White rabbits

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White Rabbits ( White Rabbit ) was the name of a group of young sculptors , together with the sculptor Lorado Taft of exhibits for the World's Columbian Exposition worked in 1893 and with his own works at the World's Fair was represented.

Formation of the group

Horticultural Building at the World's Columbian Expo, Chicago, Illinois, 1893, sculptures by Lorado Taft and the White Rabbits

In 1891, Julia Bracken Wendt , Carol Brooks MacNeil , Bessie Potter Vonnoh , Zulime Taft and Enid Yandell were hired to assist in the creation of sculptures and decorative elements on the buildings by Lorado Taft , who participated in the Chicago World's Horticultural Exhibition Buildings (horticultural buildings) was responsible. The group was completed by Janet Scudder , who joined in the fall of 1891, when the work had already started. Ellen Rankin Copp , Helen Farnsworth Mears and Mary Lawrence Tonetti joined them later .

Taft had asked Daniel Burnham , the chief architect of the Chicago World's Fair, if he could employ female assistants, which was unusual at the time. Burnham's response was that Taft could "hire anyone, even white rabbits, if they can do the job." ("Hire anyone, even white rabbits, if they can get the work done.") As a lecturer in art history at the Chicago Art Institute , Taft taught many skilled, talented students and even employed female assistants in his studio who were art students at the Chicago Art Institute or have already completed their studies. When he hired these and former students of Daniel Burnham to work on the World's Columbian Exposition, the term White Rabbits was taken up and established for his assistants, who also used it as a self-term. Taft himself is said to have given the group that name because of their ability to nimbly climb up and down the required ladders in their white work smocks, covered over and over with white plaster dust.

public perception

From 1891 to 1893, most of the White Rabbits lived together in a small guesthouse and worked together in the workshop on the exhibition grounds. The Girl Studio gained some notoriety and was visited by numerous architects, painters and governors. The workshop, which consisted only of young women, caused quite a stir. Many were curious whether they would be able to cope with the strenuous physical work and were surprised at their strength and energy. The newspapers wrote about her too. A reporter for the Chicago Times Herald said the rabbits , as they were called, were in some way the best workers among the workers at the Columbian Exposition. There are many talented modelers who are probably superior to them in experience and physical strength, but they are unsurpassed in constant, conscientious work, artistic enthusiasm and patient zeal. As a result, the White Rabbits were entrusted with their own assignments. The designs for the Illinois Building (showroom that would represent the State of Illinois at the World's Fair) continued to attract public interest as the press continued to report female sculptors as a novelty and repeatedly asked them about the need for bare models - one Question that her male colleagues were not asked.

The Chicago exhibition marked a milestone by including a dedicated Women's Building (exhibition building that displayed the artistic and social achievements of women) with its own program of murals and architectural sculptures, as well as assigning independent monumental commissions to several of Taft's assistants. From then on, women were regular participants in the sculpture and art programs of the American World's Fair.

Work for the World's Columbian Exposition

Part of the work of the White Rabbits was to create the sculptures in their final size as small models, to model them out and to monitor their installation on the intended building. Due to the size of the objects, the work for the Horticultural Building could mostly only be carried out using ladders and working platforms, in particular on the monumental groups of figures to the left and right of the entrance, two other large figures on the parapets of the central archway and a decorative relief above the archway. The groups of figures, which were over eight feet high, consisted of three main figures, accompanied by Cupidi, faunas and decorated with rich vegetation.

In addition to the work that the White Rabbits did on the Horticultural Building and various other statues and ornaments, they also carried out Taft's own designs for the Illinois Building. However, some of them had also been entrusted with their own designs for sculptures. The final decision on the design was made by a jury.

Members

  • Illinois Welcoming the Nations

  • Julia Bracken Wendt

  • Sculptures on the Horticultural Building

  • Bessie Potter Vonnoh

  • Julia Bracken Wendt (born June 10, 1868 in Apple River , Illinois; † June 22, 1942 in Los Angeles , California ) began to study at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1887, worked for the following six years as Lorado Taft's assistant and made her way to Chicago a name as an independent artist. For the Illinois Building she created the allegorical Faith statue and the Illinois Welcoming the Nations sculpture near the entrance area of ​​the Illinois Building, which was later cast in bronze and placed at the Illinois State Capitol . Together with Bessie Potter Vonnoh, she worked under Taft on the sculpture groups of the eastern entrance portal of the Horticultural Building from the start. The group of figures on the left shows The Sleep of the Flowers , the one on the right side of the entrance shows the Awakening [or Battle] of the Flowers .
  • Bessie Potter Vonnoh (born August 17, 1872 in St. Louis , Missouri , † March 8, 1955 in New York City ) attended courses at the Art Institute of Chicago as early as 1886 and earned the money as Taft's studio assistant. In the interior of the Illinois Building, allegorical sculptures were displayed prominently between the windows on pedestals, of which Potter made the eight foot tall Personification of Art . She also worked on the Horticultural Building. Her bust of Professor David Swing was exhibited in the Fine Arts Building.

  • Carol Brooks with sons

  • Janet Scudder

  • Carol Brooks MacNeil (born January 15, 1871 - † June 22, 1944) studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. For the exhibition she made the allegorical sculpture Charity for the Illinois Building.
  • Janet Scudder (born October 27, 1869 in Terre Haute , Indiana , † June 9, 1940 in Rockport , Massachusetts ) began her artistic training at the age of 18 at the Cincinnati Academy of Art, Ohio . After completing her studies as a sculptor, she came to Chicago in 1891, where she was hired by Taft to work on the World's Fair. After it ended, she used the money she earned there to go to Paris to continue studying, accompanied by Zulime Taft. For the exhibition she designed the allegorical figure Justice in the Illinois Building and the Nymph of the Wabash for the Indiana Building.

  • Genius of Wisconsin

  • Helen Farnsworth Mears

  • Helen Farnsworth Mears (* December 21, 1872 in Oshkosh , Wisconsin ; † February 17, 1916 in Greenwich Village , Manhattan ) studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1892 and received an order from the State of Wisconsin to create a heroic figure, which she portrayed as a female figure, who carries an eagle with outspread wings on her shoulder, carried out and titled Genius of Wisconsin . The figure was exhibited for the first time in the Wisconsin Building of the Chicago World's Fair, before it was displayed in the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison after the world exhibition ended .

  • Sculpture on the roof garden of the Women's Building

  • Enid Yandell

  • Enid Yandell (born October 6, 1869 or 1870 in Louisville , Kentucky , † June 12, 1934 in Boston ) studied chemistry and art at Hampton College in Louisville and then from 1887 to 1889 at the Cincinnati Academy of Art, Ohio. She completed her studies in half the usual study time. For the exhibition she helped the Danish-American sculptor Carl Rohl-Smith with his statue of Benjamin Franklin, Philip Martiny with various sculptures and Lorado Taft with the work for the Horticultural Building. In 1892 she was commissioned by Louisville's Historical Society, the Filson Club, to design a statue of Daniel Boone for the Kentucky Building and created the two dozen caryatids , each nine feet high, for the roof garden of the Women's Building. For this work she received a gold medal awarded by the three women during the exhibition. Together with Jean Loughborough and Laura Hayes, she wrote the semi-autobiographical novella Three Girls in a Flat about the World's Fair and the role of female sculptors.
Columbus statue at the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893
  • Mary Lawrence Tonetti (* 1868 in New York City, † 1945) was proposed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens , who acted as sculptural advisor to the lead architect of the exhibition, Daniel Burnham. She was previously his student at the Art Students League of New York for five years . She created the sculpture of Columbus in front of the Administration Building. Like many of the exhibits, the statue was created from a temporary building material such as plaster of paris and is now defunct. Some critics claimed that in reality Saint-Gaudens or his brother Louis modeled the work. In his reminiscence, he emphasized that "Lawrence alone modeled and carried out the work, and she deserves the credit for the liveliness and vitality that the work exudes".
Ellen Rankin Copp with son
  • Zulime Taft (* 1870; † 1942), also active in sculpting like her brother Lorado Taft, visited him after his mother's death in Chicago and helped him through her work in his workshop. She created the allegorical figure Learning for the Illinois Building and a Flying Victory .
  • Ellen Rankin Copp (also Helen Houser Rankin ) (born August 4, 1853 in Atlanta, Illinois, † 1901) began to study at the Chicago Art Institute in her thirties. She made the allegorical sculpture Maternity for the Illinois Building and the goddess Pele for the Hawaii Building. The 24-foot statue was advertised as "the greatest sculpture ever made by a woman". Four more of her works were also exhibited: a bronze relief portrait of Harriet Monroe in the Fine Arts Palace, a bronze relief portrait of Bertha Honoré Palmer in the library of the Women's Room, and two smaller works in the Illinois Building.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Julie Aronson, Janis C. Conner: Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women . Ohio University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0821418000 , p. 20
  2. ↑ Thomas C. Buechele, Nicholas C. Lowe: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago . Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1540215260 , p. 125
  3. ^ A b Julie Aronson, Janis C. Conner: Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women . Ohio University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0821418000 , p. 22
  4. ^ A b The Metropolitan Museum of Art: American Sculpture at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 . Retrieved May 24, 2017
  5. ↑ Allen Stuart Weller: Lorado Taft: The Chicago Years . University of Illinois Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0252038556 , p. 79
  6. ^ Julie Aronson, Janis C. Conner: Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women . Ohio University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0821418000 , pp. 23-25
  7. ^ The Metropolitan Museum of Art: American Women Sculptors . Retrieved May 24, 2017
  8. ^ A b c Allen Stuart Weller: Lorado Taft: The Chicago Years . University of Illinois Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0252038556 , p. 77
  9. ↑ Allen Stuart Weller: Lorado Taft: The Chicago Years . University of Illinois Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0252038556 , p. 75
  10. ^ A b c Allen Stuart Weller: Lorado Taft: The Chicago Years . University of Illinois Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0252038556 , p. 78
  11. ^ Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia: Wendt, Julia Bracken (1871–1942) . Retrieved May 24, 2017
  12. ↑ a b c d e f John Joseph Flinn: Official Guide to the World's Columbian Exposition . Columbian Guide Company, 1893, p.  151
  13. ^ Julie Aronson, Janis C. Conner: Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women . Ohio University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0821418000 , pp. 24, 28
  14. ↑ Jules Heller, Nancy G. Heller (Eds.): North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary . Routledge, 2013, ISBN 9781135638825 , p. 500
  15. ^ University of Wisconsin System Gender & Women's Studies Librarian: Helen Farnsworth Mears . Retrieved May 25, 2017
  16. ^ The Wisconsin Women's Council: Helen Farnsworth Mears . Retrieved May 25, 2017
  17. ↑ Jules Heller, Nancy G. Heller (Eds.): North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary . Routledge, 2013, ISBN 9781135638825 , p. 592
  18. ↑ Wanda M. Corn, Charlene G. Garfinkle, Annelise K. Madsen: Women Building History: Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exposition . University of California Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0520241114 , p. 209
  19. ↑ Melissa A. McEuen, Thomas H. Appleton Jr .: Kentucky Women: Their Lives and Times . University of Georgia Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0820344522 , pp. 196-208
  20. ↑ Peter van der Krogt: Columbus Landing on San Salvador . Retrieved May 25, 2017
  21. ↑ Times-Picayune: Catharine Cole's Columbian Correspondence, July 1, 1893, p. 3. Retrieved from Newspapers.com on May 24, 2017