Horticultural Building at the World's Columbian Expo, Chicago, IL. USA, 1893 showing sculpture by Lorado Taft and the White Rabbits
Horticultural Building

The White Rabbits were a group of women sculptors who worked with Lorado Taft at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

As the date of the world fair's opening grew closer, Taft realized that he would not be able to complete the decorations in time. Discovering that all the male sculptors he had in mind were already employed elsewhere, he asked Daniel Burnham if he could use women assistants, an occurrence that was virtually unheard of at that time. Burnham's reply was that Taft could "hire anyone, even white rabbits, if they can get the work done."[1] Taft, an instructor of sculpture at the Chicago Art Institute who had many qualified women students and who frequently employed women assistants himself, brought in a group of women assistants who were promptly dubbed "the White Rabbits."

The sculptors

From the ranks of the White Rabbits were to emerge some of the most talented and successful women sculptors of the next generation. These include:

Besides their work on the Horticultural Building, several of the White Rabbits obtained other commissions to produce sculpture at the Exposition. Among these were Lawrence's statue of Columbus, placed in front of the Administration Building, Yandell's Daniel Boone for the Kentucky Building, Bracken's Illinois Greeting the Nations in the Illinois Building, and Farnsworth's Columbia for the Wisconsin Building.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lorado Taft, Sculptor". Glessner House. Retrieved 2019-03-02.

Further reading

  • Janet Scudder, Modeling My Life, New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1925.
  • Weller, Allen Stuart. Lorado Taft: The Chicago Years. Edited by Robert G. La France et al., University of Illinois Press, 2014
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