This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
The scattered papers of sculptor Lily Ente measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1946 to 1975. The papers include correspondence, personal business records, three photographs, and printed material.
Lily Ente (1905-1984) was a sculptor known for her works in white Italian and black Belgian marble.
Born Lena Deitchman in what is now Ukraine, she escaped the Russian Empire after World War I and lived in Paris and Cuba before joining her father in New York City in 1923. She married Lazar Ente who she met in Cuba, and the couple settled in the Bronx where they raised a family.
Ente's sister-in-law introduced her to sculpture and she first worked with clay before moving to marble. She exhibited her work around the world in the 1940s and 1950s and maintained a studio in Manhattan. Later in life, she and her husband moved to Woodstock, New York, where she continued to work and exhibit her sculptures.
Lily Ente died in 1984 in New York City.
Lily Ente donated her papers to the Archives of American Art in 1978.
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Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Lily Ente papers, 1946-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Jayna Josefson in 2022 with support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.
Found is scattered correspondence with friends, colleagues, and organizations including the Women's Interart Center. Three photographs depict Ente with others including Gordon Brown, editor of