Franzisca Bernadina Wilhelmina Elisabeth Ney (26 January 1833, Münster — 29 June 1907, Austin, Texas) was a celebrated German-born sculptor who spent the first half of her life and career in Europe, producing sculpted works of famous leaders such as Otto von Bismarck, Giuseppe Garibaldi and King George V of Hanover. At age 39, she immigrated to Texas with her husband Edmund Montgomery
and became a pioneer in the development of art there. Some of her most
famous works during her Texas period included sculptures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. Her works can be found in the Texas State Capitol, the US Capitol, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Ney was born in Münster, Westphalia, Germany
to Johann Adam Ney, a stonecarver, and his wife Anna Elizabeth on
January 26, 1833. The only other surviving child in the Ney family was
her older brother Fritz. Her parents were Catholics of Alsatian–Polish heritage. She was the great-niece of Michel Ney, Marshal of France. Early in life, she declared her goal “to know great persons.”[1][2]
Ney grew up assisting her stonecutter father in his work. She went on
a weeks-long hunger strike when her parents opposed her becoming a
sculptor, prompting her parents to request the assistance of their local
Catholic church’s Bishop. They finally relented and in 1852, she became
the first female sculpture student at the all-male Munich Academy of Art by professor Max von Widnmann. She received her diploma on July 29, 1854. After graduating she moved to Berlin to study under Christian Daniel Rauch.[3][4]
Ney opened a studio in Berlin in 1857. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer
agreed to sit for a sculpted portrait at the persuasion of Edmund
Montgomery. It was hailed as an artistic success and led to other
commissions, most notably Jacob Grimm of the Brothers Grimm, Italian military leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, composer Richard Wagner as well as his future wife and daughter of Franz Liszt, Cosima von Bülow, Prussian-German political figure Otto von Bismarck, and King George V of Hanover who in turn commissioned her for a portrait of composer Josef Joachim.
Shortly after completing the Bismarck bust, she was commissioned in
1868 by Prussian agents to sculpt a full-length portrait of Ludwig II of Bavaria in Munich. Her works of this period were in a traditional classical German style with an emphasis on realism and accurate scale.[1][5]
In the early 1880s, Ney, by then a Texas resident, was invited to Austin by Governor Oran M. Roberts, which resulted in resumption of her artistic career.[6] In 1892, she built a studio and named it Formosa in the Hyde Park neighborhood north of Austin and began to seek commissions.[1][7]
In 1891, Ney was commissioned by the Board of Lady Managers of the
Chicago World’s Fair Association, and supplemented with $32,000 by the
Texas state legislature, to model Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.[1][8][9] The marble sculptures of Houston and Austin can now be seen in both the Texas State Capitol in Austin and in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. She was also commissioned to do a memorial to career military officer and war hero Albert Sidney Johnston which sits at his grave in the Texas State Cemetery.[10] She also sculpted a statue of Lady Macbeth that is now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection. She succeeded in having political figure, presidential candidate, and noted attorney William Jennings Bryan sit for a portrait.
The 1903 life-size portrait bust of Dr. David Thomas Iglehart can be found at Symphony Square in Austin, where it is on permanent loan to the Austin Symphony Society.[11] Possibly the last known work of Ney, that of a tousled haired cherub resting over a grave and known as the 1906 Schnerr Memorial, can be found at Der Stadt Friedhof in Fredericksburg, Texas.[12][13]
In addition to her sculpting activities, Ney was also active in
cultural affairs in Austin. Formosa become a center for cultural
gatherings and curiosity seekers. Both composer Paderewski and Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova were among her visitors.[1]
While visiting friends in Heidelberg in 1853, Ney made the acquaintance of a young Scottish medical student, scientist, and philosopher[14]
named Edmund Montgomery. It would be a meeting of minds and idealist
rebellious spirits. They kept in touch, although she viewed the
institution of marriage as a state of bondage for women. He would not be
deterred, and after he established a medical practice in Madeira, they were married at the British consulate on November 7, 1863.
Ney, however, remained outspoken about women’s roles. She refused to
use Montgomery’s name, often denied she was even married, and once
remarked:[1][2][15]
“
Women
are fools to be bothered with housework. Look at me; I sleep in a
hammock which requires no making up. I break an egg and sip it raw. I
make lemonade in a glass, and then rinse it, and my housework is done
for the day.
”
She wore pants and rode her horses astride as men did. She liked to
fashion her own clothes, which, in addition to the slacks, included
boots and a black artist frock coat.[4]
Montgomery was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1863. By 1870, the Franco-Prussian War
had begun. In autumn of that year, Ney became pregnant with their first
child. Montgomery received a letter from his friend Baron Carl Vicco
Otto Friedrich Constantin von Stralendorff of Mecklenburg-Schwerin who had moved to Thomasville, Georgia with his new wife Margaret Elizabeth Russell of Boston, Massachusetts, declaring the location “Earth’s paradise.”[16]
On January 14, 1871, Ney and Montgomery, accompanied by their
housekeeper Cenci, emigrated to Georgia, to a colony promoted as a
resort for consumptives. Son Arthur (1871–1873) was born in Georgia, and
son Lorne (1872–1913) was born in Red Wing, Minnesota during one of their travels.[16] Baron and Baroness von Stralendorff returned to Wismar, Germany where he died on July 1, 1872.[17][18][19]
In 1873, Ney traveled alone to Texas. With the help of German Consul Julius Runge in Galveston, she was shown Liendo Plantation near Hempstead in Waller County, Texas.
On March 4, 1873, Montgomery and the rest of the family arrived, and he
purchased it. While he tended to his research, she ran it for the next
twenty years. Oldest son Arthur died of diphtheria in 1873.[20][21]
Ney died in Austin on June 29, 1907 and is buried next to Montgomery, who died four years later, at Liendo Plantation.[22]
Upon her death, Montgomery sold the Formosa studio to Ella Dancy
Dibrell. As per her wishes, its contents were bequeathed to the University of Texas at Austin,
but were to remain in the building. In 1911, Dibrell and other friends
established the Texas Fine Arts Association (now known as Arthouse) in
her honor. It is the oldest Texas-wide organization existing for support
of the visual arts. Formosa is now the home of the Elisabet Ney Museum. In 1941, the City of Austin took over the ownership and operation.[6][9][23]
In 1961, Lake Jackson Primary School in Lake Jackson, Texas was renamed Elisabet Ney Elementary School in her honor.[24]
Art's Hers 