Nancy Elizabeth Prophet facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Nancy Elizabeth Prophet
Elizabeth Prophet, sculptor and teacher (Harmon Foundation)
Born	March 19, 1890 Warwick, Rhode Island
Died	December 13, 1960 112 Benedict Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Rhode Island School of Design
Known for	Sculptor
Spouse(s)	Francis Ford (m. 1915; div. 1932)

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (born Nancy Elizabeth Profitt; March 19, 1890 – December 13, 1960) was an American artist. She was famous for her sculptures. Nancy had both African-American and Native American family roots.

She was the first African-American person to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1918. Later, she studied art in Paris, France, in the 1920s. Her work became well-known in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1934, Prophet started teaching at Spelman College. She helped create new art classes there. Nancy Elizabeth Prophet passed away in 1960 when she was 70 years old.

Nancy faced many challenges during her life. It was often hard for her to get money to support her art. She also struggled to get her sculptures shown in art shows. Sometimes, she even used the name Eli Prophet for her art entries. While living in Paris, she often had very little money. Despite these difficulties, Prophet worked very hard. She was a perfectionist and carved all her sculptures herself. Because of this, not many of her artworks still exist today.

Biography
Exhibitions
Depictions
Images for kids
See also

Biography

Early life and art beginnings

Nancy Elizabeth Profitt was born on March 19, 1890. Her birthplace was Warwick, Rhode Island. Her parents were William H. Profitt and Rosa E. Walker Profitt. In 1932, she changed her last name to Prophet. She was one of three children and her parents' only daughter. Her family had both Native American and African American backgrounds. Her father was from the Narragansett people.

From a young age, Nancy loved drawing and painting. Her parents thought art was not a practical career. They believed in hard work. Her mother was a cook and her father worked for the city. They wanted Nancy to become a housekeeper or a teacher. But Nancy still found time for her art. When she was 15, she used money from a part-time housekeeping job. She used it to pay for art lessons.

After high school, Prophet stayed in Rhode Island. For five years, she worked as a housekeeper. Then, she worked as a typist at a law office. She saved money from these jobs. This allowed her to attend art school.

Studying at RISD

In 1914, when she was 24, Prophet joined the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This art school is in Providence, Rhode Island. She was the only African American student there. Most students were white women. But Prophet fit in well with her studies and friends.

In 1915, during her second year, Prophet married Francis Ford. He had briefly attended Brown University. Ford was ten years older than Prophet. He worked as a waiter while she studied at RISD. They did not have any children. They later separated in 1932.

At RISD, Prophet studied painting and free-hand drawing. She especially focused on portraits. She graduated from the school in 1918.

After graduation

After graduating, Prophet took more sculpture classes at RISD. At this time, she lived in a rooming house with her husband and her father. Her father had recently lost his wife. She tried to work as a full-time portrait painter. But she could not find enough work. She struggled to get her art shown in galleries. She ended up painting only a few portraits for people in Providence. Prophet returned to domestic work. She needed to earn money to travel to France in 1922.

Working in Paris

Prophet moved to Paris, France, in 1922. She went there to study sculpture. We know a lot about her twelve years in France from her diary. In her diary, she wrote about times of hard work and times of sadness. She said she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. However, the school has no record of her. She likely studied at one of the art studios connected to it.

Prophet arrived in Paris in August, either in 1921 or 1922. She found a studio in Montparnasse. From late 1922 or 1923 to spring 1924 or 1925, she studied with Victor Joseph Jean Ambroise Segoffin. He was a sculptor known for statues and busts. Under his guidance, she made two busts. One of them was shown at a big art show called the Salon d'Automne in 1924. It is thought that Prophet chose simpler styles for her sculptures. This was so her art could be shown more easily at the Salon. She later left the École. She believed she could learn faster on her own. She bought her own sculpting tools. She did all the carving herself because she did not have much money. Prophet also learned woodcutting from Oscar Waldmann. He was a Swiss German sculptor. She learned marble cutting from Kousouski, a Polish sculptor.

In the fall of 1925, she rented a studio for six months. It was on a famous street called "Vercingetroix." Other famous artists had worked there before. Her move to this studio happened after she decided to leave her husband. She felt he lacked ambition. In this studio, she started her first life-size statue, La Volonté. In November 1925, she wrote that sculpting helped her feel calm. This was when she sculpted the head of a man she met. This might have been her work called Discontent.

Her wooden head sculpture Discontent showed her feelings. She described it as "a long emotional experience, of restlessness, of gnawing hunger for the way to attainment." In November 1925, she also began her second life-size figure, Le Pélerin. This means The Pilgrim in English. It looked like old church statues from the Middle Ages.

Her marble bust Silence was a partner piece to Discontent. It showed how she felt after living alone for a long time in Paris. She wrote about "months of solitary living... hearing the voice of no one for days on end." In June 1926, Prophet moved to a new apartment. She lived there for the next eight years.

Besides Silence and Discontent, Prophet made other busts. These include Poise and Head of a Cossack. Poise looks similar to Discontent. Head of a Cossack looks like Poise but is warmer. It is made of wood and wears a long hat.

One of Prophet's best surviving works is from this time. It is Negro Head, a large wooden sculpture. A niece of Frank Ford said it was her Uncle Frank. Prophet showed her art at the Salon d'Automne and the Societe des Artistes Francais in Paris. Famous people like W.E.B. Du Bois and Countee Cullen helped her show her work in the United States. Prophet won the Harmon Prize for Best Sculpture in 1929. Her wooden sculpture Congolaise showed a noble struggle. It also showed her connection to her heritage.

Prophet returned to the United States in 1932. Her art continued to get attention. She was asked to show her art in galleries in New York and Rhode Island. She won the Best in Show prize from the Newport Art Association in 1932. In 1935 and 1937, she was part of the Whitney Museum Sculpture Biennials. She also showed her art at the Sculpture International exhibition in Philadelphia in 1940. Congolaise was one of the first artworks by an African American artist bought by the Whitney Museum.

Teaching in Atlanta

In 1934, Prophet moved to Atlanta, Georgia. She started teaching art students at both Atlanta University and Spelman College. She hoped to inspire young artists. This was the encouragement she wished she had when she was young. At Spelman, she helped create the art and art history classes. She also welcomed students into her home.

In 1945, Prophet went back to Rhode Island. She wanted to escape the racial segregation she faced in the South. Prophet became a Roman Catholic in 1951. She tried to restart her art career. But she had to take other jobs. These included working in a ceramics factory and as a domestic worker. Her art show at the Providence Public Library was the last one during her lifetime.

Later years and death

Towards the end of her life, Prophet thought a lot about her identity. She had both Native American and African-American family roots. She chose to focus only on her Native American heritage. She did not want to acknowledge her African-American ancestry. Nancy Elizabeth Prophet died in 1960.

Exhibitions

1924: Salon d'Automne; showed a wooden bust
1928: Exhibition of Work by Former Students and Teachers in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Rhode Island School of Design; featured Silence and Head of a Negro
1929:
- Boston Society of Independent Artists; showed Head of a Cossack
- Société des Artistes Français; showed Buste d'homme
1931–32: Salon d'Automne
1930s: Harmon Foundation and Whitney Biennial
1945: Providence Public Library
1978: “Four from Providence”, Bannister Gallery of Rhode Island College

Depictions

In April 2014, events about Prophet's life took place in Providence, RI. Actress Sylvia Ann Soares performed readings from Prophet's Paris Diaries. These diaries cover Prophet's twelve years in France. They are kept at Brown University’s John Hay Library. The performance was called The Life and Art of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: Calm Assurance and Savage Pleasure.

Later that year, Soares played Prophet again. This performance was called "It is Just Defiance": A Living History of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet's Paris Diaries. It focused on Prophet's time in Paris in the mid-1930s.

Images for kids

Discontent, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (American sculptor, 1890-1960); Date: c.1929
Le Pélerin, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, (American sculptor, 1890-1960); Bernes, Marouteau& C. (Photographer); Date: c.1922-1929
Silence, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, (American sculptor, 1890-1960); Bernes, Marouteau& C. (Photographer); Date: c.1928-1930
Head of a Negro, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, ca. 1926-1927, wood
Congolaise, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (American sculptor, 1890-1960); Date: 1931
Head of a Cossack, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, (American sculptor, 1890-1960); Date: 1940