Lorado Taft (American, 1860–1936)
The Solitude of the Soul
INV-7046
Lorado Taft (American, 1860–1936)Modeled in plaster 1901; sculpted in marble 1914
The Solitude of the Soul
Lorado Taft (American, 1860–1936) →sculpturemarble
Date
Modeled in plaster 1901; sculpted in marble 1914
Medium
Marble
Dimensions
231.2 × 129.6 × 105.5 cm (91 × 51 × 41 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Friends of American Art Collection
The Neoclassicism of the sculptors Harriet Hosmer and Randolph Rogers was replaced in the second half of the 19th century by the more realistic naturalism of French-trained sculptors such as Lorado Taft. An instructor in modeling at the School of the Art Institute for 20 years, Taft created public monuments for Chicago that made the city a center for sculpture. The figures in this work are only partly freed from the marble, a technique that emphasizes the mass and outline of the stone. Explaining The Solitude of the Soul, Taft wrote, “The thought is the eternally present fact that however closely we may be thrown together by circumstances . . . we are unknown to each other.”
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