Sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller

Recently I was reading about Meta Warrick Fuller, the renowned African American painter and sculptor who was born Meta Warrick on June 9, 1877 in Philadelphia, and reared in the same city.  At the age of 18 she won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Museum and School for Industrial Art.  After graduating with honors in 1899, she sailed to Paris, France.

In Paris, Meta Warrick studied at the Academie Colaross, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and with figure painter Raphael Collin.  In 1902 she exhibited sculpture at S. Bing’s gallery, L’Art Nouveau and met and studied with master sculptor Auguste Rodin.  Her works, The Wretched and The Impenitent Thief exhibited at the Salon in Paris just before she returned to the United States. 

After she returned to the States, she continued creating and exhibiting various works of art.  In 1907, Meta Warrick married Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller, who became the first black psychiatrist in the world.  After her marriage in Massachusetts, she continued her career into the Harlem Renaissance Era and beyond.  She died on March 18, 1968.