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Artist Profile: Elisabeth Ney

By Shelley Esaak, About.com

Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:

Realism

Date and Place of Birth:

January 26, 1833, Münster, Westphalia, Germany

Life:

Elisabeth Ney was highly unusual in her day. As a young woman, she waged a hunger strike until her father allowed her to go to the Munich Art Academy (she was its first female sculpture student). Famous by the age of 30, she had received commissions to model kings and luminaries. After immigrating to America with her husband, she took a 25-year break from art to manage a plantation near Austin, Texas. She readdressed sculpture when nearing the age of 60 and went on to produce her finest works.

Important Works:

    King Ludwig II (1868)
    Sam Houston (1892)
    Stephen Austin (1893)
    Lady Macbeth (1902)
Date and Place of Death:

June 29, 1907, Austin, Texas

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