Bessie potter vonnoh biography

American sculptor (1872–1955)

Bessie Potter Vonnoh (August 17, 1872 – March 8, 1955) was an American sculptor best known for her small bronzes, mostly of domestic scenes, and for her garden fountains.

Bessie potter vonnoh biography

Her stated artistic objective, as she told an interviewer in 1925, was to “look for beauty in the everyday world, to catch the joy and swing of modern American life.”^[1]

Early years

Bessie Onahotema Potter was born in St Louis, Missouri,^[2] the only child of Ohio natives Alexander and Mary McKenney Potter.

Her father died in an accident in 1874 at the age of 38.^{[3]: p. 7} By 1877, she and her mother had joined members of her mother's family in Chicago.^[3]: p.

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In school, she enjoyed clay-modeling class and decided early on that she wanted to be a sculptor.^[4] In 1886, at age 14, she enrolled in classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.^[5] She was able to affo