Part 503: Thomas G. Moses and Henry C. Tryon
In 1905, Thomas G. Moses recorded that he painted a Grand Canyon curtain for Duluth and used a print of Thomas Moran for the source. Although the Santa Fe Railroad had offered transportation to the Grand Canyon to complete sketches on site, Moses did not have the time to spare.
As I have previously discussed, it was the works of Thomas Moran and some of his contemporaries who influenced the painted aesthetic for popular entertainment on the stage and scenic illusion, if not by their own artworks, then by the works of their students. Moses’ connection to Moran was not simply through his reverence for the artist, but also Henry C. Tryon, a student of Moran’s and fellow scenic artist. Tryon was another Sosman & Landis artist who worked alongside Moses and went on sketching trips with him during the 1880s. Tryon was brought on at Sosman & Landis as Lem Graham’s replacement, after Graham left for Kansas City to start his own scenic studio – Kanas City Scenic Co. Moses wrote: “[Tryon] enthused Young and I more than anyone ever had. He was a pupil of Thos. Moran and James and William Hart and was very clever, but awfully eccentric.”
Moses wrote about his sketching trip to West Virginia in 1885 with Tryon, publishing 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). In 1885, 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 that home, 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 on 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.” Tryon also worked as a scenic artist at McVicker’s Theatre in Chicago, painting alongside Lou Malmsha, one of the great scenic artists of Chicago during the late-nineteenth century.
As I was looking for information pertaining to the drop curtain that Moses’ painted in Duluth, I encountered the Grand Canyon drop curtain that Walter W. Burridge painted for the Grand Opera House in Chicago during 1902. I also encountered another reference to Henry C. Tryon and a description of his character in a book that was recently written by Donna L. Poulton. In “Reuben Kirkham, Pioneer Artist” Poulton writes about Kirkham’s work with Alfred Lambourne (1850-1926). They painted stage scenery in Salt Lake City at the Lehi Music Hall in 1871. In Lambourne’s reminiscences about the theater, he mentions Henry C. Tryon as his final mentor. Poulton includes Lambourne’s description of Henry C. Tryon, “that erratic genius, that Bohemian of Bohemians.” Lambourne recorded, “…I worked with Tryon about seven weeks. Not on the paint gallery of the Salt Lake theatre, but in one of our southern towns, where we had taken a contract, jointly, for furnishing a set of stock scenery. Those seven weeks were among the most exciting, and from the art standpoint, most profitable of my life. Tryon arrived in Salt Lake City, after a long and successful season of scene-painting in Chicago, and at the Tabor Grand, in Denver. Who, that knew the man, could ever forget that walk, that shock of unkempt red hair, that shrewd ingratiating smile and fun, the enthusiasm, or flash of anger in those steel gray Irish eyes. How distinctly I remember the low suppressed tones of his voice and the sparkle in the same eyes, as he once confronted me and uttered these words: “I have never yet met a man whose combativeness I could not overcome with my own.” However that may have been, we became fast friends and without surrender on either side.”
Henry C. Tryon wrote a tribute to his good friend and fellow scenic artist, Louis Malmsha (1863-1882). Tryon worked with Malmsha at Wood’s Theatre in Cincinnati and later with him at McVicker’s Theatre in Chicago. In 1882, Tryon published a tribute to Malmsha heralding him as “the greatest scenic painter in the world.” It appeared in the “Salt Lake City Herald” on October 22, 1882. (see past installment #123). Of Malmsha, he wrote, “As an humble follower, ardent admirer, friend, and confrere of this dead artist I felt it my duty to render tribute and homage to his transcendent genius. He was “the best in the profession.” Every artist who has seen his work has without qualification given him this position as a matter of simple fact. I have seen samples from the hands of the best scenic artists in England, France, and Italy, and from what I have seen and learned. I am convinced that Mr. Malmsha was the greatest scenic painter in the world.” This allows us to trace a scenic art lineage of respect and admiration.
Tryon was born in Chicago in 1847. At the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the army in a regiment attached to the Second Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, serving until the close of the Civil War. He later became a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Design, intending to become a landscape painter, studying with both Thomas Moran (1837-1926) and William M. Hart (1823-1894). Tryon worked with Malmsha at Wood’s Theatre in Cincinnati and later with him at McVicker’s Theatre in Chicago. In the early 1880s. Tryon had moved to Salt Lake City where he became active as a scenic artist, well known for his drop curtain at the Salt Lake Theatre entitled, “The Return of a Victorius Fleet.” He also produced 25 sets of scenery for the Salt Lake Theatre.
In 1883, the “Salt Lake Daily” published, “The improvements which have been in progress at the Salt Lake Theatre during the past nine or ten months, under the direction of Henry C. Tryon, the noted scenic artist, have attracted a great deal of attention from theatrical men generally” (July 22, 1883, Vol. XIV, No. 41). The author of the article then asked Mr. Mayer, “By the way, what do you think of Tryon as an artist?” Mayer’s response, “Tryon? We he has a national reputation. The fact that he is engaged to paint the scenes is a guarantee that the scenes outfit will be on par with any theatre in the United States. He is none of your fellows who depend on village theatre for a livelihood; his services are in demand all the time and the only thing that beats my penetration is that so expensive an artist could be obtained to come to Salt Lake. The scenes already painted are the equal of anything in stock in the country.”
And yes, Tryon was a Scottish Rite Mason too. For his Masonic affiliation, see past installments #199-201.
To be continued…
