This is from the 5-figure fountain sculpture outside the Art Institute. I gather that the 5 women are the 5 lakes, but I'm not sure if the individual figures have all been identified.
The sculptor is Lorado Taft. His neoclassical figures run toward the somber and thoughtful, even in the midst of physical activity. Some people at the time reportedly complained that his women were too sturdy, or perhaps too stout of waist. As Wikipedia delicately puts it:
After one got past the symbolism of the ladies as lakes, complaints existed about the lack of recognition of the contemporary form of female representation in art and literature which had gone from the Lillian Russell-type to the Gibson Girl to the Lillie Langtry image while Taft had apparently chosen "packing house ladies" as his female form.
Here's what Langtry looked like:
As you can see her waist is rather... corseted I should think.
Corsets, perhaps, make passions seethe...
but tell me - can the poor girl breathe?
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