Quick Facts
Biography
Jean Pond Miner Coburn (1866–1967) American sculptor born in Menasha, Wisconsin.
Life
Miner studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with Lorado Taft, eventually becoming an assistant to him, and teaching at the institute.
During the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 Miner, along with Helen Farnsworth Mears, was named an artist-in-residence in the Wisconsin Building and at that time produced Forward, a state that was "a symbol of the suffrage movement." The work was cast in bronze by the "women of Wisconsin" and stands in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol. For a century the statue, then made out of copper, had stood on the Capitol grounds, slowly deteriorating, until, in 1996 several women's groups raised the funds to have the work cast in bronze.
This bronze was placed on the Capitol grounds while the original copper version was placed in the lobby of the State Historical Society building.