Ellen Rankin Copp (August 4, 1853 – August 8, 1901), also called Ellen or Helen Houser Rankin, was an American sculptor. Her works were featured at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

in Chicago in 1893.

Early life

Helen or Ellen Houser Rankin was born in

Atlanta, Illinois Atlanta (formerly Xenia) is a city in Logan County, Illinois, Logan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,692 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. History Early settlement In December of 1836, surveyors platted the com ...

, the daughter of Dr. Andrew Campbell Rankin and Susanna Roush Houser Rankin. Her father was a medical doctor who served as an army surgeon in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Her grandparents

Jean Lowry Rankin Jean Lowry Rankin (1795–1877) was an American abolitionist and pioneer in the anti-slavery movement. With her husband John Rankin she assisted 2000 slaves in their journey to freedom along the Underground Railroad. The Rankin family home on th ...

and John Rankin were noted abolitionists and hosts on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

in Ohio. In 1888 Ellen began as a student at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

in her thirties after some years teaching. At the Art Institute she studied with

Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Part of the American Renaissance movement, his monumental pieces include, ''Fountain of Time'', ''Spirit of the Great Lakes'', and ''The ...

, as one of his student assistants dubbed " White Rabbits".

Career

In 1890, Ellen Rankin Copp won the first medal for sculpture awarded by the Art Institute of Chicago."Ellen Houser Rankin
''National Cyclopedia of American Biography''
(J. T. White Company 1898): 286. She created "Maternity" on commission for the Illinois Building, and "Pele" on commission for the Hawaii Building, both at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The 24-foot-tall statue of Pele was promoted as the "largest statue ever made by a woman." Four more works by Copp were shown at the Exposition: a bronze relief portrait of

Harriet Monroe Harriet Monroe (December 23, 1860 – September 26, 1936) was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet, and patron of the arts. She was the founding publisher and long-time editor of ''Poetry'' magazine, which she established in 1912 ...

, displayed in the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...

; a bronze relief portrait of

Bertha Palmer Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the wife of millionaire Potter Palmer and early member of the Chicago Woman's Club, as well as president of the Board of ...

, in the Library of the Woman's Building; and two smaller works inside the Illinois Building. After the Exposition, Copp took her son to Europe, and pursued further art education in Munich; she showed her "Strength of Nations" sculpture there in 1895. John Rankin abolitionist

Copp made portrait busts of prominent Chicagoans, and one of her grandfather Reverend Rankin, for the city of

Ripley, Ohio Ripley is a village in Union Township, Brown County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River 50 miles southeast of Cincinnati. The population was 1,591 at the 2020 census. History Colonel James Poage, a veteran of the American Revolution, a ...

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

Personal life

Helen Houser Rankin married William H. Copp in 1874. They had five sons; four died in infancy. Ellen Rankin left William Copp behind when she took their son to Europe, and began using her unmarried name. In 1897, Mr. Copp, angry and distraught about the separation and his own unemployment, attacked Ellen's parents and sister with a razor and a revolver. Her father's throat was cut, and Copp was shot and nearly lost a finger in the encounter, but there were no fatalities. Their surviving son Hugh Dearborn Copp (1878-1956), called

Hugh Doak Rankin Hugh Doak Rankin, born Hugh Dearborn Copp (July 2, 1878— January 3, 1956) was an American artist who illustrated the science fiction magazine ''Weird Tales'' in the 1920s and 1930s. Early life Hugh Dearborn Copp was born in Loda, Illinois, th ...

after his parents separated, also became an artist, best known as a science fiction illustrator."Summary Bibliography: Hugh Rankin" ''Internet Science Fiction Database''. Ellen Rankin Copp died in 1901, aged 48 years; she was survived by her estranged husband and both of her parents.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Copp, Ellen Rankin 1853 births 1901 deaths 19th-century American sculptors School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni People from Atlanta, Illinois 19th-century American women sculptors