Edna Manley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Most Honourable
Edna Swithenbank Manley
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The sculpture Negro Aroused by Edna Manley on Kingston Waterfront
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| Born | 28 February 1900 |
| Died | 2 February 1987 (aged 86) |
| Spouse(s) | Norman Manley (1921–1969) |
Edna Swithenbank Manley (born February 28, 1900 – died February 2, 1987) was one of Jamaica's most important artists and art teachers. She was best known for her sculptures, but she also created many drawings and paintings. Her artwork is a big part of the National Gallery of Jamaica's collection. You can also see her work in other public places in Jamaica, like the Bustamante Children's Hospital and the University of the West Indies.
Edna Manley first learned art in the traditional British style. In the 1920s and 1930s, she started trying out modern art styles. She then made them her own unique way of creating.
She was a strong supporter of art education in Jamaica from early on. In the 1940s, she started and taught art classes at the Junior Centre of the Institute of Jamaica. These classes grew into the Jamaica School of Art and Craft, which opened in 1950. This was Jamaica's very first art school! In 1995, the school became a college and was renamed the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. This was done to honor her important role in Jamaican art.
Edna Manley was also the wife of Norman Manley, who started the People's National Party in Jamaica and became Jamaica's first Premier. Many people call her the "mother of Jamaican art."
Contents
Her Life Story
Growing Up
Edna Swithenbank was born on February 28, 1900, in England. She grew up there with her father, Harvey Swithenbank, her Jamaican mother, Ellie Shearer, and her eight brothers and sisters. Her mother, Ellie, was the sister of Margaret Ann Shearer, who married Thomas Manley. Their son was Norman Washington Manley, who would later become Edna's husband.
Edna's father passed away when she was nine years old. Her mother then raised all nine children by herself. Edna Manley was known for being very independent and spirited. She caused a stir in her family by embracing her "coloured" heritage from her mother's side. This part of their family history had been kept quiet because of how people felt about race in the early 1900s.
Her Education and Family
After high school, Edna studied art at several schools in London, including St. Martin's School of Art. She also took private lessons. For a while, she even wanted to become a zoologist, which is someone who studies animals.
In 1921, she married her cousin, Norman Manley. They had met when Edna was 14 and Norman was 22. They later reconnected and got married. They had two sons: Michael Manley, who later became a Prime Minister, and Douglas Manley, who became a sociologist and government minister. In 1922, after Douglas was born, they moved to Jamaica. Edna quickly noticed how different life was in Jamaica compared to England. She wrote down her thoughts and experiences in journals.
Her Role in Politics
Edna Manley's art and life were greatly shaped by her husband's and sons' political work. She was involved in politics not just through her family, but also through the topics she explored in her art, like culture and women's rights. Her sister, Lena, was a first-wave feminist who fought for women's right to vote. While Edna didn't fight in the same way, her success in the art world, which was mostly male, helped pave the way for other women in Jamaica.
As her husband and sons became more involved in Jamaican politics and formed the People's National Party (PNP), Edna also became interested in socialist ideas. She strongly supported the party and its goals. Politics became a big part of her life. This influence was clearly seen in her artwork during the 1960s and 1970s, when Jamaica faced a lot of social and political challenges.
Later Years
Norman Manley, her husband, passed away in 1969. Edna felt very lost after his death. She said that her art was what saved her. In 1975, she decided to focus more on painting and stopped sculpting. This was because of her age and the physical strain of sculpting. She always kept her own identity and was not just known as her famous husband's wife. Edna Manley died on February 2, 1987, just a few weeks before her 87th birthday. She is remembered as an inspiring woman who made her own way and continues to influence artists today.
Her Artistic Journey
Early Art and Style
When Edna first moved to Jamaica, she was frustrated by the lack of art exhibitions and how people viewed art. They seemed to think it was just a hobby. But this didn't stop her! She created her first important Jamaican artwork, The Beadseller (1922). This was a time of change for her art style. She started moving away from the traditional art she knew and began exploring modernism. Her new observations of life in Jamaica inspired this change.
Soon after, she created The Listener (1922), which also showed a geometric and cubist style. This cubist influence came from the famous artist Pablo Picasso. Edna had studied all the art trends in Europe before moving to the Caribbean. She sent plaster versions of The Beadseller and The Listener to England in 1923 to be cast in bronze. This helped her get accepted into the Society of Women's Artists. The Beadseller was even shown in their 1924 exhibition. She continued to travel between Jamaica and England to find places to show her art and get new ideas.
Between 1925 and 1929, Manley's art became softer, with more rounded shapes. Works like Market Women and Demeter show this change. In the 1930s, her style changed again. She combined her earlier cubist lines with rounder forms, creating a unique style that lasted into the 1940s. She was also inspired by Picasso's classical art period.
Her sculpture Eve (1929) is a good example of this rounded style. It was carved from a single piece of mahogany wood. The sculpture shows Eve looking back, representing her looking back at the Garden of Eden after being expelled.
Edna Manley's works became well-known by 1927. French newspapers even wrote about her art. In 1929, her sculptures like Eve and The boy and the reed were shown in a major exhibition in London.
Moving to Jamaica deeply affected her work. She stopped studying zoology and her art became more "elegant," as one art expert described. Manley often used local woods like mahogany and cedar for her sculptures.
Art Reflecting Jamaica's Changes
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Jamaica was going through big political changes. People wanted to end the old colonial system. They protested with strikes and riots, demanding better jobs and living conditions. Manley's art during this time showed this unrest. Sculptures like Prophet, Diggers, Pocomania, and Negro Aroused captured the strong feelings of the Jamaican people. They showed their growing anger against the colonial rule.
Her artworks were often shown in England between 1927 and 1980. Her first solo exhibition in Jamaica was in 1937. This show was a big moment for Jamaica's art scene. It led to the first group show of Jamaican artists across the island. Manley also helped start the new Jamaica School of Art.
The Prophet
The Prophet is a sculpture of an African man with strong, raised arms. His hands are open, like someone waking up and stretching. His head is turned to the side, looking down with a serious face. The sculpture shows a powerful, ready-to-fight stance. Even though it's not a full body, it has a strong presence. It represents the feeling of the common people at that time, ready for change.
Edna Manley described The Prophet as a figure that "powerfully denounced cruelty, poverty, injustice." It was like a prophet who came down from the hills to speak out against the world he saw.
In January 1937, Edna Manley held her first solo art show in Kingston, Jamaica. It was a huge success, with over 800 people visiting. People even asked the government to buy Negro Aroused. This sculpture was bought through fundraisers and given to the Institute of Jamaica.
Later that year, her exhibition opened in England. The reviews were not as good. Critics didn't understand the political meaning of her art. They were far from the political changes happening in Jamaica.
In 1938, Jamaica saw many strikes and riots. People demanded better wages and jobs. A leader named Alexander Bustamante fought for the common people and was even jailed. Norman Manley also formed the People's National Party (PNP) during this time. Edna Manley created several artworks, including Strike, which showed the country's political unrest. She also designed The Rising Sun logo for the PNP, which symbolized the start of new Jamaican politics.
Art in the 1940s
Edna Manley created many famous sculptures, including Negro Aroused, which are now part of the National Gallery of Jamaica's collection. Some of her works from 1935 to 1940 include Mountain Girl, The Prophet, and Pocomania. Later works like Before Thought and Into the Mist (1941-1948) showed her thoughts on her personal life and family.
In 1941, she wrote in her diary about wanting to carve "two Gods dark and light." She wanted her art to flow freely, without worrying too much. This led to her Dying God series, where she explored new styles. These carvings were very personal but also universal.
Horse of the Morning (1943)
Manley carved Horse of the Morning in 1943 using Guatemalan redwood. This sculpture shows a new phase in her work. She combined private symbols, inspired by the Jamaican Blue Mountains, with a more painterly style. Horse of the Morning is one of her most famous works from this period. It was given to the National Gallery by her son, Michael Manley.
Art in the 1950s
Edna Manley helped develop Jamaican art as a teacher and supporter. She played a part in starting the Jamaica School of Art and Crafts in 1950. The 1950s and 1960s were less active years for her art, but she still created some pieces.
In 1951, she received her first public art job: creating a crucifix for the All Saints Anglican Church in Kingston. Most of her sculptures from this time were special commissions.
In 1952, she worked on ideas for a competition in Britain. She also created a small carving called The Secret. Another piece from this time was a small wooden plaque for Noël Coward, designed for a gramophone cabinet. It showed two heads, a man and a woman, in an intimate conversation.
Into the Sun (1954)
Into the Sun is a drawing by Edna Manley from 1954. It shows a black man riding a white horse, charging across the sky. The background shows both day and night, with the sun and moon. This image is like a descendant of Negro Aroused, but now the man is a person of action. He is the symbol of a new Jamaica, moving forward and claiming its place.
In 1958, she created Growth, a powerful sculpture that continued themes from her Dying God series. It shows a horse with a wise head, and figures waking up to a new existence. Growth was bought by the Institute of Jamaica. In 1959, she created a more personal carving of a young girl hugging a small goat. This was inspired by her 12-year-old granddaughter, Rachel.
Negro Aroused – The Famous Sculpture
While Edna Manley was in London, she found out that the people of Jamaica had collected money to buy her sculpture Negro Aroused. People gave what they could afford to start a national art collection. This act deeply moved her, especially because she said it was a very difficult piece for her to create.
The first Negro Aroused sculpture was made in 1935 and first shown in 1937. It captured the public's imagination. It was bought by public donations and given to the Institute of Jamaica. This collection later became the start of the National Gallery of Jamaica's collection in 1974.
In 1977, work began to make a much larger version of the sculpture. This bigger version was meant to be a monument to Jamaica's workers and the Worker's Movement that started in 1938. Edna Manley was asked to recreate the work in bronze, three to four times bigger than the original. She had help from young sculptors. Sadly, this seven-foot version was destroyed in a warehouse fire before it could be sent for bronzing.
In 1982, Manley made a third version, closer in size to the original. It included some small changes she had made in the destroyed sculpture. In 1991, after her death, this third version was enlarged using special techniques to create a monument.
Art in the 1960s and The Bogle Statue
Norman Manley started the People's National Party in 1938. Although Edna Manley was unsure at first, she quickly accepted her role in Jamaican politics. She even designed The Rising Sun logo for the party. The start of Jamaica's new government and the end of colonial rule were shown in Manley's art. Her work explored themes of cycles, birth, and death, using symbols of the sun and moon. Her art was also influenced by the beautiful nature around her mountain home, Nomdmi.
In the 1960s, Edna Manley received many requests for sculptures. These included Mother and Child Tondo for the Children's Hospital and The Bush which was not Consumed for the Webster United Church.
Manley was always interested in Rastafarianism. In 1961, she made drawings of young Rastafarians, which inspired her carving Brother Man.
The 1950s and 1960s were quieter times for Manley as an artist. Her husband became more involved in politics, becoming Jamaica's Chief Minister in 1955. Her duties as a politician's wife left less time for art. In 1958, she designed the Flag of the West Indies Federation. In 1960, she held an exhibition where she only showed drawings, as she had little time for sculptures. Her drawings often featured women and mythological ideas.
In 1965, she created a statue of Paul Bogle to honor him. Bogle was a leader in Jamaica's 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion. This rebellion happened because the Jamaican government didn't represent the people, and there were many economic problems. Black Jamaicans felt they had no voice. Paul Bogle was a leader who fought for voting rights and an end to unfair treatment. He was recognized as a national hero in Jamaica in 1969.
The Bogle statue was very important because it was the first public monument in Jamaica to show a black man. Edna Manley made many small models as her ideas for the statue changed. The final statue showed Bogle standing tall and upright, holding a machete.
After Norman Manley became ill in 1968, Edna created The Grief of Mary, a sculpture that showed emotion through shapes rather than facial expressions. Norman Manley died in 1969. After his death, Edna entered a period of mourning. Her carvings during this time were very personal, showing her pain and loss. She created "Adios," which looked like lovers in a last embrace, and "Woman," an agonized woman. Before Norman died, Edna made a small clay study of an angel holding a small figure. It was as if she knew he would pass away soon. She ended this grieving period with her triumphant "Mountain Women" sculpture. She had accepted her loss. She said, "I felt that because my roots were here in Jamaica, I could survive."
After creating more important carvings like "Faun" and "Journey," Manley gave her carving tools away. She said she would never work with wood again. Instead, she worked with clay or plaster. In the 1970s, her art focused on themes of being a "grandmother" or "old woman," matriarchal society (where women lead), and memories of her life with Norman.
Edna Manley continued to sculpt until her death in 1987. Much of her work was very personal, but it also captured the spirit of Jamaican culture. An English novelist, Sir Hugh Walpole, said that Edna Manley expressed a "strange and curious spirit" of Jamaica. For Manley, showing the beauty of Jamaica was natural. She said, "I carve as a Jamaican for Jamaica, trying to understand our problems and living near to the heart of our people."
Art in the 1970s and Beyond
The late 1960s and early 1970s were a sad time for Edna Manley, as her husband Norman Manley became ill and passed away. Most of her artworks during this period showed grief. Some of these works include Angel (1970), Journey (1974), Woman (1971), and Adios (1971). Journey was her last wooden carving. After that, she worked with clay and explored drawing and painting.
Even after her husband's death, Edna continued to play a big role in Jamaica's cultural growth. Between 1970 and 1974, she had two solo art shows. In 1972, three years after Norman Manley's death, Edna's son Michael followed in his father's footsteps and became Prime Minister of Jamaica.
Ghetto Mother
Ghetto Mother is a sculpture Edna Manley made in 1981. It shows five figures. The largest figure seems to be the mother, looking up with a sad expression. The four smaller figures around her, likely her children, show sadness and fear. Two children are in front, and two are in the back. The mother appears to be kneeling.
Her Final Years
In her final years, Edna Manley recreated some of her older works. One of the best recreations is Tomorrow (1985). Many of her last works had a spiritual feeling and explored themes of death and rebirth. This can be seen in works like The Listener (1986) and Birth (1986). She was working on studies for Raising of Lazarus until the day before she died on February 10, 1987.
When Edna Manley died in 1987, she received an official funeral. She was buried in the tomb of Norman Manley at the National Heroes Park. Her work earned her the unofficial title of "Mother of Jamaican Art."
Her Works
Some of her many works include: "Whisper", "Into The Mist", "Before Thought", "Moon", "Eve (Ceremonial Dance)", "Into The Sun", "Growth", "The Ancestor", "The Mother", "Negro Aroused", "Pocomania", "Diggers", "Man and Woman", "Bead Sellers", "The Trees are Joyful", "Rainbow Serpent", "Rising Sun", "Prophet", "Ghetto Mother", and "Mountain Women".
Her Lasting Impact
The Jamaican School of Art was renamed the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in 1995. This was done to remember her life and her huge impact on Jamaican, Caribbean, and global art. The college was also reclassified as a higher education institution. Edna Manley was chosen because of her contributions to Jamaican art, including helping to start the school in 1950. It is still the only school of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean. She received many awards and prizes during her lifetime, including:
- Silver Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica (1929)
- Gold Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica (1943)
- Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies (1975)
- The Order of Merit (Jamaica, 1986)
Her Diaries
Her granddaughter, Rachel Manley, edited Edna's diaries, which were published in 1998.
