Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xi)
• Acknowledgments (p. xiii)
• 1 A Rebellions Personality (p. 1)
• 2 The Great Men of the World (p. 20)
• 3 A Revolutionary and a King (p. 41)
• 4 The Log Castle (p. 71)
• 5 Gone to Texas (p. 89)
• 6 Sculpture on the Frontier (p. 112)
• 7 The Greatest of the Wild Men (p. 128)
• 8 Among the Bushmen (p. 143)
• 9 For Brave and Good Deeds (p. 160)
• 10 The Art of the Women (p. 176)
• 11 Self-Portrait (p. 197)
• Epilogue (p. 221)
• Notes (p. 225)
• Bibliographical Essay (p. 253)
• Index (p. 263)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Eccentric, aloof German-American sculptor Elisabet Ney (1833-1907) made her way in a man's world by promoting an image of herself as a romantic rebel. She has inspired novels, plays and biographies, but much of this literature, according to Cutrer, perpetuates unfounded mythssuch as the belief that she fled Germany because she was a secret agent of Bismarck. Her busts of Garibaldi, Schopenhauer and half-mad Ludwig of Bavaria never broke out of the neoclassical mold. Emigrating to Texas in 1871, she and her physician husband bought a decrepit, isolated plantation. Cutrer's rigorous biographical-critical study paints a vivid picture of this adventurous woman's frustrating existence as a frontier artist, ever short on sculptor's supplies and appreciation. Lady MacBeth, the piece that crowned her career in the U.S., is a moving exploration of a woman's grief that may reflect Ney's own private anguish. Illustrations not seen by PW. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

A scholarly biography of Elisabet Ney (1833-1907), the German-born neoclassical sculptor who moved to Texas in 1871. Ney was well established in Europe and was known for her portrait busts and medallions of famous people (e.g., Schopenhauer, Bismarck and Garibaldi). She became the center of the Texas art world and made sculptures of Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and William Jennings Bryan. Her most famous sculpture, Lady Macbeth, was executed at the age of 72. Cutrer (University of Texas, Austin) is thoroughly familiar with her subject. The book contains much original and unpublished material and corrects many errors and misrepresentations perpetuated in previous biographies. There are 26 pages of footnotes, a list of collections consulted, and an index. Especially noteworthy is the bibliographic essay that details all her sources in English and in German. The black-and-white photographic illustrations could be clearer, but add to the understanding of the text. A thorough work, well documented, and the most definitive on this subject to date. -P. Brauch, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Kirkus Book Review

A solid biography of an immigrant German sculptor who settled in the Wild West. Elizabet Ney was, from the evidence of the works illustrated here, a largely uninspired academician whose portraits included such 19th-century ""great men"" as Garibaldi and ""Mad"" King Ludwig of Bavaria. It was in Europe, in fact, that Ney achieved most of whatever renown she enjoyed. Once she had fled her native land--there was talk of her being involved in spying--she found it difficult to interest the Texans, among whom she and her doctor husband settled, in her grandiose sculptures. Nor was her lifestyle--eccentric dress, questions about her marital status, abrasive and self-promoting pronouncements--likely to endear her to her prairie neighbors. She was, however, eventually able to obtain a commission for the portraits of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin now in the Scuplture Hall of the National Capitol. Cutrer is refreshingly straightforward in her treatment of her subject. She refuses to inflate Ney's reputation, for example, admitting that many of the works are stiff and unconvincing, and that Ney could be prickly, moralistic, and domineering. Cutrer is also quite perceptive in her discussions of the ironies involved in Ney's determination to use the world's ""great men"" to achieve her own fame and independence. A constantly involving, if a minor addition to feminist studies. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.