TERRE HAUTE — Of the 38 female sculptors displaying work at the 1893 Columbian World Exposition in Chicago, at least three could call Terre Haute their home.
It is too bad records of such community accomplishments are not recorded. That must be a record for cities with less than 30,000 residents.
Two of the artists — Caroline Peddle Ball and Janet Scudder — were classmates and best friends during their youth.
Recognized as the world’s most famous 19th Century sculptress, Harriet Hosmer often visited her cousin, Sarah Fuller, in Terre Haute before and during the exposition and probably worked with Caroline Peddle Ball.
After Charles Fuller, superintendent of bridges for the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, died in 1896, Hosmer moved into 422 N. Center St. with widow Sarah.
A native of Watertown, Mass., Hosmer became active in the Decorative Arts Society, used research facilities at State Normal School, became active in the Decorative Arts Society and,. On March 10, 1898, presented the Woman’s Department Club with one of five castings of her sculpture, “Browning’s Hands.”
Columns devoted to Scudder and Hosmer have occupied this space in years past but Caroline Peddle Ball has not been similarly treated.
The daughter of Charles Rugan and Mary Elizabeth (Ball) Peddle, Caroline was born in Terre Haute on Nov. 11, 1869. She was christened Caroline Cheever Ball.
A native of Philadelphia, her father was hired in 1851 by Chauncey Rose as master mechanic of the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad. Peddle was in charge of acquiring railroad iron and the four Hinkley steam locomotives needed to commence operations.
Built by the Hinkley & Drury Locomotive Works of Boston, two engines were shipped to Terre Haute and two to Indianapolis. Ironically, the locomotives shipped to Terre Haute came by way of the Wabash & Erie Canal, the mode of transportation the railroad was destined to replace.
At age 37, widower Peddle wed the daughter of Dr. Edward Voorhees Ball and Sarah Elizabeth (Richardson) Ball in 1867. Twenty years younger than her husband, Mary Elizabeth was Charles’ second wife. He had four children by Elizabeth, his first wife.
By the time Caroline was born, Charles was superintendent of the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, known as the Vandalia Line. She was the younger sister of John B. Peddle, later professor of machine design at Rose Polytechnic and the father of future Terre Haute architect Juliet Peddle.
Both parents possessed drawing talent, raising Caroline in an artistic environment on N. Ninth St. and, later, 502 N. Center St. She received her first drawing lesson at Normal Training School, site of her primary education, and then studied privately on Saturdays with Professor William L. Ames of Rose Polytechnic.
Nettie Scudder, about two weeks older than Caroline, also enlisted in Professor Ames’ class. Already friends, the two united to submit prize-winning artistic exhibits to state and county fairs in Indiana and Illinois.
Caroline and Nettie, who changed her name to Janet in 1888, graduated from Terre Haute High School on June 17, 1887.
Scudder had a troublesome childhood. Her mother died before she was five years old and four of her seven siblings died before they reached adulthood. Her favorite brother, Charles, drowned Aug. 6, 1885, at age 17.
A hard-working confectioner with a residence at 637 Cherry St. and a candy store at 638 Wabash Ave., William Scudder remarried. Janet disliked her stepmother, preferring to entrust secrets to housekeeper-maid Hannah Hussey.
Despite his fragile resources, Scudder enrolled his precocious daughter in the Cincinnati Academy of Arts in 1887. William died on Sept. 15, 1888 and Janet moved to Chicago, where she soon became a studio assistant to sculptor Lorado Taft.
Soon after high school, Caroline resided with an paternal aunt while attending the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. Then she relocated to New York to enter the Art Students League to study sculpting under Irish-born artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
When Saint-Gaudens retired from teaching, she studied with Kenyon Cox.
Saint-Gaudens became the top artistic advisor to the Columbia World Exposition but there is no evidence he wielded any influence to enable Caroline’s participation. While in New York, Louis Tiffany of the Tiffany Glass Co. became enamored by her work and offered her a room in a studio at the factory.
Caroline’s “Head of the Virgin,” included in the Tiffany Exhibit at the exposition, was a product of that experience. She was commissioned by Tiffany to create other work, including “Christ of the Sacred Heart.”
Caroline was commissioned in 1894 to create a memorial fountain in Flushing, N.Y., to commemorate the life of Mary Lawrence Eliman. She also earned prominence for a bronze medallion she created honoring Long Island weaver Anton Herkomer.
Between September 1895 and March 1896, Caroline studied in Florence, Italy. She established a Terre Haute studio in May 1896 and worked there at the time when Hosmer was residing with cousin Sarah Fuller less than a block away.
In May 1897, Caroline returned to Europe, residing in Paris for nearly three years., establishing a studio at No. 17 Rue Campagne-Premiere. She was awarded a contract to sculpt “Victory” on the U.S. building at the 1900 Paris Exposition.
Returning to Vigo County, she married her 22-year old cousin Bertrand E. Ball, a professional photographer and son of Dr. Lawrence and Clara Ball of Prairieton, on Oct. 16, 1902. They moved to Mount Kisco, N.Y., where daughter Mary Asenath Ball was born Sept. 30, 1903.
In October 1904, the family moved to Westfield, N.J., where Caroline maintained a studio until 1927 even though the Balls eventually divorced.
She was a prolific exhibitor of her work until late in life. Her life-size sculpture of Russian-American actress Alla Nazimova drew tributes at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. Bird fountains, models of children, cemetery headstones and decorative street lamps also were specialties. The grounds of the Westfield home were tastefully adorned.
A medallion portrait of two-year old Lenore Cox created for her parents, Lewis J. and Lenore Cox, in 1896, was a prized local piece. Ball presented several prize pieces to Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library. Some are located at Swope Art Museum.
Caroline Peddle Ball spent the last years of her life in Harwinton, Conn., where she died at age 68 on Oct. 1, 1938.
History
Historical Perspective: Caroline Peddle Ball among sculptors displaying at 1893 Columbia Exposition
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