Phyllis Williams Lehmann, (November 30, 1912 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

– September 29, 2004 in Haydenville, Massachusetts)Biographical details are drawn from: was an American classical archaeologist who specialised in the

Samothrace temple complex The Samothrace Temple Complex, known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods (Modern Greek: Ιερό των Μεγάλων Θεών ''Ieró ton Megalón Theón''), is one of the principal Pan-Hellenic religious sanctuaries, located on the island of S ...

, where she discovered a third statue of Winged Victory (1949), which is kept today at the Archaeological Museum of Samothrace and recovered missing fingers of the hand of the famous ''

Winged Victory of Samothrace The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'', or the ''Nike of Samothrace'', is a votive monument originally found on the island of Samothrace, north of the Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic era, dating from the be ...

'' at the Louvre.She identified them in 1950, in a drawer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; an Austrian team in the 1870s had recovered a Roman ''

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

'' in the 1870s, and the unidentified fingers, not part of that sculpture, had been stored and forgotten.

Biography

Phyllis Williams was born November 30, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York. Williams received a B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1934. She first visited

Samothrace Samothrace (also known as Samothraki, el, Σαμοθράκη, ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,859 (2011 ...

in 1938, as a doctoral student on the

New York University Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...

team led by professor

Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann (1894–1960) was a German-born American art historian, archaeologist, and professor. He was known for archaeology work in Samothrace, Greece and the related publications. He was a professor at New York University Inst ...

. She was awarded her PhD in 1943 and married Lehmann the following year. She was assistant field director of the excavations at Samothrace 1948–1960 and acting director 1960–1965, and she remained closely involved with Samothrace for the rest of her career. She was a member of the faculty of Smith College from 1946 to 1978, and was Dean of Smith College from 1965 to 1970. Among her publications are ''The Pedimental Sculptures of the Hieron in Samothrace'' (1962) and ''Samothrace III: The Hieron,'' (1969), which was awarded the Hitchcock Award of the

Society of Architectural Historians The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide. Based in Chicago in the United States, the Society's 3,500 members include ...

in 1969. She was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1979. In 1970 she retired to her home in

Haydenville, Massachusetts Williamsburg is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,504 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The area was first settled in 1735 an ...

, where she died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

on September 29, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams Lehmann, Phyllis 1912 births 2004 deaths Wellesley College alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences New York University alumni Smith College faculty People from Brooklyn American women archaeologists 20th-century American archaeologists 20th-century American women American women academics Historians from New York (state) 21st-century American women