Vinnie Ream : an American sculptor /

Once both celebrated and controversial, Ream is now an obscure American sculptor who began her career at age 16, modeling a bust of then-President Lincoln from life. Unschooled in art, she showed an early talent, developed independently with occasional guidance from other artists. The quality of her work is uneven when compared to the standards at the time; nonetheless, she executed several pieces for the US Capitol Rotunda and was counted among the leading American sculptors of her day. What makes Ream, and this book, interesting is the era in which she lived, the people with whom she interacted, and her amazing personality. Incredibly ambitious, bold, and physically attractive, Ream lived in Washington, DC, which afforded contact with many notables, including the Lincolns, George Armstrong Custer, and William Tecumseh Sherman. The development of her career offers insights into the world of professional sculptors in the later 19th century. Engineer-biographer Cooper's text is impressively researched and thoroughly documented, and illustrated with 29 small black-and-white photographs essential to the book's success, of Ream, her friends, and her sculpture. The last book about her was published in 1963; Cooper offers a fresh perspective on Ream and her time in history. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers. J. A. Day University of South Dakota

Ream's intellect, artistic talents, indomitable will, seductiveness, and grand ambitions were already evident when she was a teenager newly arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1861. Petite, sparkly, and fearless, Ream decided to become a sculptor in spite of her lack of training. Finding in politics the perfect arena for her temperament and desires, she managed to get President Lincoln to sit for her during his last days. She then enlisted various smitten senators to back her petition for a commission to produce a life-size statue, the first woman contracted by the federal government to produce a major memorial. The target of torrid gossip and vituperative and misogynistic newspaper coverage, Ream worked tirelessly under trying circumstances. No doubt Cooper discovered Ream's incredible story while researching his previous book on William Worth Belknap, President Grant's disgraced secretary of war, and he recounts it with marvelous lucidity. The congressional debates over Ream's commissions have to be read to be believed, and her relationships with an array of powerful men, from Franz Liszt to General William Sherman, are endlessly intriguing.udos to Cooper for resurrecting Ream and enriching so vividly the history of women in art. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2004 Booklist