Ellen Copp

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Artist Details

  • Ellen
  • Houser
  • Rankin
  • Helen Houser Rankin after leaving her husband in 1893 or 1894, she abandoned her married name and returned to her maiden name
  • Copp
  • William H. Copp (Wolfboro, New Hampshire 1841-?);dry goods merchant in Loda, Illinois married January 14, 1874; left him in 1893/4  
  • Carl Rankin Copp (1876-1879) Hugh Dearborn Copp (1878-1956); after his parents separated, known as Hugh Doak Rankin; became an artist, known as a science fiction illustrator Raymond Hersey Copp (1881-1884) + 2 more sons who did not survive infancy
  • August 4, 1853
  • Atlanta, Illinois
  • August 8, 1901
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Scottish and German
  • 1858-1884: Loda, IL when first married, where her parents lived

    1884-?: 9 111th St., Pullman, Chicago, Illinois

    1896: back to grandparents’ house in Pullman

    1898-1901: 2440 Shelby St., Indianapolis, Indiana

    1901: 314 E. North St., Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • 1891: 103 State St, Chicago, Illinois            1896-1897: 28 Tree Studio Building, Chicago, Illinois
  • Sculptor
  • 1888-?: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, student of Lorado Taft, and one of his “White Rabbits” in 1892-1893
    1894-1895: The Fehr School, Munich, Germany
  • Array
  • 1889: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

    October 26-November 29, 1891: Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings & Sculpture by American Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Portrait Bust of Rev. John Rankin, plaster

    1893: World's Columbian Exposition, Woman's Department, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Potter Palmer

    1893: World’s Columbian Exposition, Illinois Building, Chicago, Illinois; Maternity; David Wegg [son of president of Union Pacific Railroad]; Mother Eagon [worked with prostitutes in Chicago]

    1893: World’s Columbian Exposition, Ohio Building, Chicago, Illinois; Rev. John Rankin

    1893: World’s Columbian Exposition, entrance to Hawaiin cyclorama on Midway Plaisance, Chicago, Illinois; Pele, the Goddess of Fire, 25’ h [largest figure ever built by a woman

    1895: Munich, German; Strength of Nations

    April 7-21, 1896: Eighth Annual Spring Exhibition, Chicago Society of Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Portrait, Dr. D.K. Pearson, plaster; John Anderson My Joe, relief; A Maiden Fair to See, relief; A Gentleman of Ye Olden School, intaglio

    November 2-December 12, 1897: Tenth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Mr. and Mrs. Herman Michalowski, plaster; A Sea King, plaster

    January 26-February 21, 1897:  Retrospective, plaster bust; Portrait, plaster relief (lent by Mrs. Mary Hill Peterson)

    Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
  • College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois

    Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado

    Detroit Art Museum, Detroit, Michigan

    Washington College, East Tennessee
  • Hayes, Harriet Hayden. “Some Chicago Studios.” The National Magazine, pp. 350-357. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, J.T. White Company, 1898. Willard, Fraces E. and Mary A. Livermore, eds. A Woman of the Century: 1470 Biographical Scketches, Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893.
  • 1890: first woman student to win SAIC’s most distinguished award for sculpture
  • biography from Willard, Frances E. and Mary A. Livermore, eds.  A Woman of the Century. Buffalo: NY: Charle Wells Moulton, 1893
  • Parents:  Dr. Andrew Campbell Rankin (Ripley, Ohio June 22, 1828-1902) and Susanna Roush Houser Rankin (Felicity, Ohio December 25, 1829-1914). Her father was a medical doctor who served as an army surgeon in the Civil War.

    Sibling:  Louisa Quindaro Rankin Hermes (1858-1940; married 1879)

    Her grandparents were John Rankin and Jean Lowry Rankin, noted abolitionists and hosts on the Underground Railroad in Ohio

    apparently the youngest of the White Rabbits working for Lorado Taft.

    In 1896 she submitted an ambitious proposal for a war monument in Texas.

     

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