Bas-relief portrait of William Morris, an illustration from The New Industrialism, part of A Winter’s Work, in Four Volumes, published in Chicago by the National League of Industrial Art in 1902. The portrait, which is based on the famous photograph taken in 1884 by Frederick Hollyer, includes a quote from Morris that summarizes his thoughts on industrialization, craftsmanship, and the joy that can be found in meaningful work:
ONE DAY WE SHALL WIN BACK
ART AGAIN TO OUR DAILY
LABOR, WIN BACK ART,
THAT IS TO SAY, THE PLEASURE
OF LIFE TO THE PEOPLE
The portrait is the work of Julia M. Bracken (1869-1942), who was raised in Galena, Illinois and came to Chicago in the 1880s to study at the Art Institute. She became one of the “White Rabbits,” the name given to the assistants in the studio of Lorado Taft, and worked on sculpture for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Her independently commissioned statue, “Illinois Welcoming the Nations,” was exhibition in the Illinois State Building at the fair. It was later recast in bronze for placement in the Illinois state capitol.
She served as director of the Bohemia Guild, an association of Chicago artists and craftsmen which was part of the Industrial Art League formed in 1899. She produced five bas-reliefs for the Guild - Morris, Tolstoy, Paderewski, Carlyle, and Ruskin - which could be purchased for $10.00 each.
Bracken married artist William Wendt at Holy Name Cathedral in 1906, and the couple soon moved to California, where she created her best known work, “The Three Graces: Art, Science and History,” which remains on display in the rotunda of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.