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Mrs. Potter Palmer
Hiram Powers (American, 1805–1873)
1871
- Medium
- Carrera marble
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 69.5 × 48.9 × 29.5 cm (27 3/8 × 19 1/4 × 11 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- United States
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Gift of Gordon and Janis Palmer
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Chicago businessman Potter Palmer and his wife Bertha commissioned a pair of portraits in 1871 from Hiram Powers, an American sculptor living in Florence (see Mr. Potter Palmer). Executed in marble, with folded draperies and restrained features, the busts exemplify the classicizing style that Powers honed in Italy—and some Americans found so appealing—in the mid-19th century. They are among the first works of art purchased by the couple, who soon became major art collectors and philanthropists. Bertha Honoré Palmer, in particular, was a discerning collector, responsible for bringing some of the first works by French Impressionists to Chicago. An important cultural leader, she organized the displays and programming for the Woman’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in the city.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
