The same year that the Sosman & Landis Annex studio opened, an article appeared in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, “Paint Mimic Scenes, Men Who Have Found Fame in the Wing and Drop Curtains” (Dec, 18, 1892, page 41). Here is the continuation of that article started in installment #245.
“Passing reference to some of the eminent American scenic artists and their work is appropriate in this connection. The late Matt Morgan was a genius, remarkable in everything, correct occasionally. His color was French, his tone exquisite, and he boasted of never using anything deeper than burnt sienna for his most profound shadows. Morgan was ambidextrous and worked with great rapidity. It is said that he could paint life-size figures in an hour, and he used a sponge with remarkable dexterity to make foliage. His “Chariot of the Sun” on a drop of the Olympic and “Birth of Drama” for the Academy are well remembered in this city.
Richard Marston, one of the pioneers of the modern school, for years painted the scenery at the Union Square in New York. His production gave vigorous incentive to rivals, for his work was remarkably accurate, and considering the fact that he painted for a stage only 28 feet deep his scenes were marvels in perspective.
Harley Merry is another master I the same school in perpetuating the English ides of water-color. His dainty work is to be observed in the decoration and stock scenery of the opera house at Pullman. Merry is the greatest painter of monochromes and photographic backgrounds in the country. He has two sons who inherit his talent. Phillip Goatcher of New York, is a well-known artist of the old school, famous for his oriental color and tropical foliage.
David Porter of San Francisco is another of the famous old scenic artists, whose Norman and Gothic architecture has seldom been surpassed. In the same class is Joseph Pigott of New Orleans, whose production of “Aida” at the French Opera House, in 1878, was recognized at the greatest operatic spectacle up to that time.
One of the foremost figures in the scenic world today is Henry Hoyt, an artist of remarkable power and versatility. In architecture he is a trifle irregular but always interesting, has a taste for the rococo, and in the duplication of plushes and velvet textures he is unequaled. That he is facile in clever conceits and delicate color is testified in his output of pink and green ball-rooms for the New York Casino. “The Isle of Champagne” produced here last summer was one of his hasty but brilliant ideas.
And the list in the article will continue in tomorrow’s post. I have covered some of these scenic artists in the past installments and examined their influence on scenic art and design. To see some of their contributions discussed in past posts, see: Richard Marston (installments #124, 127, 138, 140, 171, 179 and 215); Harley Merry (installments #127, 133, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143); Henry Hoyt (installments #138, 140 and 179); and Phillip Goatcher (installments #133 and 217). At a later time, I will cover David Porter and his family.
To be continued…
