Artist. A self-taught sculptor, she was born to creative parents in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Her father taught her anatomy and made sculpting tools for her, while her mother was the first poet in Wisconsin to be published. Helen used a shed on the family property as her first studio. At nine years of age, she entered her bust of the god Apollo in the Winnebago County Fair and won her first award. She later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. When she was 21 years of age, the State of Wisconsin commissioned her to create a sculpture representing heroism to be exhibited in the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. For this she created a statue of a woman with a winged eagle titled "The Genius of Wisconsin." This sculpture is now on display at the Wisconsin State Capital in Madison, Wisconsin. Following the Columbian Exposition, she worked in New York, Paris, and Italy with famous sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Her most famous commission is the A statue of suffragist and temperance reformer Frances Willard; this piece was the first sculpture of a woman to be placed in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Her other famous works include a bust of Saint-Gaudens and a bas relief of pianist and composer Edward Alexander MacDowell. She spent her last years living in extreme poverty with her sister in New York. In 1914 she created a sculpture she titled "End of Day." The name of this statue seemed to be a prophecy of her future, as she died destitute just a couple years later of influenza. The Paine Art Center in Oshkosh is home to the largest collection of her work.
Artist. A self-taught sculptor, she was born to creative parents in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Her father taught her anatomy and made sculpting tools for her, while her mother was the first poet in Wisconsin to be published. Helen used a shed on the family property as her first studio. At nine years of age, she entered her bust of the god Apollo in the Winnebago County Fair and won her first award. She later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. When she was 21 years of age, the State of Wisconsin commissioned her to create a sculpture representing heroism to be exhibited in the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. For this she created a statue of a woman with a winged eagle titled "The Genius of Wisconsin." This sculpture is now on display at the Wisconsin State Capital in Madison, Wisconsin. Following the Columbian Exposition, she worked in New York, Paris, and Italy with famous sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Her most famous commission is the A statue of suffragist and temperance reformer Frances Willard; this piece was the first sculpture of a woman to be placed in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Her other famous works include a bust of Saint-Gaudens and a bas relief of pianist and composer Edward Alexander MacDowell. She spent her last years living in extreme poverty with her sister in New York. In 1914 she created a sculpture she titled "End of Day." The name of this statue seemed to be a prophecy of her future, as she died destitute just a couple years later of influenza. The Paine Art Center in Oshkosh is home to the largest collection of her work.
Bio by: Jeanne Biebel
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Mears memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
