Vigo County Historical Society

Janet Scudder (christened Netta Deweze Frazee), born Oct. 27, 1873 at Terre Haute, became a talented sculptress of international fame in the first half of this century.

She had an unhappy childhood with a stepmother, her father’s tragic death, a fire that destroyed their home and an accident that claimed the life of her favorite bother, Charlie. At 18 she went to Cincinnati to study for three years under Rebiso in the Academy of Arts.

In 1891 she moved to Chicago and found work with sculptor Loredo Taft, who was working on the monuments planned for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. She became a "White Rabbit" (an assistant sculptor) and helped turn original French miniature sculptures into full-scale works. Scudder became a pupil of Frederick MacMonnies at Paris where she would spend most of her productive career. She also studied at Florence, Italy, and later came under the influence of famous architect Stanford White, who commissioned her to model several fountains.

Perhaps her greatest achievement came in 1913 when she became the first American woman whose sculpture was bought by the French government and placed in the prestigious Musse du Luxemburg in Paris. She earned much recognition for her portrait "Medallions." She won medals for her works at the Chicago Exposition in 1893 and later at the St. Louis Exposition. She won a silver medal at the San Francisco Exposition in 1915, the Olympiad medal at Amsterdam in 1928 and a silver medal at the Paris Exposition in 1937, which put her status as an artist of the finest rank. She also designed the state medal depicting a forest and a woodsman felling a tree, a buffalo fleeing to a distant forest and the sun setting in the west with the word "Indiana."

She never forgot Terre Haute and children were her favorite subjects. Much of her art still can be found in several places in Terre Haute. Her glorious bronze statuette "Young Diana" (an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in 1911) can be seen in the Sheldon Swope Art Museum.

Scudder became a resident of France in 1909 and worked tirelessly until the year before her death in 1940. She was a prolific artist and received her professional success with great determination, hard work and habits of discipline. She overcame any obstacle that came her way with intelligence and ready wits gained in her sad, unhappy childhood years.