2018 December :: Hermon A. MacNeil

Archive for December, 2018

Dec

Etching of Carol Louise Brooke MacNeil

Posted by: Dan Neil Leininger, Webmaster | Comments (2)

by William Harry Warren Bicknell

Close-up of etching of Carol Louise Brooks MacNeil by W. H. W. Bicknell dated 1897

William Harry Warren Bicknell was an American artist born in 1860 in Boston Massachusetts. His etching of Carol Brooks MacNeil (below) is on paper and framed behind glass. It measures about 8”x9.5” (etching) frame is 12.25” x 14.5”. The etching is dated 1897 (note signature block on bottom photo).

The work was obtained from the estate sale of Walter Pratt, first cousin of Hermon Atkins MacNeil. Carol Brooks was a sculptor and artist in her own right. She was one of the “White Rabbits” who worked on the 1893 World Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair). In addition, on Christmas Day of 1895, she married Hermon Atkins MacNeil designer of the Standing Liberty Quarter.

Another similiar sample of the work of William Harry Warren Bicknell is offered below. Most of his works on the Smithsonian American Art Museum website are “Untitled” Click Here

***This work of William Harry Warren Bicknell is Untitled (woman in plumed hat), n.d., etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Leonard Hastings Schoff, 1979.33.2***

Stay tuned to HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com for more on Carol Louise Brooks MacNeil and the other women sculptors called the “White Rabbits” of 1897 Chicago Worlds Fair.

Hermon MacNeil at the 1893 Columbian Exposition ~ ~ ~ THE CHICAGO YEARS ~ ~ (5) CHICAGO YEARS: Partners and Colleagues When Hermon MacNeil came home to the…
~ ~ ~ “The Most Happy Young Man I Know” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hermon A. MacNeil ~ Success & Marriage! (5) 1895 Hermon Atkins MacNeil, American Sculptor (1866-1947) MacNeil’s bronze of…
The MacNeil’s Chicago Wedding – Christmas Day 1895 (5) I sit here in Chicago during this Christmas Season, imagining…
MacNeil – Brooks 120th Anniversary (1895-2015) (5) On Christmas Day one dozen decades ago, Hermon A. MacNeil…
Marquette Statue in Chicago (4) Today we took a short trip south from our daughter’s…
Lorado Taft offered praise for ‘promising Native works’ of Hermon Atkins MacNeil in 1903 (4) In the early 1900s, because of his knowledge and authorship…

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Dec

MacNeil-Brooks Wedding Reception – Christmas Day 1895

Posted by: Dan Neil Leininger, Webmaster | Comments (0)

One Hundred and twenty-three years (123) ago, Hermon Atkins MacNeil and Carol Louise Brooks were on married Christmas Day.

Recently an invitation to their Wedding Reception came available from the estate of Walter Pratt. He was a first cousin of Hermon. A facsimile appears below.

***Married in a private ceremony on Christmas Day Hermon and Carol MacNeil had a reception in the Marquette Building***

Noteworthy, is the location of the reception: the “Studio 1733 Marquette Building Chicago, Adams and Dearborn Streets, Chicago”. Recovery of this printed invitation adds several previously unknown facts to the story of their wedding day. The 19th Century Marquette Building is the 21st Century home of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The wedding earlier in the day was a private ceremony. Rev. Edward F. Williams, a Congregational Minister, officiated. Their license, completed in Rev. Williams hand, appears below.

Marriage License of Hermon Atkins MacNeil and Carol Louise Brooks issued on December 24th, 1895 and completed on Christmas Day 1895 by Rev. Edward F. Williams, Congregational Minister.

“Marriage: On Christmas Day 1895, in Chicago, he married Carol Louise Brooks, also a sculptor (see their marriage record below). Earlier MacNeil was informed that he had won the Rinehart Roman Scholarship. Following their wedding, the pair left for Rome, passing three years there (1896-1899) and eventually spend a fourth year in Paris where their first son, Claude, was born. During those years they studied together under the same masters and shared the income of the Rinehart scholarship awarded to Hermon. (Carol had also studied sculpture with both Lorado Taft and Frederick William MacMonnies).”

Both Carol and Hermon sculpted for the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Carol Brooks was one of Lorado Taft’s “White Rabbits”

Lorado Taft’s “White Rabbits” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rabbits_(sculptors)

Hermon sculpted statues on the Electricity Building (See picture below)

**Sketch of Hermon MacNeil from a newspaper article announcing the 1895 award of the Rinehart Prize**

Carol Brooks MacNeil – 1907 – Twelve years after her marriage to Hermon
H.A.MacNeil ~1895 sketch – The Sun (New York City)
The Electricity Building housed the Tower of Light, displays by Western Electric, General Electric, American Bell Telephone, Edison’s lasest phonographs.
The White City Columbian Exposition: http://members.cox.net/academia/cassatt8.html
New York Public Library – Digital Gallery (655 x 760)
H.A. MacNeil “Fan Club” Members examine the Marquette Building – 140 S. Dearborn Ave.
Panel 4 “The de Profundus was intoned
Panel 3 “Passing two leagues up the river …”
Panel 2 ” To follow those waters …”
“To follow those …” Panel 1