Lorado Taft
(1860-1936)

Lorado Taft was born in Elmwood, Illinois, on April 29, 1860.
He studied at the University of Illinois, obtaining his bachelor's
degree in 1879 and his master's in 1880. He attended the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1880 to 1883. In 1886 he became an in-
structor at the Art Institute of Chicago, influencing a whole gen-
eration of younger sculptors in the Midwest. He continued to
teach at the Art Institute until 1907 and was the founder of its de-
partment of sculpture. Taft also taught at the University of
Chicago from 1893 to 1900 and again in 1909. Later he was a
non-resident professor of art at the University of Illinois.

As a sculptor, Taft became recognized for his public monuments
and allegorical works. He won awards at the World's Columbian
Exposition in 1893, the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, and the Panama-Pacific
Exposition in 1915. His works include the Fountain of Time at the
University of Chicago, the Fountain of the Great Lakes at the Art
Institute, the great statue of Black Hawk overlooking the Rock
River near Oregon, Illinois, and the Washington Memorial in Seat-
tle. Other works may be found elsewhere throughout the country.
Taft also wrote extensively on the history of art, including his fa-

mous book. The History of American Sculpture, which was last reprinted in 1975.

Taft became a member of the Chicago Literary Club in 1889
and resigned in 1900. He delivered five papers: Paris from a Mansard:
Experiences of an American Art Student, Facial Expression
in Nature and Art, Some Surprises of the Art Palace, The Entire
History of An from its Earliest Beginnings, and Clothes, An and Other
Things. Taft died in Chicago on October 30, 1936.

Read before the Club: November 30, 1998