The New International Encyclopædia/Taft, Lorado

TAFT, (1860&mdash;). An American sculptor, born at Elmwood, Ill. He was educated at the University of Illinois (Champaign, Ill.) and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1880-83). In 1880 he became an instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1893 a lecturer in the university extension department of the Chicago University. His works include statues of Schuyler Colfax (Indianapolis) and of General Grant (Fort Leavenworth, Kan.), and the sculptural decorations for the Horticultural Building of the World's Columbian Exhibition (1893).