Pamela H. Simpson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816676194
- eISBN:
- 9781452947921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816676194.003.0003
- Subject:
- Art, Art History
This chapter provides an overview of the history of butter sculpture, beginning with Caroline Shawk Brooks’s exhibit of the bas-relief portrait of Dreaming Iolanthe at the Women’s Building at the ...
More
This chapter provides an overview of the history of butter sculpture, beginning with Caroline Shawk Brooks’s exhibit of the bas-relief portrait of Dreaming Iolanthe at the Women’s Building at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Brooks also gave butter-sculpture demonstrations in Chicago in 1893 with other women amateurs. Inspired by Brooks and sponsored by regional creameries, these women displayed their butter sculpture in the Dairy Building. The chapter discusses how butter sculpture was a means for combating the rising threat of the artificial butter called oleomargarine. It examines the rivalry between the two industries and the legislative efforts to control food quality. Butter sculpture became a standard feature of state and regional fairs and international dairy meetings.Less
This chapter provides an overview of the history of butter sculpture, beginning with Caroline Shawk Brooks’s exhibit of the bas-relief portrait of Dreaming Iolanthe at the Women’s Building at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Brooks also gave butter-sculpture demonstrations in Chicago in 1893 with other women amateurs. Inspired by Brooks and sponsored by regional creameries, these women displayed their butter sculpture in the Dairy Building. The chapter discusses how butter sculpture was a means for combating the rising threat of the artificial butter called oleomargarine. It examines the rivalry between the two industries and the legislative efforts to control food quality. Butter sculpture became a standard feature of state and regional fairs and international dairy meetings.
Pamela H. Simpson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816676194
- eISBN:
- 9781452947921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816676194.003.0006
- Subject:
- Art, Art History
This chapter considers the role of gender as it is embodied in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century butter sculpture. Caroline Brooks used butter as a means to circumvent nineteenth-century ...
More
This chapter considers the role of gender as it is embodied in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century butter sculpture. Caroline Brooks used butter as a means to circumvent nineteenth-century restrictions on women’s career mobility. Brooks emerges as a feminist role model who helped inspire other women to pursue their dreams, even while appeasing period gender expectations. On the other hand, four butter portraits of Theodore Roosevelt offer an opportunity to examine ideas about the nature of masculinity. The chapter discusses that the butter portraits illustrate the high points of Roosevelt’s career and also suggests a political and gendered context for both the period and the art.Less
This chapter considers the role of gender as it is embodied in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century butter sculpture. Caroline Brooks used butter as a means to circumvent nineteenth-century restrictions on women’s career mobility. Brooks emerges as a feminist role model who helped inspire other women to pursue their dreams, even while appeasing period gender expectations. On the other hand, four butter portraits of Theodore Roosevelt offer an opportunity to examine ideas about the nature of masculinity. The chapter discusses that the butter portraits illustrate the high points of Roosevelt’s career and also suggests a political and gendered context for both the period and the art.
