
The Shape of Power
Stories of Race and American Sculpture
Princeton University Press
Published on 12. November 2024
Book
Hardback
292 pages
978-0-691-26149-2 (ISBN)
Description
A major new survey of American sculpture, exploring how it both reflects and redefines concepts of race and identity in the United States
How does American sculpture intersect with the history of race in the United States? The three-dimensional qualities of sculpture give it a distinct advantage over other art forms in capturing a subject's likeness, and our minds can swiftly conjure a body and racialize it from the most minimal of prompts. The Shape of Power examines the role of American sculpture, from the nineteenth century to today, in understanding and constructing the concept of race in the United States and how this medium has shaped the way generations have learned to visualize and think about race.
Exploring the relationship between sculpture and ideas about race in the United States, this book provides fresh perspectives on artists ranging from Hiram Powers, Edmonia Lewis, and Augusta Savage to Barbara Chase-Riboud, Titus Kaphar, Raven Halfmoon, Sanford Biggers, Betye Saar, Yolanda Lopez, and Simone Leigh. It reveals how sculptors use this versatile medium to challenge discriminatory ideologies and entrenched social and cultural constructions of race while offering bold new visions of community, identity, and selfhood.
Featuring superb illustrations of sculptural works in a broad range of media, The Shape of Power contributes new scholarship to the understudied field of American sculpture, which hasn't been the subject of a major publication survey in more than fifty years.
Published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Exhibition Schedule
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
November 8, 2024-September 14, 2025
How does American sculpture intersect with the history of race in the United States? The three-dimensional qualities of sculpture give it a distinct advantage over other art forms in capturing a subject's likeness, and our minds can swiftly conjure a body and racialize it from the most minimal of prompts. The Shape of Power examines the role of American sculpture, from the nineteenth century to today, in understanding and constructing the concept of race in the United States and how this medium has shaped the way generations have learned to visualize and think about race.
Exploring the relationship between sculpture and ideas about race in the United States, this book provides fresh perspectives on artists ranging from Hiram Powers, Edmonia Lewis, and Augusta Savage to Barbara Chase-Riboud, Titus Kaphar, Raven Halfmoon, Sanford Biggers, Betye Saar, Yolanda Lopez, and Simone Leigh. It reveals how sculptors use this versatile medium to challenge discriminatory ideologies and entrenched social and cultural constructions of race while offering bold new visions of community, identity, and selfhood.
Featuring superb illustrations of sculptural works in a broad range of media, The Shape of Power contributes new scholarship to the understudied field of American sculpture, which hasn't been the subject of a major publication survey in more than fifty years.
Published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Exhibition Schedule
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
November 8, 2024-September 14, 2025
Reviews / Votes
"Finalist for the George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award, Art Libraries Society of America" "Shortlisted for the Alfred J. Barr Book Award, College Art Association" "A stimulating study of the intersection between race and art." * Publishers Weekly * "Excellent [and] forceful. . . . A must read. . . . [The Shape of Power is] a poignant companion work to an important and significant exhibition and an essential contextual experience for librarians, students, artists, museum educators, historians, and the general public." * Library Journal Starred Review * "[The Shape of Power] exemplifies the country's pride in its ability to look at itself critically, to acknowledge the past while forging new paradigms capable of inspiring future generations."---Lisa N. Peters, ARLIS/NA Reviews "[The Shape of Power] challenges the very notion of canon by presenting diverse sculptural visions of American peoples and their histories in texts and images." * Choice *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
190 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 312 mm
Width: 247 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
1942 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-26149-2 (9780691261492)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Karen Lemmey | Tobias Wofford | Grace Yasumura
The Shape of Power
Stories of Race and American Sculpture
E-Book
11/2024
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€63.49
Available for download
Persons
Karen Lemmey is the Lucy S. Rhame Curator of Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Tobias Wofford is associate professor of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University. Grace Yasumura is assistant curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.