1897-1978
Sylvia Shaw was a daughter of Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw and the poet Frances Wells. Her father's work included many designs for houses in and around Chicago, especially in Lake Forest, including Ragdale, Sylvia's family home, which Shaw built in the year of his daughter's birth.
In 1915, Sylvia studied sculpture under Anna Hyatt in Masachusetts and, from that year to 1918, at the Art Institute of Chicago under Albin Polasek. In 1919, she briefly had a studio in New York in the same building as that of Malvina Hoffman and the following year she went to Paris where she continued her artistic training under Antoine Bourdelle, an assistant to Rodin. She became well-known in Chicago and her own neighborhood of Lake Forest as a sculptor of garden figures, especially those of children and small animals. Some of her works in the Chicago area are Guardian Angel (1951; Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital), Farm Children (1960; Children's Zoo, Brookfield Zoological Park) and Apple Tree Children (1967; Lake Forest Public Library). She also executed a statue of Mary Dyer for the Boston State House in 1958. She married, first, in 1921 to attorney Clay Judson and, second, in 1963 to Sidney Haskins, professor of sculpture at the American University in Cairo.
She was a member of the National Sculpture Society and exhibited her works at the National Academy throughout the 1950s. She won the Speyer Prize here in 1957 for her granite Bear Cubs.
In 1915, Sylvia studied sculpture under Anna Hyatt in Masachusetts and, from that year to 1918, at the Art Institute of Chicago under Albin Polasek. In 1919, she briefly had a studio in New York in the same building as that of Malvina Hoffman and the following year she went to Paris where she continued her artistic training under Antoine Bourdelle, an assistant to Rodin. She became well-known in Chicago and her own neighborhood of Lake Forest as a sculptor of garden figures, especially those of children and small animals. Some of her works in the Chicago area are Guardian Angel (1951; Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital), Farm Children (1960; Children's Zoo, Brookfield Zoological Park) and Apple Tree Children (1967; Lake Forest Public Library). She also executed a statue of Mary Dyer for the Boston State House in 1958. She married, first, in 1921 to attorney Clay Judson and, second, in 1963 to Sidney Haskins, professor of sculpture at the American University in Cairo.
She was a member of the National Sculpture Society and exhibited her works at the National Academy throughout the 1950s. She won the Speyer Prize here in 1957 for her granite Bear Cubs.
