#Vinnie Ream

[prokopetz]

[abwwia]

Vinnie Ream at work on her Lincoln bust, which rests upon the stand she used in the White House while President Lincoln posed for her.

Lavinia Ellen "Vinnie" Ream Hoxie (September 25, 1847 – November 20, 1914) was an American sculptor. Her most famous work is the statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in the United States Capitol rotunda. Ream's Statue of Sequoyah and Statue of Samuel J. Kirkwood, both part of the National Statuary Hall collection. Other notable works by Ream include the Statue of David Farragut and the Bust of Edwin B. Hay, which are also both located in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Ream created works which were displayed at The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. via Wikipedia

[valkyries-things]

VINNIE REAM // SCULPTOR

“She was an American sculptor, best remembered for her sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, DC. She was an amateur who got the commission aged just eighteen, the first woman to win such an assignment from the federal government. In 1875 she beat prominent male artists to win a $20,000 government commission to create a bronze statue of Admiral David G. Farragut. Cast from the propeller of the naval hero's flagship, it stands in Farragut Square, Washington, DC. She gave up sculpture for many years because her husband didn't like it.”

[metastablephysicist]

the villanis sapho is fine but what about vinnie ream etc? you gotta branch out to 3d printing other sapphos

[xxmarvelouslifexx]

Alright here is the D.C. photodump. This will be a long post so extra hidden below the cut

My first stop was of course to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to see this ridiculous monument.

Yes that is our pater patriae George Washington in a slutty toga. It's by Horatio Greenough, commissioned by Congress in 1832 to mark Washington's 100th birthday. It's honestly very impressive the details are so cool. This is the inscription on the back:

(Can I say that a Cato the Younger sculpture in this pose would go so hard.)

I also saw the American flag from 1814 that inspired the National Anthem. I didn't even know we still had that around.

Next up was the National Portrait Gallery. It turns out that besides portraits they have a ton of other art in there, in particular a lot of sculptures.

The Libyan Sibyl-William Wetmore Story (1868); The Falling Gladiator-William Rimmer (1861); The Death of Cleopatra-Edmonia Lewis (1876); Sappho-Vinnie Ream (1870)

A theme I noticed, which seems obvious now is that many of the roman influenced works were created around the time of the U.S. Civil War.

I also made sure to drop by the National Archives Museum to see the founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. They are so faded and very hard to decipher. Didn't get very good pictures inside but the building itself is of course very impressive.

These guys guard the entrance as well:

I stumbled very briefly through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History but didn't even manage to get any pictures.

I did however get a lot of pictures at the National Gallery of Art. Honestly I was just looking for anything roman. But I also found a da Vinci!

Ginevra de' Benci-Leonardo da Vinci (1474)

And it looks like I have too many pictures to share so I will have to do a second post.

All the museums are so interesting and also free! I wish I had more time to see all of them. But hopefully I will go back some day and see everything I missed.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.27 (before 1940)

1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina. 1540 – Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. 1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines, is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country. 1635 – In the Eighty Years' War, the Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans. 1656 – Second Northern War: Battle of Warsaw begins. 1778 – Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain. 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France. 1808 – Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1809 – Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte. 1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain. 1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and now a museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia. 1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln). 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law. 1883 – A moderate earthquake measuring magnitude 4.3–5.2 strikes the Italian island of Ischia, killing over 2,300 people. 1896 – The city of Miami is incorporated. 1911 – The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began as the SY Aurora departed London. 1914 – In the culmination of the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, igniting World War I. 1915 – The United States begins a 19-year occupation of Haiti. 1917 – The Silent Parade takes place in New York City, in protest against murders, lynchings, and other violence directed towards African Americans. 1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C. 1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. 1938 – Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service. 1939 – The Sutton Hoo helmet is discovered.

[vinniedangerous]

Road To D(ream) T(il) I(t’s) O(ver) continues 📍New video drops Friday on

[chcrrybcmbs]

this  was  an  entirely  new  situation  for  him  ,  in  more  ways  than  one  .  the  facade  they  were  carrying  on  between  them  hard  enough  but  to  find  himself  between  two  woman  throughout  it  was  even  more  of  a  shock  to  his  system  .  it  wasn't  him  ,  his  mother  would  likely  ream  him  a  new  ass  for  this  ,  if  she  knew  .  he  could  feel  the  shift  in  her  demeanor  with  him  instantly  ,  their  run  in  -  in  new  york  enough  of  a  catalyst  for  it  .  "  want  to  tell  you  ?  "  he  questions  ,  as  if  to  buy  himself  some  time  .  one  thing  vinnie  wasn't  was  a  liar  ,  he'd  have  no  choice  but  to  tell  her  if  she  asked  him  but  he  also  struggled  with  the  idea  of  owning  up  to  breaking  a  promise  ...  even  if  it  was  one  he  didn't  quite  understand  why  he  had  to  make  it  .  "  don't  really  want  to  tell  you  anything  right  now  ...  "  he  motions  toward  her  arms  folded  across  her  chest  ,  "  from  the  looks  of  it  you  don't  really  want  to  hear  what  i  have  to  say  ,  body  language  speaks  volumes  ,  yknow  ?  "      

a closed starter for VINNIE , @chcrrybcmbs !

her icy disposition differed from the former level of comfort that stacey had developed in the males presence , sour feelings harbored . ones that were only likely to grow stronger , if she managed to draw out any further truths from vinnie that had still gone unspoken . truths that she'd already safely assumed in her mind . " if you've got anything you want to tell me , tell me now " emotionless expression washed over features as she addressed the other , arms folded firmly over her chest as a sure sign that her defense was well and truly up , " ― because i will find out either way . "

[coltonwbrown]

Abraham Lincoln sculpture in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Sculpted by Vinnie Ream

Podcast: Vinnie Ream and a Senate Debate

[oaesiir-beloved-of-heaven]

The Vinnie Ream Farragut monument with Connecticut Avenue in the background.

[abwwia]

Sculptor Vinnie Ream with a bust of her statue of Abraham Lincoln, 1865. The full statue now stands in the US Capitol Rotunda.

[schmergo]

Happy Presidents Day! Today, I learned that the sculptor who created the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Capitol rotunda looked like THIS! I guess artists have always had interesting hair! Her name was Vinnie Ream and she began work on a bust of Lincoln that eventually evolved into the basis for the statue when she was only 16-17 years old and the finished statue was unveiled when she was only 23, making her the youngest artist and the first woman to have a work commissioned by the government. She won a contest to be the one to create the statue against many more established sculptors

. Also, she created the statue in Farragut Square (also winning a contest to do so) in DC, aka the square I pass through every time I go to the National Geographic Museum. She got married when she was 30 and her husband made her give up sculpting for money because it wasn't 'ladylike.' She did do some more work later in life, but the world of art had moved on. However, one of her sculptures marks the grave that she and her husband share at Arlington National Cemetery.

[marzipanandminutiae]

I'm doing some research on Vinnie Ream (19th century sculptor, she made Lincoln's rotunda statue after his death) and was surprised by how all of her portraits feature her with her curly hair down. Was this surprising for a woman past her teens? (To be fair, she is in her teens in some of her portraits.) I suppose it may be part of her artistic image, but would it have seemed "eccentric" in post-civil war DC? Any thoughts are much appreciated!

I looked her up and it looks like a combination of an artistic affectation and the more extreme early 1870s popular hairstyles.

This:

is definitely not normal or fashionable. Her dress is also more on the eccentric and artsy side. (Note, though- she does seem to be wearing a corset. You can be rebellious and still be supported.)

Then you get things like this:

which hew a bit closer to more typical cascading-but-up 1870s styles.

(Unidentified woman, early 1870s. Help, I’m gay.)

(Fashion plate, 1870s. No specific date or publication. Note bottom left woman.)

So yeah. It’s just one woman being very unusual for her era. I’d be curious to know whether she carried this choice into her everyday life, too, or only for photos. It can’t have been practical for going about one’s day, let alone sculpting.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.28 (before 1900)

1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina. 1540 – Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.[2] 1540 – Henry VIII of England former Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, is executed on charges of treason. 1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines, is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country. 1635 – In the Eighty Years' War, the Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans. 1656 – Second Northern War: Battle of Warsaw begins. 1778 – Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain. 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France. 1808 – Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1809 – Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte. 1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain. 1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and now a museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia. 1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln). 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law. 1883 – A moderate earthquake measuring magnitude 4.3–5.2 strikes the Italian island of Ischia, killing over 2,300 people. 1896 – The city of Miami is incorporated.

[transparenttriumphzombie]

Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons (probably 1922– 18 September 2000) was a prolific English author and biographer. Born as Gordon Langley Hall, Simmons lived her first decades as a male. As a young adult, she became close to British actress Dame Margaret Rutherford, who she considered an adoptive mother, and who was the subject of a biography Simmons wrote in later years. After sex reassignment surgery in 1968, Simmons wed in the first legal interracial marriage in South Carolina.

Simmons' parents were servants at Sissinghurst Castle, the English estate of biographer Harold Nicolson and his novelist wife, Vita Sackville-West. Simmons was born in Sussex as Gordon Langley Hall to Jack Copper, Vita Sackville-West's chauffeur, and another servant, Marjorie Hall Ticehurst, before they were married. Although she claimed to have been born with an unusual condition that resulted in the swelling of her genitals with the result that she was mistakenly identified as a boy, Charleston author Edward Ball's book Peninsula of Lies (2004) states that she was born male.

As a child, Simmons was raised by her grandmother and at one point visited the castle and met Virginia Woolf, Sackville-West's lover. Woolf made Sackville-West the subject of the novel Orlando: A Biography, which bears a striking resemblance to Simmons' own life story.

In 1946 Simmons emigrated to Canada. Still living as a man, she crew cut her hair and became a teacher on the Ojibway native reserve on Lake Nipigon, experiences from which were translated into the best-selling Me Papoose Sitter (1955)—the first of many published books.

After a stint as an editor for the Winnipeg Free Press, Simmons moved back to England in 1947, to teach theater at the Gregg School in Croydon, Surrey. She moved to the United States in 1950, and became the society editor for the Nevada Daily Mail in Missouri before moving to New York and working as the society editor of the Port Chester Daily Item. Shortly after moving to New York, Simmons met artist Isabel Whitney, beginning a friendship that would last until Whitney's death in 1962.

During this time, Simmons began a prolific writing career, including a series of biographies which covered personalities such as Princess Margaret (1958), Jacqueline Kennedy (1964), Lady Bird Johnson (1967), and Mary Todd Lincoln (1970) among many more. While living in Whitney's New York townhouse in the 1950s, Simmons was introduced to Margaret Rutherford and her husband Stringer Davis. Rutherford, interested in meeting Simmons to discuss a role in a possible adaptation of Me Papoose Sitter, became enamored with the young author and she and Davis agreed to serve as unofficial adoptive parents. Subsequently, Simmons and Whitney purchased a house in Charleston, South Carolina, though Whitney would die two weeks later, leaving Simmons the house and $2 million.

The mansion Simmons purchased with Whitney, was located in the Anson borough neighborhood of Charleston, a neighborhood known for housing the city's queer elite.[2][5] Simmons began restoring the house, and designed the interior with early American antiques and furniture by Thomas Chippendale. Much later, shortly before her death, her pursuit of Chippendale pieces brought her into contact with Edward Ball, a journalist whose family had owned a Chippendale-style commode, and who would later write a biography about her.

In her autobiographical books, Simmons said she was born intersex with ambiguous genitalia, as well as an internal uterus and ovaries, and was inappropriately assigned male at birth. Simmons underwent sex reassignment surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1968, carried out by Dr. Milton Edgerton.[5] In Ball's Peninsula of Lies, he disputes Simmons claim that she was intersex, suggesting instead that Simmons had male genitalia and was unable to bear children.

Simmons legally changed her name to Dawn Pepita Langley Hall, and became engaged to John-Paul Simmons, then a young black motor mechanic with dreams of becoming a sculptor. Their marriage on 21 January 1969 was the first legal interracial marriage in South Carolina, and the ceremony was carried out in their drawing room reportedly after threats to bomb the church.  After a second ceremony in England, the crate containing their wedding gifts was firebombed in Charleston, and Simmons received a ticket the next day when the charred remains were obstructing a sidewalk.

On 17 October 1971, her daughter, Natasha Margienell Manigault Paul Simmons, was born, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[5] Ball claims to have been told by John-Paul Simmons that Natasha was his child from another relationship, although "Natasha fervently believed Dawn was her mother".

After an intruder raped Simmons and broke her arm, the family moved to Catskill, New York.

In 1982, she divorced John-Paul Simmons, who had been abusive and suffered from schizophrenia.[5] After spending several years in Hudson, New York, she moved in with her daughter and three grandchildren, who had returned to Charleston.[2] In 1985, while back in Charleston, Simmons was featured as an extra in several scenes of ABC's miniseries North and South.

In her final years, Simmons developed Parkinson's disease, and died at her daughter's home on 18 September 2000.

In the 1987 film Withnail and I, set in 1969, the character Marwood reads a tabloid newspaper article about Gordon Langley Hall, entitled "I Had to Become a Woman".[8][9] Author Jack Hitt profiled Simmons in a 1996 episode of This American Life titled "Dawn".[10] Hitt, a native of Charleston, had grown up down the street from Simmons. From interviews, including with Simmons, Hitt assembled stories of her transsexuality, interracial marriages in the South, her rumoured voodoo powers, and rumoured hosting of a full-fledged debut for her chihuahua. Hitt expanded the piece for publication in the October 1998 GQ.

Saraband for a saint: A modern morality play in two acts (1954)

Me Papoose Sitter (1955)

The Gypsy Condesa (1958)

Princess Margaret (1958)

Golden boats from Burma: The life of Ann Hasseltine Judson, the first American woman in Burma (1961)

Peter Jumping Horse (1961)

The two lives of Baby Doe (1962)

Vinnie Ream: The story of the girl who sculptured Lincoln (1963)

Jacqueline Kennedy: A biography (1964)

The Sawdust Trail: The story of American evangelism (1964)

Dear Vagabonds: The story of Roy and Brownie Adams (1964)

Osceola (1964)

Mr Jefferson's Ladies (1966)

Lady Bird and her daughters (1967)

William, Father of The Netherlands (1969)

A rose for Mrs. Lincoln: A biography of Mary Todd Lincoln (1970)

Man into woman: a transsexual autobiography (1971)

All for Love (1975)

Rosalynn Carter: Her Life Story (1979)

Margaret Rutherford: A blithe spirit (1983)

The Two Worlds of Pearl S. Buck (1992)

She-Crab Soup (1994)

Dawn: A Charleston Legend (1995)

[sapphicambitions]

“Sappho” by Vinnie Ream