Lorado Zadok Taft
American Sculptor, writer and educator. Ecole nationale superieure superieure des Beaux-Arts.
Taft was father of US Representative Emily Taft Douglas, father-in-law to her husband, US Senator Paul Douglas (Phi Beta Kappa. Democratic. Served as economic advisor to Gifford Pinchot S&B 1889), and a distant relative of US President William Howard Taft (S&B 1878).
In 1892, while the art community of Chicago was preparing for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, chief architect Daniel Burnham expressed concern to Taft that the sculptural adornments to the buildings might not be finished on time. Taft asked if he could employ some of his female students as assistants (it was not socially accepted for women to work as sculptors at that time) for the Horticultural Building. Burnham responded, “Hire anyone, even white rabbits if they’ll do the work.”
From that arose a group of talented women sculptors known as “the White Rabbits”, which included Enid Yandell, Carol Brooks MacNeil, Bessie Potter Vonnoh, Janet Scudder, Julia Bracken, and Ellen Rankin Copp. Later, another former student, Frances Loring, noted that Taft used his students’ talents to further his own career, a not uncommon situation. In general, history has given Taft credit for helping to advance the status of women as sculptors.
Died 30 Oct 1936, from Not Known. Age 76.
[1] - FYI - Wiki - Lorado Taft
[2] - Interactive.wttw.com - Lorado Taft
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