In 1874 , more than two thousand peopleattendeda Cincinnati prowess veranda to catch a glance of Caroline S. Brooks ’s sculpture of Iolanthe , the heroine ofHenrik Hertz ’s playKing René ’s Daughter . The sculpture was classic in elan , with fussy drapery translate in realistic item . Brooks ’s blind princess appeared in repose with her eyes close to indicate sleep . But what was most striking about the carving — and no doubt why thousands wanted to see the workplace — was neither its detail nor subject topic ; it was the material from which Iolanthe was show . The princess was sculpted from butter .
Brooks , known widely as “ The Butter Woman , ” was the first recorded [ PDF ] butter sculptor in American history . Thewifeof an Arkansas James Leonard Farmer , she likely began apply butter carving in the mid-19th century so as to elevate her family farm . Brooks , however , was unusually skilled in the art , and by the 1870s , she was exhibiting large - scale piece of work like the sculpture of Iolanthe .
Since the sculptures were necessarily ephemeral , preserved by ice to keep them from melting like a shot , Brooks document her works with picture cards , which were also used to afterward elevate her practice session . Iolanthe was a subject area that Brooks was lovesome of render ; phonograph record document the Cincinnati gallery exhibition in 1874 , though this picky photograph , obligate by the Library of Congress , date stamp to c.1878 . Brooks appear to have remake alike carving on multiple occasion . She oftengavepublic demonstration and it seems very likely that audiences were drawn to particularly well - get laid subjects . The Library of Congress holds an additional two photographs of Brooks ’s dairy - drenched princess , including a stereo card evidence a relief of a bust - distance Iolanthe dating from 1876 , the same year Brooks exhibit that oeuvre at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia . A pop guide depict the relief as the " most beautiful and unique showing in the Centennial . ”
Library of Congress// Public Domain
The artistic creation historian Pamela Simpsonnotesthat butter sculpture was a spiritualist “ strongly associated with women . ” While making butter for house use , women had longusedmolds to mark their Cartesian product , and the defining of butter was born of rural homemaking . The journey from butter - making to butter sculpting was , evidently , a natural route . And butter carving was n’t exactly unusual : One historiannotes that butter statuary was so popular that , by 1876 , it was a common feature article on the exhibition circle .
It was particularly popular in states where dairy played a primary role in the farming economic system ; butter statuary was a mutual feature at state funfair and installations at expositions . Minnesota , for case , had a lavish butter sculpturedisplay at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 . Throughout the latter one-half of the 19th century , butter statuary tended to depict flowers and cows , a tradition that laid the foundation for butter carving today ; think of the photograph Ted Cruzsharedon Twitter of him standing in front of a “ butter cow”atthe Iowa State Fair .
Brooks ’s butter sculpture , like Iolanthe , tended to be more highbrowed in their reach , attempting , perhaps , to elevate the genre to an art . Instead of cow , sheexhibited sculpturesof Lady Godiva , a group portrayal of a female parent and children calledLa Rosa , and a butter - return bust of the suffragette Lucretia Mott . Indeed , Brooks ’s butter sculptures were perceived by contemporaries as cracking accomplishment in fine artistic creation make by women . In 1903 , Simpson note , one art critic lay claim that Brooks ’s study was so authoritative , it had help pave the way for other women artist .
