Thomas G. Moses wrote about his sketching trip to West Virginia in 1885. He published a series of articles for the Palette & Chisel newsletter where Moses described his journey and traveling companions, especially the “eccentric” Henry C. Tryon. In one section, he described how Tryon became the student of Thomas Moran (1837-1926).
Moses wrote, “I certainly enjoyed talking on any subject with Tryon. He was very strong on politics, which did not particularly interest me. He was very interesting when it came to anything on art. He had been a pupil of Thomas Moran. Tryon told this story: He had bothered Moran for some time trying to induce Moran to take him on as a pupil. Moran was too much of a gentleman to throw Tryon out of his studio, so he finally took an old canvas, slapped on a lot of color with a palette knife, handed it to Tryon and said: “Take home that, make a picture out of the accidentals and bring it back in a week.” Moran felt that Tryon would throw the canvas away and not come back. The week-end found Tryon back and Moran was so well pleased with the result that he took Tryon in as a pupil, which was very beneficial to Tryon who followed Moran’s style of work even into his scenic painting, as well as his oil. He enjoyed telling this story; he surely must have made a good picture of Moran’s accidentals.”
Moran was born on February 12, 1837 in Bolton, Lancashire. His parents were handloom weavers, but the industrialization of the weaving process threatened their livelihood. This necessitated the family to seek out new opportunities in America during 1844. The Morans settled near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Peter, Edward and Thomas, would become interested in art. By the age of sixteen, Thomas began working as an apprentice for the Philadelphia engraving firm of Scattergood and Telfer. At this time, he also began to concentrate on refining his own artistic techniques and studied with James Hamilton (1819-1878).
Hamilton was also an immigrant who had moved to Philadelphia from Ireland with his family in 1834. He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, studying painting, engraving, and etching. It was Hamilton who introduced Moran to the paintings of J.M.W would remain a major influence on him throughout his career. By 1875, Hamilton sold enough paintings to finance a trip around the world.
Moran also traveled extensively to hone his own artistic skills and ventured to Lake Superior. There he sketched images of the Great Lakes, brought them back to Philadelphia and created lithographs. By the mid-1860s, Moran was exhibiting some very sophisticated paintings.
He married the landscape artist and etcher Mary Nimmo. The couple moved to New York where Moran was hired as an illustrator for Scribner’s Monthly. He was soon promoted to their chief illustrator, Moran was well on his way to achieving the status of a nationally-recognized landscape artist and illustrator.
In 1871, he went on a geological survey of the west, studying now what is now as Yellowstone Park. For 40 days, the group traveled to thirty different sites in the region. The artist was invited by Dr. Ferdinand Hayden, director of the United States Geological Survey and funded by American financier Jay Cooke and Scribner’s Monthly. He was hired along with the photographer William Henry Jackson to document the natural landscape. Moran and Jackson would travel west on another expedition lead by Maj. John Wesley Powel a few years later. Their collective work of canyons, creels, geysers, and hot springs would prove instrumental in the area’s preservation. Congress would decide to elevate and preserve the Yellowstone expanse as a national park in 1872.
Moran also entered into a successful business relationship with the Santa Fe Railroad. The Railroad commissioned him to produce paintings of the west as a marketing device. They were turned into color lithographs to introduce the public to the beautiful western region. Throughout his life, Moran would continue to have a lifelong passion for the Yellowstone National Park. His signature monogram, a linked T & M, even created a “Y” to signify Yellowstone.
Throughout the remainder of his life, Moran continued to travel. Even after the death of his wife in 1900, he would return to Yellowstone with his daughter Ruth almost every year for the next two decades. He would sometimes barter his paintings for travel and lodging. Even in his seventies, he braved the bumpy trails to capture the beauty of the Rockies and was quoted as saying, “I have painted them all my life and shall continue to paint them as long as I can hold a brush.”
Moran eventually settled in Santa Barbara, California until his passing in 1926. He would travel to the Acoma and Laguna pueblos to paint the landscape and native peoples. This was the same locations where Thomas G. Moses also travelled to sketch during that time.
James Hamilton was Thomas Moran’s art instructor in the 1860s. Moran was Henry C. Tryon’s art instructor by the 1870s. In 1885, Tryon was referring to Thomas G. Moses and John H. Young as his own students during their sketching trip to West Virginia.
Scenic artists, such as Tryon and Moses, would study the works of their predecessors. Scenic studios would replicate popular compositions such as those displayed in fine art galleries. Everything was painted to delight the audience, whether they were in the salon or the theatre. One example of a scenic artist who took Moran’s “Sunset in Old Mexico” and replicated the composition on a front curtain for a theatre while working at the Twin City Scenic Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota was John Z. Wood (1846-1919). Wood was a contemporary of Tryon and only a year older (previous installments about Wood can be found in #130 and 147-151).
It all comes full circle as the scenic artist was a perpetual art student, studying and replicating the works of those they considered artistic masters.
To be continued…
