Part 511: Thomas G. Moses and Victor Higgins
In 1905, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Victor Higgins, one of our promising young men, quit to take up picture painting and started with a strong determination to win, and I think he will.”
Victor Higgins, A.N.A. (1884-1949) was a friend to Moses over the years. They painted together in both scenic and fine art studios, remaining close until Moses’ death in 1934. Higgins was born in Shelbyville, Indiana. Purportedly, it was an itinerant sign painter who inspired Higgins to become an artist. Leaving home at the age of fifteen, he entered the Chicago Art Institute and studied alongside E. Martin Hennings and Walter Ufer by 1899. It was during his time in Chicago that Higgins began painting for the theatre, eventually meeting Moses. Higgins worked at Sosman & Landis alongside Art Oberbeck, Fred Scott, Edgar Payne, Ansel Cook, Walter C. Hartson, William Nutzhorn, David Austin Strong, and an artist named Evans. Higgins also worked for David Hunt at Sosman & Landis’ eastern affiliate New York Studios. His fellow New York Studio artists included William Smart, Art Rider, and Al Dutheridge.
As Moses recorded, Higgins’ “strong determination to win” prompted him to seek further artistic instruction beyond that available in Chicago. In 1908, Higgins travelled to New York, meeting Robert Henri (1865-1929) – a leading figure of the Ashcan School of art. Henri’s students included Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, George Bellow, Norman Raeben, Louis D. Fancher and Stuart Davis. He spurned the Academy and Impressionist school of painting, promoting a revived realism and 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 likely guided Higgins’ art throughout the course of his career. Higgins’ artistic training in New York prompted him to continue his education in Europe.
The same year that Higgins traveled to New York, former Chicago Mayor and avid art collector, Carter H. Harrison, financed his artistic study in Europe at the Académie de la Grand Chaumière in Paris. There, he became a pupil of Rene Menard and Lucien Simon. Higgins then went to Munich where he was a pupil of Hans von Hyeck. During his first year in Europe, he sent Moses several postcards to share his journey with the older artist. In 1909 Higgins mailed Moses a postcard from 16 Promenadenplatz, Munich.
Chicago offered many opportunities for artists during this time. During Mayor Harrison’s administration, the Chicago City Council created the Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art (1914-1945). This commission used taxpayer money to purchase paintings and sculpture created by Chicago artists. It is no wonder that Chicago was a leading artistic force at the time and became an artistic hub where many artists gathered.
In 1909, Higgins briefly returned to work for Sosman & Landis again, decorating the interior for the American Music Hall in Chicago. This was a time when the studio was swamped with Masonic work and the scenic artists were busily producing massive Scottish Rite scenery collections at both their main and annex studios. Two of the projects were for the Scottish Rites in Atlanta, Georgia and Kansas City, Kansas. At the time, the studio was also busy creating 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.
Beginning in 1912, Higgins began exhibiting his artwork with the Palette & Chisel Club, earning national recognition and the Gold Medal (1913). Moses was also a member of this same fine art society, also exhibiting many times over the decades. Other artistic awards granted to Higgins were from the Municipal Art League (1915), the Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago (1917), and the first Altman prize for the National Academy of Design (1918). He was represented in permanent collection of the Art Institute in Chicago, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles museum, and many other public and private collections.
To be continued…
