Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
Head of Pelee, 1889
bronze
14 inches square
Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
Rev. John Rankin, circa 1891
Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
Maternity, circa 1893
Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
Mrs. Potter Palmer, circa 1893
bronze
Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
The Strength of Nations, 1895
Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
Franz Liszt
bronze< br>
12.5 inches diameter
Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901)
Pele (detail), circa 1893
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, 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, 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.