World’s Fair Bison, 1893 (cast in bronze 1911)
Edward Kemeys
Humboldt Park
East entrance to formal
garden, west of Humboldt Drive and north of West Division Street
Edward Kemeys (1843-1907) worked with A. Phimister
Proctor to produce more than 35 plaster models of North American wildlife for
the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. The two massive
sculptural bison are visible in many existing photographs from the Exposition.
In 1911, the West Park Commissioners hired Jules Bercham to recast the
sculptures in bronze. They replaced Daniel Chester French and Edward C.
Potter’s two Bulls with Maidens (which
were moved to Garfield Park) facing the sunken garden in Humboldt Park.
The bison are similar but not identical, with one staring
forward while the other has a lowered head, as if grazing or listening. Kemeys,
best known in Chicago for his Lions
that grace the entrance of the Art Institute, was one of the pioneers of animal
sculpture in the United States.
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