Ellen Rankin Copp

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 in Chicago in 1893.

Helen or Ellen Houser Rankin^[2] was born in Atlanta, Illinois, 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. Her grandparents Jean Lowry Rankin and John Rankin were noted abolitionists and hosts on the Underground Railroad in Ohio. In 1888^[1] Ellen began as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago in her thirties after some years teaching.^[3] At the Art Institute she studied with Lorado Taft, as one of his student assistants dubbed "White Rabbits".^[4][5]

In 1890, Ellen Rankin Copp won the first medal for sculpture awarded by the Art Institute of Chicago.^[6] 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.^[7] The 24-foot-tall statue of Pele was promoted as the "largest statue ever made by a woman."^[8] Four more works by Copp were shown at the Exposition: a bronze relief portrait of Harriet Monroe, displayed in the Palace of Fine Arts; a bronze relief portrait of Bertha Palmer, in the Library of the Woman's Building; and two smaller works inside the Illinois Building.^[9]

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.^[10]

Copp made portrait busts of prominent Chicagoans, and one of her grandfather Reverend Rankin, for the city of Ripley, Ohio. In 1896 she submitted an ambitious proposal for a war monument in Texas.^[11]

Helen Houser Rankin se casó con William H. Copp en 1874. ^{[ 6 ]} Tuvieron cinco hijos; cuatro murieron en la infancia. Ellen Rankin dejó a William Copp cuando se llevó a su hijo a Europa, ^{[ 12 ]} y comenzó a usar su apellido de soltera. En 1897, el Sr. Copp, enojado y angustiado por la separación y su propio desempleo, atacó a los padres y a la hermana de Ellen con una navaja y un revólver. A su padre le cortaron la garganta, y Copp recibió un disparo y casi perdió un dedo en el enfrentamiento, pero no hubo víctimas mortales. ^{[ 13 ]}

Su hijo superviviente, Hugh Dearborn Copp (1878-1956), llamado Hugh Doak Rankin tras la separación de sus padres, también se convirtió en artista, conocido sobre todo como ilustrador de ciencia ficción. ^{[ 14 ]}

Ellen Rankin Copp falleció en 1901, a los 48 años; le sobrevivieron su esposo, del que estaba separada, y sus padres.

• Ellen Rankin Copp en Find a Grave