A Labor of Love - Nutshell

History's Greatest Tribute to One of America's Finest Female Sculptors was Ten Years in the Making.

A LABOR OF LOVE - The Life and Art of Vinnie Ream represents the most complete embodiment of this notable artist's work ever compiled. The story of Vinnie Ream (Vinita) Ream, the youngest, and the first female artist, to be awarded a congressional commission, was almost lost in the archives of American history although her sculpture remains prominent in the public eye. Ream was 18 years old when she received the commission for the Lincoln statue beating out several distinguished male sculptors for this honor. A letter in testimony to her skills and talent was signed by 29 senators and 114 representatives.

The life-sized Carrara marble figure of Abraham Lincoln standing in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. is only one of her many prized works. Considering the unequivocal importance of Vinnie Ream's presence in American art and political history, surprisingly little has been accurately and completely compiled about her life. A LABOR OF LOVE - The Life and Art of Vinnie Ream chronicles Ream's mastery and tribulation as a successful woman in the world of art and politics of the 1800s.

Ream was a woman far ahead of her time, who was quoted as saying in a public address in 1909, "Women have at last broken their bonds." She went on to say that women could have both a family life and professional careers. A spirited and expressive woman, even her portrait shows the dichotomy and passion by which Vinnie Ream lived her life. In a portrait taken by the acclaimed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, Ream's Victorian brooch is contrasted by a Native American squash-blossom necklace and earrings .

During her lifetime, she sculpted over 100 pieces, many of them rendering the likeness of major military and political figures of the time. Vinnie Ream's work is far too important to the historical accuracy of America to allow it to fade. Glenn Sherwood's work in A Labor of Love has reclaimed an endangered part of our nation's history. September 25th, 1997, marks the 150 anniversary for Vinnie Ream's birth.

This story is a kind of Gone With the Wind in which an actual woman of noble soul replaces the vicious fictional heroine. Indeed, the history of American women sculptors reads like fiction, because these women had to be unusual and unconventional in order to accomplish what they did in the face of tremendous obstacles.
—Charlotte S. Rubinstein, author of American Women Sculptors and American Women Artists.

Vinnie Ream has long needed a full-length study of her life and work. The tale of this spirited woman's career is a fascinating one and this richly illustrated biography establishes her rightful place in the history of American art.
—Betsy Fahlman, Professor of Art History, Arizona State University.

Glenn Sherwood's revelations are especially startling, persuasive, and riveting. He has placed Vinnie Ream within the fascinating intrigue of Washington politics during the 1860s and revealed the impact of those entanglements with the creation of one of the most controversial works of art of the decade.
—William H. Gerdts, Professor of Art History, The City University of New York, author of American Neoclassical Sculpture and The White, Marmorean Flock.

A prodigiously researched and enchantingly written account of one of the most original, most unusual, and most often overlooked figures of 19th-century American art. Blessed with a keen sense of what made art popular, Vinnie Ream lives again on these pages.
—Harold Holzer, author of The Lincoln Image and The Lincoln Family Album.

A fascinating, thoroughly researched and well-told tale that opens new windows into the political and cultural life of the 19th century. Moreover, it is such a colorful story that it makes most costume dramas of the period pale by comparison.
—Donald R. Kennon, Chief Historian, United States Capitol Historical Society.

We have also had a number of wonderful new books arrive for our library, including the spectacular A Labor of Love: The Life and Art of Vinnie Ream by Glenn V. Sherwood.
—Mary Ruthsdotter, Editor of Women's History Network News, National Women's History Project.

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