Helen Farnsworth Mears | |
|---|---|
 Helen Farnsworth Mears | |
| Born | (1872-12-21)December 21, 1872 Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | February 17, 1916(1916-02-17) (aged 43) Greenwich Village, New York |
| Education | State Normal School in Oshkosh |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Notable work | marble statue ofFrances E. Willard |
| Movement | "White Rabbits" |
| Patron | Augustus Saint Gaudens |
Helen Farnsworth Mears (/mɪərs/; December 21, 1872 – February 17, 1916) was an American sculptor.[1]
Mears was born December 21, 1872, inOshkosh, Wisconsin, daughter of John Hall Mears and[2] Elizabeth Farnsworth Mears (pen names "Nellie Wildwood" and "Ianthe", called the first Wisconsin woman poet[3]) and youngest sister to Louise and Mary Mears. Mears studied at theState Normal School in Oshkosh,[4] and art inNew York City. In New York, she studied underAugustus Saint Gaudens for two years and worked as his assistant[5] before heading to Paris in 1895 to continue working withDenys Puech (sometimes Puesch),Alexandre Charpentier, andFrederick MacMonnies.[6][7]
Her first success, before any formal art training, was "Genius of Wisconsin", a work commissioned by the State of Wisconsin when she was just 21. The work wasexhibited in the Wisconsin Building at theWorld's Columbian Exposition in 1893.[8] The 9-foot (2.7 m) marble sculpture was executed by thePiccirilli Brothers.[9] It is now housed in theWisconsin State Capitol.[10] Both she and sculptorJean Pond Miner were named "artists in residence" at the Wisconsin Building, and that is where she createdThe Genius of Wisconsin, while Miner producedForward.[11]
Mears was one of a group of women sculptors christened the "White Rabbits" who worked underLorado Taft producing sculpture for theWorld Columbian Exposition.[12]
In 1907, Mears, and her sister, writer Mary Mears, were the first colonists atMacDowell Colony.[13]
Her most important works include amarble statue ofFrances E. Willard (1905,Capitol, Washington) that is included in theNational Statuary Hall Collection; portrait reliefs ofEdward MacDowell (Metropolitan Museum, New York); andAugustus St. Gaudens; portrait busts ofGeorge Rogers Clark andWilliam T.G. Morton, M. D. (Smithsonian Institution,Washington). In 1904, her "Fountain of Life" (St. Louis Exposition) won a bronze medal. She madeNew York her residence and exhibited there and inChicago.[citation needed]
In 1910,George B. Post, the architect of the Wisconsin State Capitol then being designed, attempted to secure the services of the well-known sculptorDaniel Chester French to create a statue ofWisconsin to be placed on top of the dome. French, having as much work as he desired, turned the commission down, and Post recommended Mears for the job. With the belief that she had the contract, she began working on a model; she ultimately created three models, with two of them receiving feedback from the commission.[14]
By August 1911, Post suggested that Mears could not complete the design in their time frame, and the commission ultimately selected French to complete the sculpture.[14] Mears was paid $1,500 for the work that she had already done, but the loss of the commission was a shock from which she never recovered.[15][16]
Following the debacle surrounding the Wisconsin Capitol statue, Mears's health declined, as did her financial well-being. She died of heart disease on February 17, 1916, at the age of 43.[7][17][18] At the time of her death, she was working in her studio at 46Washington Square South, inGreenwich Village.[citation needed]
Helen Farnsworth Mears Helen Farnsworth Mears, a famous sculptor, died Thursday in her home in New York. She was a pupil of St. Gaudens and afterwards of ...
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