New York museum spotlights the lesbian artist behind Central Park's historic Bethesda Fountain

"The artist Emma Stebbins (1815-82) should be more famous than she is. After all, she created an iconic monument-the angel-topped Bethesda Fountain in New York's Central Park. But with the opening of the new exhibition Carving Out History at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York-and a 256-page book detailing the artist's life and work -her name is about to become better-known."

"The Heckscher curator Karli Wurzelbacher and her staff-together with outside scholars, artists and critics-have spent more than five years planning a comprehensive show establishing Stebbins among the canon of greats in 19th-century Neo-Classical sculpture. Displaying 14 marble sculptures collected from around the world, Carving Out History is the first-ever exhibition dedicated solely to Stebbins's oeuvre. The Heckscher was not only the first museum to acquire Stebbins's work but, for many decades, the only one to do so."

""Stebbins was this under-known, unsettled figure, but the work itself was so connected to the contemporary concerns of life," Wurzelbacher says. "She definitely defied norms, but she and [her wife, Charlotte] Cushman were not outsiders or outliers [where they lived in Rome]. They were at the heart of the expatriate [community], the ultimate insiders. The rules were so different, and they were working within them and stretching conventions, socially and within Neo-Cla"

Carving Out History at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington presents the first-ever comprehensive exhibition solely devoted to Emma Stebbins, featuring 14 marble sculptures gathered internationally. The Heckscher and curator Karli Wurzelbacher spent over five years assembling the show and tracing Stebbins's career, traveling to Oregon, Rome, Belfast and elsewhere to collect works. The Heckscher was the first museum to acquire Stebbins's art and was alone in doing so for many decades. The exhibition repositions Stebbins within 19th-century Neo-Classical sculpture and highlights themes of gender, sexuality, ecology, industry, public health, clean water and environmental concerns. The project aims to elevate Stebbins's historical standing.

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