Women’s Work: The Legacy of Enid Yandell, Kentucky’s Pioneer Sculptor
Dr. Juilee Decker
Born on October 6, 1869, in Louisville, Kentucky, Enid Yandell was the eldest of four children who ultimately found her passion in sculpture. She trained in Louisville and Cincinnati before taking a position at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which launched her 40-year career. Over these years, Enid found friendship and support among women even as she pursued a professional art career, an area of work in which more men than women excelled. While Enid certainly competed among the men, she also was afforded opportunities through the work of women. In this illustrated talk, author Juilee Decker tells how Enid’s legacy has largely been constructed by women. She shares the story of this Southern dilettante and daughter of a Confederate officer who became an internationally recognized sculptor of large-scale, award-winning works, an independent woman engaging in art and activism, and a pioneer.
The lecture will be followed by question and answer. Decker’s book, Enid Yandell: Kentucky’s Pioneer Sculptor (2019, University Press of Kentucky), will be available for purchase. Following the lecture, attendees are invited to explore the exhibit Kentucky Women: Enid Yandell, on view in the Kentucky Gallery.
This event is one of several throughout Louisville that are part of a community-wide celebration of Enid Yandell’s life by the Filson, the Speed Art Museum, the Louisville Free Public Library, Bellarmine University, the Frazier History Museum, 21c Museum, and other organizations. For more information see: www.facebook.com/projectenid.
FREE as part of Sunday Showcase
Dr. Juilee Decker’s research and scholarship are at the intersection of museum studies, public history, and public art. She earned her Ph.D. in 2003 from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She taught from 2004-2014 at Georgetown College (Georgetown, Kentucky) prior to joining the museum studies faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY) in 2014.