The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

A marble sculpture of three men intertwined in hand-to-hand combat. One man is on the ground in between the other two, reaching up towards them and fighting as they fight. All three men have shoulder length hair and are nude from the torso up.

Indian Combat

1868

Edmonia Lewis

(American, c. 1844–1907)
America
marble
Overall: 76.2 x 48.3 x 36.5 cm (30 x 19 x 14 3/8 in.)
American Painting and Sculpture Sundry Purchase Fund and Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2011.110
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Growing up in her Ojibwe community, Lewis went by a name that translates as "Wildfire."

Description

A spiraling composition with three intertwined figures, Indian Combat ranks as Edmonia Lewis’s most dynamic and complex creation. Although her Native American subjects typically exist in multiple versions, this example appears to be unique. Of Indigenous (Ojibwe) and African American ancestry, Edmonia Lewis studied at Oberlin College and apprenticed with a sculptor in Boston before moving to Rome in 1866. Her sculptures were readily purchased by patrons on both sides of the Atlantic.
  • 1950s
    [Unidentified antique/estate consignment shop, Newton, MA]
    1950s-2010
    William (1916-2006) and Betty (1926-2010) Bresnick, Weston, MA
    2010
    [Gabriel's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Norwood, MA]
    2010-2011
    [Gerald Peters Gallery, New York]
    2011
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ausherman, Maria, Masters of Shape: The Lives and Art of American Women Sculptors. (Novato, CA: Goff Books, 2022). Mentioned and reproduced, p. 71.
    Wilder, Jesse Bryant, Art History for Dummies. 2nd edition. (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2022). Mentioned and reproduced, p. 272.
    "Teach to Learn," Cleveland Art 59 (May/June 2019). Mentioned and reproduced, p. 5.
    Huidekoper, Alfred. Glimpses of Europe in 1851 and 1867-8. Meadeville, Pa.: Printed for the Author, 1882.
    Published as: Indians Wrestling Mentioned: P. 184 catalog.hathitrust.org
    Gerdts, William H. "Celebrities of the Grand Tour: The American Sculptors in Florence and Rome." In Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914. Theodore E. Stebbins, ed., 66-93. Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1992. Mentioned: P. 89, as Indians Wrestling.
    Litt, Steven. "Museum Acquires Rare Sculpture." The Plain Dealer (November 11, 2011): B2. Mentioned: P. B2
    Cole, Mark. "Indian Combat." In Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art London; United Kingdom: Scala Books, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 260-261
    "Museums." The Art Newspaper 21 (January 2012): 13-25. Mentioned and reproduced: P.25
    Franklin, David. "Recent Acquisitions (2005—11) at the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Burlington Magazine 154, no. 1312 (July 2012): 525-32. Reproduced: P. 530 www.jstor.org
    Cole, Mark and Helen Forbes-Fields. African American Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. reproduced: p.2; Mentioned: p.3
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 49
    "Education. Teach to Learn." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no. 3 (May/June 2019): 5-11. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 5 archive.org
    Woods, Naurice Frank. Race and Racism in Nineteenth-Century Art: The Ascendency of Robert Duncanson, Edward Bannister, and Edmonia Lewis. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 163-164, fig. 3.5
    Ware, Zaria. Blk Art: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art. New York, NY : Harper Design, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2023. Reproduced: p. 171
    "Meet Your Membership Team.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 1 (2025): 36-37. Reproduced: p. 36 archive.org
  • Artlens Exhibition 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=Indian Combat|url=false|author=Edmonia Lewis|year=1868|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.110