Kneeling Child with Squirrel - Chicago, IL - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Executed by the renowned Chicago area sculptor Lorado Taft.

Dimensions: Sculpture: approx. H. 5 1/2 ft. x W. 3 ft. 8 in.; Base: 1 ft. x 3 ft. 8 in. x 3 1/2 ft.
Inscription: (On back:) Erected in Memory of/Helen Griswold Heffron/By the Floriculture Department of/The Ridge Woman's Club/1915 unsigned

From Local Architecture Chicago Blog (visit link)

"A piece executed at the Midway Studios is the Heffron Memorial Fountain, located in Chicago’s south side Beverly-Morgan Park neighborhood. The Heffron Memorial Fountain was designed by one of Lorado Taft’s promising pupils, Canadian-born Kathleen Beverley Robinson Ingles (1882-1958). Robinson Ingles’ design, executed in Bedford limestone, features a kneeling child with a squirrel on her lap set upon a base. Rising behind the figures are stylized decorative leaves above a frame of stepped arches. A drinking fountain spout and a basin are below. Initially the fountain was set in the courtyard of Bethany Union Church, but was later relocated to its current and publicly viewable site along Wood Street just north of 103rd Street.

The Floriculture Department of the Ridge Woman’s Club commissioned the fountain in memory of local resident Helen Griswold Heffron in 1914. Nellie Heffron (1862-1913) was the well-respected founder and chairman of the club’s Floriculture Department. The department is considered the first of its kind in the U.S., whose purpose was to stimulate and direct interest in local flora and landscape gardening. The Ridge Woman’s Club dedicated the fountain on August 6, 1915 during the club’s Annual Flower Show, whose proceeds were used to fund the fountain’s creation."

An odd location now, on a side street. Looks forgotten. The website above contains a photo of the statue in its original location.

TITLE: Kneeling Child with Squirrel ARTIST(S): Taft, Lorado Zadoc, 1860-1936, sculptor. (attributed to) DATE: 1915 MEDIUM: Stone on a stone base. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS IL000468 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Bethany Union Church, 1750 West 103rd, Chicago, Illinois 60643 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: none

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Date Logged Log   06/07/2024 libbykc visited it