Context

This work is one of many collaborations undertaken by French with his student Edward C. Potter, who specialized in representations of animals (including the mounted George Washington in Washington Park) Paired with the Roman goddess of grain, Ceres, the Indian maiden personifies corn, or maize. The two figure groupings, now in Garfield Park, were made in 1909 from surviving plaster casts that were used in the production of the monumental sculptural groups that welcomed visitors to the Agriculture Building at the World's Columbian Exposition. The Indian Maiden was stolen in 1986. Noticed at an art auction in 2010, it was returned to its site the Garfield Park Conservatory, along with the restored Ceres, which had been damaged by the thieves.