Hettie Anderson

Hettie Anderson

Image courtesy of Williams Hagans

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Columbia, South Carolina

Date of Birth:

1873

Place of Death:

New York City, New York

Date of Death:

January 10, 1938

Place of Burial:

Columbia, South Carolina

Cemetery Name:

Elmwood Memorial Gardens

Harriette Eugenia Dickerson, also known as Hettie, was born into an African American family in Columbia, South Carolina.¹ Later in life, she model for some of the most prominent artists of the era including Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French.²

Not much is known about her early life. By 1895, Hettie Dickerson was living in New York City with her mother, working as a seamstress and taking classes at the Art’s Student League.³ She also adopted the last name Anderson, though it is unclear exactly when or why she made this name change. 

Augustus Saint Gaudens described Anderson as the “handsomest model” he had ever seen. Her likeness was used by Saint Gaudens to design the Winged Victory figure for the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in New York City.⁴ Anderson’s likeness was used again by Saint-Gaudens when he was commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt to design several new American coins. For his $20 gold coin design, Saint-Gaudens created the figure of Liberty to be featured on one side of the coin. His design for Liberty was heavily influenced by his previous Victory design in the Sherman Monument.
 
Fairly light-skinned, it is not known what Anderson told those in her New York social circle about her background. Census records taken while Hettie Anderson and her mother were living in South Carolina described the mother and daughter as “mulatto.”⁵ However, later census records in New York described Anderson and her mother as “white.”⁶ Though it is unclear how Anderson self-identified, some artists in her social circle, like Saint-Gaudens, seemed to be aware of her Black ancestry.

Beyond Saint-Gaudens work, Anderson modeled for John La Farge’s Athens mural in the Rotunda of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and may have posed for Adolph Alexander Weinman’s Civic Fame sculpture on top of New York City’s Municipal Building.⁷

Anderson got a job working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a classroom attendant once her modeling career began to fade. During this time, the museum had already begun collecting works of art created by Saint-Gaudens such as a cast of Victory.⁸ It is not known if Anderson shared the fact that she was the model for this design with her co-workers. Anderson lived the rest of her life in New York City until her death in 1938.9 Though there is still much to learn about Hettie Anderson, her likeness is forever immortalized in works of art that can be seen across the country.

Footnotes
[1] Eve Kahn, “Overlooked No More: Hettie Anderson, Sculptors’ Model Who Evaded Fame,” The New York TImes, last updated on August 19, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/obituaries/hettie-anderson-overlooked.html.
[2] Robert Van Ryzin, “Saint-Gaudens Model,” Numismatic News, published on October 29, 2021, Saint-Gaudens’ Model - Numismatic News.
[3] Nathaniel Silver, William Poorvu and Lia Poorvu, “HETTIE ANDERSON: MODEL FOR AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS.” Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, published on February 16, 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/hettie-anderson-model-augustus-saint-gaudens. 
[4] William E. Hagans, “Saint-Gaudens, Zorn, and the Goddesslike Miss Anderson,” American Art 16, no. 2 (Summer 2002), 81-84.
[5] 1880; Census Place: Columbia, Richland, South Carolina; Roll: 1238; Page: 289C; Enumeration District: 164. 
[6] 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1105; Page: 20; Enumeration District: 0523. 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1028; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0742; FHL microfilm: 1375041. 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 9, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1202; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 698. 1930; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Page: 36B; Enumeration District: 0444; FHL microfilm: 2341291. 
[7] Nathaniel Silver, William Poorvu and Lia Poorvu, “HETTIE ANDERSON,” https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/hettie-anderson-model-augustus-saint-gaudens.
[8] Ibid.
[9] New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1938.