Part 383: The Battle Between Two Scenic Art Traditions
I believe that a battle between two American schools of scenic art commenced in earnest during the 1870s – the English school of glazing and Central European school of solid color application. Each school held a fierce loyalty to their respective traditions and techniques.
The 1870s was the time when many scenic artists traveled west following the rapid expansion of the country – there was work to be had throughout the region. They moved to Chicago where opportunities abounded after the great fire in 1871 and the area became a major manufacturing center for theatrical scenery and stage machinery; destroyed theatres were rebuilt and new ones popped up everywhere. Scenic artists working in Chicago and the west gravitated toward a system of efficiency, even more so than before. This refined Central European approach in scenic art did not include multiple layers of glazing. The artists in the Midwest needed a refined system of paint application that allowed a quick turn around. They needed to produce hundreds of drops over an extremely short period of time; this was capitalism at its finest and the audience took no notice of the aesthetic shift that was occurring before their eyes.
Each approach, whether painting with glazes or solid colors, is valid. However, there is one a distinct difference – speed. Remember that I speak from the tradition of the Central European approach, so my perception is subjective. Glazing relies on a series of thinned paint application that take more time to dry than the simple layer of solid color. Painting a dark composition when starting with a light base can be extremely time consuming. Large areas may need to be glazed repeatedly, and this takes time. The final effect is stunning, airy and ethereal. However, it may be labor intensive, remaining on a paint frame too long, taking up valuable space in a studio with limited paint frames. When using solid colors in an opaque manner, you layout large areas of color and each additional layer takes up lest space as you are going from dark to light. For example, dark areas of color that form the basis of a treetop are quickly defined with a few brush strikes suggesting leaves.
At the end of the nineteenth century, J. W. Lawrence took a jab at the quick application of solid colors as practiced by the scenic studio artists. He further commented on the rapidity of scenic artists who did not employ the glazing techniques, writing, “the days of glazing and second painting are gone for ever. What matters is that the adoption of the broadest system of treatment possible – working slapdash fashion in a full body colors- makes the painting crude and garish? All the more merit: for the average provincial American gives his vote for gaudiness and plenty of it.”
Lawrence continued, “To meet the demands for the new stocks of scenery which are generally laid in when the little theatre is first erected, several scenic firms have sprung up in St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas and elsewhere, which employ artists of marked inferiority and turn out work which bears as much resemblance to the genuine article as a chromo does to an oil-painting.” I have to chuckle as I think what he is really saying is “if it doesn’t take a long time to paint, the backdrop has no merit.”
He was taking issue with the fact that several “scenic depots” had risen to prominence in the Midwestern region of the United States. One “depot” was the Sosman & Landis studio, Lawrence even mentioned this scene painting firm by name and reported that the company had provided stock scenery collections for one-thousand small opera houses over the brief span of nine years. Sosman & Landis, as other studios in Chicago, Kansas, and St. Louis employed the scenic art techniques associated with Central European tradition of painting with solid colors for a rich opacity.
He who painted the most scenery won; and the Midwestern artists were ahead of the game during the late nineteenth century as their approach to painting was faster. One way for the Eastern artists to attack their competitors was to diminish the mass-production of painted scenery in the Central European tradition as a “slapdash fashion in a full body colors of solid colors.” Yet this approach to scenic art was appearing in hundreds of opera houses across the country; it was establishing a standard in the American theatre market.
Glancing at Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide from 1896-1897 illustrates just how much of the market had been gained by Sosman & Landis. Their name dominated the list of any other competitor. They produced out a ridiculous amount of scenery in a relatively short period of time. To further explore their productivity, a newspaper article listed how many venues Sosman & Landis fitted up from June 1881 to July 1882.
New Opera House, Rockford, Illinois
Academy of Music, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Grand Opera House, Richmond, Indiana
Hill’s Opera House, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Humblin’s Opera House, Battle Creek, Michigan
Union Opera House, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Russell’s Opera House, Bonham, Texas
Brownsville Opera House, Brownsville, Texas
My Theatre, Fort Worth, Texas
Leach’s Opera House, Somerville, Tennessee
Kahn’s Opera House Boliver, Tennesse
King’s Opera House, Jackson, Tennessee
Stummer’s Hall, Washington, Georgia
Vicksburg Opera House, Vicksburg, Mississippi
McWhinney’s Opera House, Greenville, Ohio
Yengling Opera House, Minerva, Ohio
City Hall, Athens, Ohio
Freeman’s Opera Hall, Geneseo, Illinois
Odd Fellows Hall, Peshtigo, Wisconsin
Hyde’s Opera House, Lancaster, Wisconsin
Klaus’ Opera House, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Storie’s Opera House, Menominee, Wisconsin
Holt’s Opera House, Anamosa, Iowa
King’s Opera House, Hazleton, Iowa
Opera House Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
Opera House Athens, Georgia
Opera House Gainsville, Texas
Opera House Reidsville, North Carolina
Edsell Opera House, Otsego, Michigan
New Opera House, Howell, Michigan
Stouch Opera House, Garnett, Kansas
Germania Hall, Blair, Nebraska
Bennett’s Opera House, Urbana, Ohio
Klaus’ Opera House, Jamestown, Dakota
Opera House, Westville, Indiana
City Hall, Mineral Point, Wisconsin
City Hall, Lewisburg, West Virginia
Opera House, Denison, Iowa
Opera House, Nevada, Ohio
Opera House, Hoopeston, Illinois
Opera House, Cambridge, Illinois
Turner Hall, LaSalle, Illinois
Kolter’s Opera House, Wausau, Wisconsin
Opera House Moberlv, Missouri
Krotz’s Grand Opera House Defiance, Ohio
Opera House, Montague, Michigan
Opera House Eutaw, Alabama
Opera House, Greyville, Illinois
Opera House, Carthage, Illinois
Masonic Hall, Macomb, Illinois
New Hall, Good Hope Illinois
Music Hall, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Temperance Hall, Seneca, Illinois
Opera House, Jefferson, Iowa
Opera House, Waupaca, Wisconsin
Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Opera House, Mexia, Texas
Opera House, Wilson, North Carolina
Opera House, Newbern, North Carolina
Opera House, Goldsboro, North Carolina
Grand Opera House, Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cosmopolitan Theatre, Miles City, Montana Territory
Arbeiter Hall, Ludington, Michigan
Opera House, West Bay City, Michigan
Opera House, Detroit, Minnesota
Opera House, Lockport, Illinois
Opera House, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Opera House, Grass Lake, Michigan
Opera House Demopolis, Alabama
Opera House, Unionville, Missouri
Opera House, Harrodsville, Kentucky
Opera House, Hancock, Michigan
City Hall, New London, Ohio
Opera House, Stevens’ Point, Wisconsin
Sosman & Landis utilized the Central European tradition and immediately succeeded by sheer volume of drops that they produced. There remain remnants of this past rivalry today, as “experts” compare the installations of local artisans in the east and studio artists in the west. There continues to be the perception that mass-produced compositions by large studios are “less” than anything created by a marginally-skilled local artist at a small social hall. There is the idea that backdrops produced in a large scenic studio carry less artistic merit than a one-off by a small-time local artisan. It is difficult for me not to take into account that many of the scenic artists in the larger studios would later achieve international recognition as fine artists, yet the battle continues to rage on.
To be continued…
