• Source: Julia Bracken Wendt

Julia Bracken Wendt, (1870–1942) a notable American sculptor, was born on June 10, 1871, in Apple River, Illinois, the twelfth of thirteen children in an Irish Catholic family.

Unsupported at home following the death of her mother when she was nine years old, she ran away from home at thirteen. By sixteen she was working as a domestic servant for a woman who recognized her talent and drive, and paid to enroll her in the Art Institute of Chicago. There she studied with Lorado Taft and by 1887 she had advanced to become his studio and teaching assistant. In 1893, during the Columbian Exposition she was one of several women sculptors nicknamed the White Rabbits who helped produce some of the architectural sculpture that graced the exposition buildings.
Aside from that she was awarded a commission to produce Illinois Welcoming the Nations for the Fair. The work was later cast in bronze and unveiled at the Illinois State Capitol, at which time Governor Altgeld was the main speaker.
After successfully pursuing her career for a number of years, in 1906 she married painter William Wendt and moved to Los Angeles, California, where she continued her success. In California she taught at the Otis Art Institute and, with her husband, was instrumental in the founding of the California Art Club in 1909, which was developed on the premise of allowing women and sculptors into the membership.
Wendt was a member of the National Sculpture Society and exhibited and was featured in both the 1923 and 1929 Exhibitions and the resulting catalogues.
She died in Laguna Beach on June 22, 1942.




Work


Her work can be found in:

Chicago Historical Society
Civil War Monument, Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Laguna Art Museum
Harvard University Portrait Collection
old Los Angeles City Hall (now located in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County)
Lincoln Park, Los Angeles, California
as well as in numerous private collections




References






External links



Works by or about Julia Bracken Wendt at the Internet Archive
Image of sculptor Julia Bracken Wendt and Mayor Frank Shaw next to a newly dedicated fountain that includes her work, Los Angeles, California, 1933. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Daftar penumpang RMS Titanic
• Julia Bracken Wendt
• List of sculptors
• Lorado Taft
• California Art Club
• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• Dulah Marie Evans
• William Wendt
• California Impressionism
• List of public art in Los Angeles
• Frank Putnam Flint Fountain