“Veiled Bride of Spring”

Art Treasure Discovered at Library

After a 'farewell party' on Friday, June 9, 2007, this sculpture left the library on Monday, June 11. It was auctioned in October 2007 at Cowan's Auctions in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Related Links:
Edmonia Lewis
Based on Legend of Persephone 
Artist's Other Work - Smithsonian
Map to E. Lewis Sculptures
Photos of other E. Lewis Sculptures

Sometimes hidden treasure turns up in unexpected places – such as your own front door, or the public library of a small town in Kentucky. The Paris-Bourbon County Public Library is proud to announce the discovery – right on its own doorstep – of a “lost” fine art work entitled The Bride of Spring, a sculpture created by Edmonia Lewis in the late 1870s. A public farewell was held at the library on Friday, June 8, 2007, allowing the public a chance to view this significant work in a new light and to learn more about its intriguing creator.

For more than 30 years, visitors to the Paris-Bourbon County Public Library in Paris, Kentucky, routinely passed through a small, bright entry foyer – rarely giving a thought to the graceful white statue tucked into a corner by the door. Dressed in flowing veils decorated with floral garlands, this “pretty lady” guarded the library entrance in relative obscurity, drawing occasional glances of admiration and sometimes serving as a prop for seasonal decorations or children’s games.

In late 2006, Estill Curtis Pennington, an internationally-known fine arts historian and consultant, returned to Bourbon County from abroad and visited the library. Though he had passed by the statue many times in the past, something on this visit piqued Pennington's curiosity and he decided to make a closer inspection; an inscription on its base led to positive identification. The Bride of Spring – also known as The Veiled Bride of Spring – is of carved marble, and stands 48” tall including the attached platform base. It is in overall good condition and is now protected by a custom-made glass display box.

Neo-classical sculptor Edmonia Lewis (1845-a.1911) was the first African-American sculptor and woman to gain national prominence. Her mother was from the Mississauga Tribe of the Chippewa Nation and her father a freeman of African descent.  During her childhood, she traveled with the Chippewa and was named Wildfire. She attended school in Albany, New York (1857-59), and then studied liberal arts at Oberlin College, Ohio (1860-63). After an apprenticeship in Boston she moved to Rome in 1865, where The Bride of Spring was created. Lewis returned to the U.S. in 1873-76 for exhibitions of her work. Though she is known to have returned to Rome, little is known of her life or career from the 1880s onward and the time of her death has never been accurately determined.

George Gurney, Deputy Chief Curator and Curator of Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, has indicated that The Bride of Spring is a rare work by Lewis that had long been thought lost.  An idealized classical work that evokes the Roman goddess Flora, The Bride of Spring was created during the height of Lewis’ popularity. It was exhibited in New York in October 1879, and thought to have been acquired by a Cincinnati hospital from the artist and/or exhibition of the work in Cincinnati in the early 1880s. 

After the hospital was closed and demolished, the statue was acquired by Dr. B.N. Pittenger of Paris, Ky., who installed the work in an outdoor garden. In the early 1970’s the Bride, a gift from Dr. Pittenger and his family, came to the Paris-Bourbon County Library where it has resided ever since. This Carnegie library was built in 1904 and the entry foyer where the statue stands was created during a remodeling in the 60’s. In an ironic twist, the library has hosted a number of “price-it” events through the years where the public was invited to bring in their antiques and treasures for evaluation and pricing by a team of experts – always a popular event. All the while, the most wonderful treasure of all was standing unrecognized at the front door!

In light of many pressing needs for space and ongoing building maintenance, the library board recently decided, with regret, to send the piece to auction. After a farewell party on Friday, June 9, the statue left the library on Monday, June 11. It was auctioned in October 2007 at Cowan's Auctions, Inc., in Cincinnati, fetching a price of $120,000. Auction proceeds will be earmarked for a special project at the library to be named in honor of the statue’s donor, the late Dr. B.N. Pittenger.

The Paris-Bourbon County Public Library is located at 701 High Street in downtown Paris, Kentucky – a town of about 9,000 located between Lexington and Cincinnati. Call (859) 987-4419 for more information. And remember, as Dorothy discovered in The Wizard of Oz, sometimes the best treasure is found right at your own front door.

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Copyright Paris-Bourbon County Library 2007, all rights reserved.