The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-25
MR. DORADO TAFT

N LTHOUGH Mir. Lorado Taft the
 A\ distinguished sculptor. has to = his credit many notable achievements, including the bronzed figure of Eternal Silence" in Grace land Cemetery, Chicago; The Paducah Fountain" at Paducah, Ky; the mar ble Solitude of the Soul" in the Art Institute" the "Columbus Fountain at Washington, and the Thatcher Memo rial" at Denver, the greatest work or art of his artistic career is the superb Fountain of Time" placed only sort time ago in Chicago, and upon which the great artist has been at work for seven years.
 MT. Taft, who, by the way is no re- lation to the former President, William H. Taft, is one of the most renowned sculptors in the world today. His broad knowledge. his tremendous talent ana his striking personality making him notable figure in the world of art and letters and upon the occasion of his second visit to Birmingham q had the pleasure of meeting the distinguished sculptor four years ago, when ne was here), he has emphasized the splendld impression he made previously, by ms charm and elegance and his splendid vision, clear and true.
 In these dayS when SucH d Hu"pci of more or less gifted artists persuade themselves that to make an impression upon the public it is necessary to cul- tivate-generally to their own disad- vantage, artificial effects, 1t is sin- cere pleasure to find man or MT. Taft's ability and genuineness, and BIT mingham showed her appreciation yes terday of the honor bestowed upon us by Mir. Taft's visit and his lecture on Modern French Sculpture"
 In speaking of his life work, and how it happened MT. Taft very inter- estingly relates the circumstances. ana those of us who do not believe that "ac- cidents will happen in the best regu- lated families" have but to hear MT. Taft's own confession as to the acci- dent" which led to his following sculp- ture as profession.
 "As verything-very nearly every thing-is an accident" MT. Taft said' "my life work came about in this way My father was professor at the llll- nois State university at Champagne; little place, you know, near Urbana; the students used to call it Champana'. Dr. Gregory then president of the uni versity, conceived the idea of establish ing an art school in connection With the university, and raised $5,00o small enough sum to be sure as foun- dation, but enough to enable him to go ahead and gather few choice bits or sculpture and a few bits of painting. In bringing them over many ot tne pieces of sculpture were broken IL gave him and my father very sol emn task to put them together; they sent for noted sculptor in Chicago to come and help them with the work, l took a hand in it. and I am glad to say proved rather apt, and the sculptor from Chicago seeing that l had some knack at such things. apprenticed me. It was odd that my parents never oo- jected to my profession, but they didn't on the other hand, they encouraged me-. always. but it was a thing that l could not have gotten away from as a child loved color and I loved modelling but then all children do, don't they?
 In 1880 MT. Taft went to Paris and for five years studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Dumont, Bonnas- sioux and Thomas. Since 1885 he has resided in Chicago.
 He has done countless portraits from the life--some of them are Joaquin Miller, Israel Zangwill Hamlin Gar land, Frances F. Willard, Susan B. An thony. General Logan and Henry W. IOngfeIlow.