, paintings and archives chart the career of Emma Stebbins, the first woman awarded a public sculpture commission by New York City for Central Park's Bethesda Fountain.
More in Chicago
Two marble figures from 1860 stand in for American labour: a miner and a sailor, dressed in the clothes of their day rather than as the gods and allegories neoclassical sculpture expected. Artnet calls them the first known renderings of American workers in sculpture. Their maker, Emma Stebbins, also made Central Park's Bethesda Fountain, then all but vanished from the record.
This is the first museum show devoted to her, organised by the Heckscher Museum on Long Island, where it opened in 2025. The Chicago run has 13 marbles, plus paintings and archives. One section belongs to Charlotte Cushman, the Shakespearean actress Stebbins called her wife. You get Stebbins's marble bust of her next to photographs and first editions of the biography Stebbins wrote after Cushman's death. Reviewing the first venue, Artnet called the show "a momentous rediscovery".
Come for one overlooked sculptor in full; the fountain that made her name stays in New York. Adult tickets are $23, and the museum stays open until 7pm on Wednesdays.
Editor's pick
A marble miner and sailor in the work clothes of their day: Artnet calls them the first known sculptures of American workers. Stebbins made Central Park's Bethesda Fountain, then vanished from the record. Artnet called the show "a momentous rediscovery".
Look for
Industry and Commerce
Look for a miner and a sailor carved in contemporary working dress, Stebbins's 1860 marble allegories that put American workers where gods usually stood.
The bust of Charlotte Cushman
Stebbins's 1870 marble portrait of her wife, which Artnet calls the first and possibly only period bust by a lesbian artist of her spouse.
The Cushman biography, first edition
Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life, which Stebbins published in 1879, shown with photographs and rare works on paper.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want the Bethesda Fountain itself: it stays in Central Park.
Also at Richard H. Driehaus Museum
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
7
- Emma Stebbins: Carving Out HistoryCourtesy of Richard H. Driehaus Museum
- Kenzi ShiokavaPhoto: Brian Forrest
- Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless ObstructionCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
- Slow DanceCourtesy of the artist.
- Richard H. Driehaus MuseumLmh9y6 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoCéline from Paris, France, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Chicago Architecture CenterAlanscottwalker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0