Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 530 – John D. Suydam and J. W Young Art Galleries

Part 530: John D. Suydam and J. W Young Art Galleries

During the spring of 1905, Thomas G. Moses exhibited a painting at Suydam’s drug store in Oak Park, Illinois. Later that summer Moses painted a mural for the drug store.

The drug store was owned by J. D. Suydam. He was quite an interesting individual. Suydam appreciated art, and eventually left the drug store business to become an art dealer by 1911.

In 1911, the “Oak Park Leaves,” linked Chicago artists with Suydam’s Drug Store (24 June 1911, page 156). The article reported, “John D. Suydam, for many years a druggist in Oak Park, has embarked in a new business, having sold his store at Oak Park avenue and South Boulevard. He has become a dealer in paintings of the highest artistic value and his work in Iola, Kansas. Is reported by the Daily Register of that place as follows: ‘There is over the whole country an awakening to the better things in art, says John D. Suydam, a representative of J. W. Young, critic and art collector of Chicago. The movement, starting in the east and spreading westward, is, according to Mrs. Suydam, just reaching Kansas, and Iola is to wake up with the other commissions. And one would be inclined to believe Mr. Suydam’s words upon seeing the interest manifested by Iolans in the collection of paintings he has in his room at the Kelley hotel.”

J. W. Young of Young Art Galleries was founded in 1897. The gallery sold watercolors by American, actively supporting many artists, such as Winslow Homer, Frederick Church, Robert Henri, Childe Hassam, Hobart Nickols, and E. Irving Course. In 1911, Young’s Art Galleries were at Kimball Hall, at Jackson and Wabash in Chicago (Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 1911, 21). At the time, some of artworks exhibited were by John W. Alexander, Frank W. Benson, Hilda Belcher, George DeForest Brush, Frederick S. Church, Lillian Genth, Wallace Gilchrist, Jr., George Inness, Jr., Tony Nell, and F. Ballard Williams. By 1917, Young’s Art Galleries were located at 66 E. Jackson Boulevard in Chicago and advertised as “Home of the American Art in the West” (American Art Annual, 1917, Volume 13, page 464)

The 1911 “Oak Park Leaves” article also reported, “Many people have been to see the pictures, and the ladies of the Iola Art Club are enthusiastic about them. Mr. Suydam has with him pictures by fifty famous artists, many in watercolors, and several in oil. Water-colors have come to be a favorite medium with artists, as the effects obtained are equally as good, if not better than oil. Some of the oil paintings in the collection are very fine, however, ‘The Equinoctial Day,’ by Simoni are very noteworthy pictures in this medium. All the pictures in both mediums would well repay a visit by those interested in art, the watercolors having been done by such painters as Eaton, Inness, and Ranger.

Those interested in art, says Mr. Suydam, are welcome to view the pictures. Mr. Suydam is not only a critic, but an artist as well. He pays a high compliment to the work of Rev. Carl Nau of Iola, who he says, has in him the making of a great painter.”

In 1931, Rev. Nau sent the Iola Public Library one of his watercolors for the Kansas Room. An article was published about the donation and the artist in “The Iola Daily Register 22 Jan. 1931, page 1). “He studied art and design in London for seven years at he Birkbeck Institute, connected to the Kensington Art Academy. After designing for one year in New York for a Fifth Avenue concern he gave up his profession and decided to study for the Ministry.”

Arriving as a deacon to Iola, Rev. Nau was the rector of St. Timothy’s Episcopal church when Suydam visited the city in 1911.

To be continued…

Author: waszut_barrett@me.com

Wendy Rae Waszut-Barrett, PhD, is an author, artist, and historian, specializing in painted settings for opera houses, vaudeville theaters, social halls, cinemas, and other entertainment venues. For over thirty years, her passion has remained the preservation of theatrical heritage, restoration of historic backdrops, and the training of scenic artists in lost painting techniques. In addition to evaluating, restoring, and replicating historic scenes, Waszut-Barrett also writes about forgotten scenic art techniques and theatre manufacturers. Recent publications include the The Santa Fe Scottish Rite Temple: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theatre (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018), as well as articles for Theatre Historical Society of America’s Marquee, InitiativeTheatre Museum Berlin’s Die Vierte Wand, and various Masonic publications such as Scottish Rite Journal, Heredom and Plumbline. Dr. Waszut-Barrett is the founder and president of Historic Stage Services, LLC, a company specializing in historic stages and how to make them work for today’s needs. Although her primary focus remains on the past, she continues to work as a contemporary scene designer for theatre and opera. View all posts by waszut_barrett@me.com