Emma Stebbins, New York’s First Woman to Win a Public Sculpture Commission

by The AWT Editors

The bronze angel of the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, wings spread above the fountain’s basins against a blue sky
Emma Stebbins, “Angel of the Waters,” Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, 1870. Bronze and stone. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. © 2026 David Almeida.

Emma Stebbins was born in New York City in 1815, the daughter of a banker, and trained as a painter. By 1843 she was an associate of the National Academy of Design. In 1857, in her early 40s, she moved to Rome, where she turned to sculpture and joined the American and British artists working in marble there. There she met the American actress Charlotte Cushman, who became her partner for the rest of Cushman’s life.

Black-and-white photograph of Charlotte Cushman and Emma Stebbins in dark dresses, one seated and one standing
Charlotte Cushman and Emma Stebbins, c. 1861. Cabinet card photograph, likely by Silsbee, Case & Co., Boston. Houghton Library, Harvard University.
White marble bust of Charlotte Cushman, her hair parted in the middle and pulled back
Emma Stebbins, “Charlotte Cushman,” 1870. Marble. The Heckscher Museum of Art, Museum Purchase from the Charlotte Cushman Foundation, Philadelphia, Pa.

In Rome she carved figures from literature and the Bible, as well as a sailor and a miner, titled “Commerce” and “Industry.”

White marble statue of a young sailor in a cap and loose shirt, leaning on a post wrapped in rope
Emma Stebbins, “Commerce” (also known as “Sailor”), 1860. Marble. The Heckscher Museum of Art, Gift of Philip M. Lydig III.
White marble statue of a young miner in a brimmed hat, a pickaxe over his shoulder
Emma Stebbins, “Industry” (also known as “Miner”), 1860. Marble. The Heckscher Museum of Art, Gift of Philip M. Lydig III.

The Bethesda Fountain

In 1863, Stebbins became the first woman to win a public sculpture commission from New York City, when the city chose her to make the fountain for Bethesda Terrace in Central Park. Her brother Henry was president of the park’s board of commissioners, and some critics said he had steered the job to her. The bronze angel refers to the healing pool of Bethesda in the Gospel of John, and the fountain also celebrates the Croton Aqueduct, which had brought the city clean water since 1842. When “Angel of the Waters” was dedicated in 1873, the reviews were unkind.

Sepia stereograph card with two views of the Bethesda Fountain, printed “American Scenery” on the yellow border
American Scenery, Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, c. 1870s. Stereograph. The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, N.Y.

The couple returned to the United States in 1870 after Cushman was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Stebbins made little new work after that. Following Cushman’s death in 1876, she edited “Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life.” Today the Central Park Conservancy includes the angel in its tours of the park’s LGBTQ history.

“Carving Out History”

“Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History,” the first museum exhibition devoted to her, is on view at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago through April 18, 2027. Organized by the Heckscher Museum of Art and curated by Karli Wurzelbacher, it includes 13 marble sculptures along with paintings and archival material, including a section on her bust of Cushman.

Four white marble statues by Emma Stebbins on purple pedestals in a wood-paneled room with green damask wallpaper
Installation view of “Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History” at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago, 2026. Photo by Robert Chase Heishman for Bob.

The Driehaus Museum is at 50 E. Erie St., Chicago. For more current shows, see On View.

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