VICTOR HIGGINS, SCENIC ARTIST
This is the last of the artists noted by Moses in 1922.
William “Victor” Higgins (1884-1949) was born in Shelbyville, Indiana. Determined to become an artist by an early age, he left for Chicago in 1899 to study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the Art Institute.
By 1905, Moses notes Victor Higgins in his memoirs as one the studio’s promising young scenic artists. He writes that Higgins had quit to take up picture painting, leaving “with a strong determination to win.”
In 1908, Higgins travelled to New York, meeting Robert Henri (1865-1929) – a leading figure of the Ashcan School of art with a fascinating story in his own right. Henri’s students included Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, George Bellow, Norman Raeben, Louis D. Fancher and Stuart Davis. Henri spurned the Academy and Impressionist school of painting. He promoted a revived realism, rallying “for paint to be as real as mud, as the clods of horse shit and snow that froze on Broadway in the winter.” It was this instruction that seems to have truly guided Higgins’ art throughout the course of his career.
In 1909, Higgins had returned to work for Moses at Sosman & Landis Studio – painting for the American Music Hall interior at a time when the studio was swamped. They were busy in both main and annex studios, producing Masonic drops for Atlanta, Georgia and Kansas City, Kansas; a huge spectacle called “The Fall of Messiah” for the White City; a Coliseum Show; and a large installation of scenery for Detroit’s Temple Theatre.
By 1910, Higgins traveled to Europe for training at the Académie de la Grand Chaumière in Paris and to study in Munich. Sponsored by then mayor and collector, Carter H. Harrison, Jr., Higgins remained in Europe for two and a half years.
While in Germany, Higgins met fellow artist Walter Ufer (1876-1936). Ufer had been born in Germany and immigrated to Louisville, Kentucky as a small child. The son of a master gunsmith, Ufer decided to become and artist after visiting the 1893 Columbian Exposition, moving to Chicago and attending the School of the Art Institute. Ufer apprenticed as a commercial lithographer and portraitist before traveling to Dresden, Germany to study at the Royal Applied Art Schools and the Royal Academy. He was the first beneficiary of the patronage syndicate formed by Mayor Harrison. It is interesting to note that during Harrison’s administration the city council also created the Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art (1914-1945) where taxpayer money was used to purchase paintings and sculpture created Chicago artists. THIS makes so much sense as one of the contributing factors that allowed artistic endeavors to flourish in Chicago.
After Higgins and Ufer returned to the states, they accepted a commission to paint landscapes in Taos in 1914. Mayor Harrison again financed travel for Higgins and his friend; a year-long trip to Taos in exchange for eight paintings! The meat-packing tycoon Oscar Mayer, also contributed financially on Ufer’s behalf for this trip.
Higgins and Ufer fell in love with the southwest and both joined the Taos Society of Artists in 1917. Within a year, Higgins became president of the Society and remained in the area until 1927. Art historians note that at this point on his journey, Higgins abandoned many of the traditional artistic approaches that he had learned in Europe, specifically he captures the vibrant colors of the landscape and paints his subjects as realistically as possible. I also believe that his time spent with Robert Henri was probably a turning point for Higgins, providing artistic techniques and approaches that would be used throughout his career. He returned to this approach after Europe as it felt more natural to him. But that is just my personal view as I also see a lot of scenic art techniques in his later fine art.
Higgins initially focused on the Pueblo people and latter on landscapes, writing “This strong primitive appeal calls out the side of art that is not derivative; it urges the painter to get his subjects, his coloring, his tone from the real life about him, not from the wisdom of the studios” (meaning “European fine art studios “is my interpretation on this statement).
He continued to return periodically to Chicago, exhibiting his southwestern artworks at the Palette and Chisel Club, as well as the Art Institute – dominating the juried exhibitions. Higgins also exhibited in Indianapolis and New York, with an occasional artwork shown back in Europe.
By 1921, Higgins used Harrison’s model and formed his own syndicate of four wealthy collectors, including Frank B. Logan, who funded the two most productive and experimental years of his career . Higgins painted atmospheric effects with brilliant colors and an economy of brush stroke I these later years. One could parallel that these were techniques Higgins had initially encountered in scenic studios too.
As far as Higgins personal life, he was briefly married to Sara Parsons, the daughter of Sheldon Parsons, resulting in one child – Joan Higgins. Later, he married Marion Kooglen McNay of San Antonio from 1937-1940. McNay was the wealthy daughter of an oil baron with multiple marriages behind her. An artist in her own right, McNay had been trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and often worked as an art teacher. Little is said of these two relationships, other than Higgins loved art more than marriage.
In 1929 Higgins was invited to participate at the Museum of Modern Art’s second exhibit. That same year, Moses also mentions Higgins in memoirs on February 14th. The Higgins call to visit with the Moses as they are in town to settle the estate of their nephew, Theodore Roberts, a famous movie star. Obviously this must be his first wife, but I have no knowledge of his marriage dates to Parsons. It might also be an assumption that Higgins was married to a current paramour.
As many artists, Higgins suffered financially in the final years of his life and began painting small scenes on boards or Masonite that he called “Little Gems.” He would drive his car to a picturesque area, open his trunk and paint scenes for passersby. It is noted that he worked in a shirt and tie or full three-piece suit. Smoking a cigar with a paint box on his lap, he sold these small artworks for approximately $250.00. As with many artists, the end of their lives are spent in financial ruin. After death, their artworks bring the money that they desperately needed during their life. It is really sad to see others make money from an artwork produced by a destitute artist at the end of their career. Higgins artworks are now worth a substantial amount; two of the auction prices listed for Higgins “Going Home” and “Canyon Drive, Santa Fe” brought in $773,000 and $769,000 respectively.
Higgins continued to paint until his death on Aug. 23, 1949. His painter’s box, easel, palette and stool, now hang in a replica of Higgins’ studio inside the Eiteljorg Museum. The link is https://www.eiteljorg.org/ Also, for a fabulous book, see “Window on the West: Chicago and the Art of the New Frontier, 1890-1940” by Judith A. Barter!
There are so many images of Higgins’ work available online that I just selected a few that reminded me of scenic art.
