Month: October 2018

Part 532: Thomas G. Moses and the Jefferson Theatre in Goshen, Indiana

In 1905, Thomas G. Moses worked on the stock scenery and asbestos curtain for the Jefferson Theater. Of the project, he wrote, “Goshen, Indiana, was a good contract.” The painted curtain by Moses, representing the Sosman & Landis firm, is partially visible in an early photograph. It depicts his signature composition, a babbling brook running through a heavily wooded area.

Listed as the New Jefferson Theatre in Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide, Sosman & Landis were listed as the scenic art firm that produced the stock scenery collection. The width of the proscenium measured 37 feet 6 inches wide by 32 feet high. The depth of the footlights to the back wall was 42 feet 6 inches, the distance between side walls was 64 feet, and the distance between the fly girders was 54 feet. The height to the rigging loft was 64 feet and the height to the fly gallery was 32 feet. One bridge connected the fly galleries. There were no grooves, just a “scenic rack” to store flats and interior box sets.

“The Indianapolis Star” reported, that the Goshen promoters named the new opera house for the deceased actor Jefferson (29, April 1905, page). The article noted, ““The Builders of the new theater in this city have decided to call the house the Jefferson Theatre. This will be the first city in the country to pay such tribute to the memory of the dead actor since he passed away. The owners had already decided to name the house the Goshen Opera House, but when the news of Jefferson’s death was received they changed this decision.” In May 1905, construction began on the theater. In July, a scaffold collapsed injuring three brick masons after they fell from the third floor to the first (Bristol Banner, 28 July 1905, page 1).

During construction, “A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Elkhart Country, Indiana” was published. An article on the Goshen Opera House provides some details about the performance venue, located at 216 S. Main Street in Goshen. The book’s editor was Anthony Deahl of the Elkhart County Bar.

Here is Deahl’s entry for the new Goshen Opera House in 1905.

“The new business block and theatre building, in course of erection in the summer of 1905 by the Sanders, Hay and Neidig Company, gives Goshen another institution of distinctive character and one which the citizens may well feel proud. Erected at a cost of $75,000, with a frontage of 111 feet and depth of 162 feet, three stories high, material and buffed Bedford limestone and buffed mottled Roman brick, the entire building is of usually beautiful proportions and effective design. The theatre, 67 by 162 feet is on ground floor. Three sets of doors go from the street to the main vestibule, and two sets admit to the lobby. To the right as the lobby is entered is a private office of the theater manager. Adjoining it is the box office, with ticket window opening into the lobby as well as the gallery passageways. Next to the box office, and with an opening from the foyer, is a checkroom for hats, coats, etc. Two sets of doors open from the lobby into a 10-foot foyer, at the right and left of which are stairways, each 4 ½ feet wide, leading up to the balcony. The stairs are very easy, the rise being six inches and the tread 11 inches.

Col. J. M. Wood, the architect, has followed the classic style of the architecture in the interior of the theatre and tends somewhat toward the Ionic. The decorative effects will be subdued, dignified and very artistic. The scheme of coloring will be a harmony of delicate greens, blended with old ivory. All of the furnishings, including the draperies, carpets, etc., will be handsome and in keeping with the general character of the theater.

Over 1,100 people can be seated in the theatre. The main auditorium measures 64 feet wide and 66 feet long. The height is about 45 feet. The four proscenium boxes, two on either side, seat six persons each and two loges, one of either side, four persons each. The boxes are in the Ionic style, with huge pillars as the dividing line.

The balcony seats 325 people. The orchestra pit is 5 ½ feet wide with under stage entrance. The proscenium is 38 feet wide and 28 feet high. The arch itself is an ellipse, 20 feet deep ad 50 feet long, extending from the outer edges of the boxes. It will be done in relief plaster, with magnificent decorations and prove the attractive feature of the theatre. Built of steel and brick, the arch will, when the asbestos curtain is lowered and fire-proof doors closed, completely separate the stage form the auditorium, doing away with much of the danger of fire, as fires in theatres nearly always start on the stage.

The architect has been careful to comply with the state law in detail. A general heating plant in the basement will furnish heat for the whole block. Steam will be used. All the plumbing is of the attest kind. In all there are seven exits, the lower floor, balcony and gallery all having openings in to the alley on the south of the building. The law provides for 20 inches of exit space for every 100 people. Col. Wood’s plans provide 40 inches, just double the amount required by law. All apparatus for fire fighting will be placed in the theatre.

A wide stairway south of the double room will lead to the upper floors of the entire block, wide corridors being arranged. The offices will be furnished in the metropolitan style, steam heated, electric lighted and with toilet rooms. The woodwork will be in oak, with red beech floors. There are several suites. On the third floor, over the double room, will be a lodge room, with kitchen, buffet, billiard room, card room, reception parlor, etc.

Suspended from the building by means of heavy iron chains a wrought iron, highly ornamental, and prism glass canopy or porte cochere, will extend out over the full width of the sidewalk, affording shelter in front of the whole entrance to the playhouse.

The Sanders, Hay and Neidig Company, through whose enterprise this fine building has been erected in Goshen, was incorporated February 6, 1905, with the following well known business and financial men as its officers: George W. Hay, president; Daniel A. Sanders, vice-president; Harry M. Sanders, secretary; and David W. Neidig, treasurer.”

The Jefferson Theatre was completed shortly before the first performance of “The Merchant of Venice,” on 6 Nov. 1905. Richard Mansfield, who played Shylock, dedicated the building on opening night. Sadly, the venue was destroyed by fire the next year, on December 18, 1906. The fire began in the next door basement of Stiver & Smith’s Furniture Store. Despite the best efforts of local fire departments, the flames consumed the block. The newspaper reported that the opera house building originally cost $85,000 to build, was insured for only $40,000 (Garrett Clipper, 27 Dec. 1906, page 8). Construction for a new opera house began immediately.

The Chicago architectural firm of Patton & Miller designed a new Jefferson Theatre that opened in 1907.

To be continued…

Part 531: Midwinter Golf and Suydam’s Drug Store

For the past few installments I have looked at Thomas G. Moses’ art exhibition and mural work for Suydam’s drug store in Oak Park, Illinois. The drug store was repeatedly advertising for a series of positions, including registered druggists, drug clerks, assistant drug clerks and relief clerks. As I industriously sought information pertaining to the store an owner, J. D. Suydam, I came across this interesting article in the “Oak Park Review” during 1909. It has nothing to do with Moses or the Oak Park art scene, but it just made me smile when I read it. There is nothing quite like finding activities to do in the Midwest when the weather turns cool!

Suydam’s drug store was mentioned in a unique game of midwinter golf (Oak Park Review (29 Jan. 1909, page 3). The article reported, “Ball again driven over two mile course and into drug store without breaking any windows. Midwinter golf on a cross country course may become popular in Oak Park as a result of a contest yesterday which was won by A. J. Musselman, who completed the course from Suydam’s drug store to the Westward Ho Golf Club and back in ninety strokes.

This contest is the second of the unique golf games played by Musselman, C. H. Wells, and L. B. Scidmore, who on Christmas day attracted the attention of a crowd by playing over the same course.

The distance is two miles and the object of the players was to make a record by driving the ball from the inside of the drug store at Oak Park avenue and South boulevard to the Westward Ho clubhouse, then return, the ball to be driven inside the drug store without breaking any of the windows.”

The article commented, “It is considered quite a credible performance to tee from the store without breakage” (The Pharmaceutical Era, Vol. XLI, Jan. 1909).

To be continued…

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…

Part 529: Thomas G. Moses’ Mural at Suydam’s Drug Store, 1905

Thomas G. Moses exhibited a painting at Suydam’s drug store in Oak Park during the spring of 1905. That summer, he was hired to paint a mural for the same store. Of this project, Moses wrote, “In June, I painted a large picture for Suydam’s Drug Store, which came out very nicely. Everyone was well pleased with it.”

The “Oak Park Leaves” reported, “J. D. Suydam has recently equipped his drug store at 109 Oak Park Avenue with an “innovation fountain.” It is built of solid mahogany and white Italian marble. The draft column is of Mexican onyx and is surmounted by a beautiful art glass shade for the electric light. In the background is a painting by Thomas G. Moses, the Oak Park artist. It is a large oil painting consisting of an entrancing woodland scene with a brook breaking through the forest and bubbling over the stone. The picture is surrounded with art glass ornamentations beautifully illuminated with electric lights. Beside making these marked improvements at his Oak Park avenue store Mr. Suydam has also established a first-class drug store at Sixty-fourth avenue and Lake street. He started in this place about six weeks ago, during which time the building has been thoroughly reconstructed and remodeled throughout, making a modern pharmacy with everything new and complete. W. W. Wilcox who has been employed at the Oak Park avenue store, is in charge of he new store.

Mr. Suydam is one o f the honest, energetic businessmen of Oak Park, prominent alike in business and social circles. He came to Oak Park fifteen years ago from Philadelphia, where he was a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, one of the oldest institutions of the kind in the country. In Oak Park he is the successor of Gale & Blocki, and has not only maintained the reputation established by that firm but has earned the measure of success to which he has attained” (June 17, 1905, page 30).

Throughout the duration of Moses’ career, he completed many murals; churches, public halls, fraternal spaces and commercial properties provided many opportunities for a good scenic artist. Moses had started doing decorative painting and architectural ornamentation for P. M. Almini & Co. in Chicago during the 1870s. In 1925, he gifted a similar mural to the one that was described at Suydam’s drug store for the Pasadena Scottish Rite building. Although painted twenty years later, the description for the Suydam’s drug store mural could be the same for the mural over the fireplace in Pasadena.

To be continued…

Part 528: Thomas G. Moses, “The Edge of the Wood” at Suydam’s Drug Store

In 1905, Thomas G. Moses exhibited a painting at Suydam’s drug store in Oak Park, Illinois. He would later paint a mural for the same store. The owner, J. D. Suydam, greatly appreciated art and provided numerous opportunities for local artists to exhibit their work. After many years as a druggist, Suydam would change professions in 1911, and become an art dealer.

Suydam’s drug store was located on Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park, a village adjacent to the west side of Chicago. Railways and street cars connected the village to a variety of jobs in Chicago and was a popular place for artists to settle.. Frank Lloyd Wright and his wife moved there in 1889. Moses and Ella purchased their first home in Oak Park during 1893. In 1902, the village incorporated and became a growing hub for many artistic residents.

Moses’ painting exhibited at Suydam’s drug store during the spring of 1905 was titled “The Edge of the Wood.” His painting depicted a view on the historical Bronx River near New York. The “Oak Park Leaves” published an article on Moses’ painting at Suydam’s – “T. G. Moses, Artist. Oak Parker Famous as Designer of Scenic Productions – excels in Forest Pictures.”

Here is the article in its entirety:

“Among the residents of Oak Park who are possibly more famous throughout the country than in their own hometowns Thomas G. Moses of 223 South Euclid avenue, whose fame as a scenic artist and designer of scenic productions is co-extensive with the theatrical world. But Mr. Moses’ art is not confined to commercial lines. He is a lover of art for art’s sake, and his leisure moments after many a hard day’s toil, are devoted to the painting of beautiful forest scenes in oil whose merits entitle him to a prominent place among the woodland painters of the country. His last picture, “The Edge of the Wood,” presents a view on the historical Bronx river, near New York, and has been completed during the last month. It is now on exhibition at Suydam’s drug store on Oak Park Avenue. The painting is a fine representation of Mr. Moses’ art, imbuing the viewer with that spirit of restfulness characteristic of the quiet old woods of the east, with the outside sunshine percolating in through the trees and softening into a gentle glow.

Mr. Moses was born in Liverpool, England. His early life was spent in Sterling, Ill, where he received his first instruction in drawing. When quite young, he took up decorative art with P. M. Almini & Co. of Chicago. The head designer was Louis Malmsha, a famous scenic artist of that time, who became interested in the young man and made him his assistant. This proved to be the making of Moses, as it placed him more in the line of work he wanted, landscape, forest interiors and mountain scenes, schooling him largely to the designing of drop curtains and scenic productions. He is now of the firm Sosman & Landis, the great scenic artists of Chicago. Mr. Moses has traveled quite extensively in this country, has been to California six times to do big scenic productions, such as Booth & Barrett’s Hamlet and Marie Antoinette and Macbeth and Mary Stuart for Modjeska. During the past five years he and his family have resided in New York, where he designed and painted the scenery for the famous Florodora and Silver Slipper. During the summers he sketched the beautiful scenery in the vicinity of Watkin’s Glen, and in the Catskills near Ellenville, N.Y.

Two years ago he was admitted to the famous Salmagundi club of New York City, which has membership of their leading artists and sculptors of New York and many non-residents. He has sketched forest from California, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and Washington. But none appeal to him as the woods of the east, more quiet and restful, with the delicate birch and beach; a few oaks and moss covered rocks, with a small brook and plenty of sunshine. His pictures are exhibited in New York twice a year. For several years he painted in the studio of R. M. Shurtleff, the well-known painter of forest interiors, where he has secured valuable assistance” (15 April 1905, page 25).

To be continued…

Part 527: Thomas G. Moses’ Sketching Trip to Ogunquit, Maine, in 1905

I return to the life of Thomas G. Moses during 1905. In 1904, Moses joined the Salmagundi club while living in New York and in 1906 he joined the Palette & Chisel Club after returning to Chicago. The year in between Moses wrote, “I am getting the picture bug again, and I will have to do something in that line. My little success in New York had a good effect on me, but was not detrimental to my regular commercial activities. I will always keep them lively – that will always be my regular stand-by.”

Moses recorded that on “June 18^th, after several months of intense hustling, Ella and I broke away for the east, going to Ogunquit for a sketching trip, all of which I have written in full in my ‘Ogunquit Trip.’”   I have not located any of Moses’ travelogues to date, only the articles that he published in the Palette & Chisel club newsletter; the Ogunquit trip is missing. In 1905, the “Oak Park Leaves” reported, “Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Moses of Euclid avenue have gone to Ogunquit, Maine, where Mr. Moses will study and sketch the rock-bound coast” (24 June 1905, page 17).

Ogunquit was a small shipbuilding community in Maine located on the coast near the southern border of the state. The Abenaki people, native to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine used the word “ogunquit” to describe the region. “Ogunquit” in the Alnombak language means “beautiful place by the sea.” After the arrival of the European colonists, many of the Abenaki tribes moved north into Canada. Today, the 2000 Abenakis live on two reservations near Quebec. There are 10,000 Abenaki descendants scattered throughout the New England region too.

The Ogunquit community fostered two schools of art: one by Charles Woodbury and the other by Hamilton Easter Field, a student’s of Woodbury’s.

Charles Herbert Woodbury (1864-1940) was born in Lynn, Massachusetts and studied art in Boston, becoming the youngest honoree of the Boston Art Club at the age of 17. In 1886, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He taught art while attending MIT, and opened his first art studio by 1887. He married one of his former students, Marcia Oakes and they travel together to Europe.

His artistic studies from January to June 1891 included attending the Académie Julian in Paris. He then explored the techniques of the modern Dutch painters in Holland before returning to the United States. Woodbury’s American winters were spent painting in Boston, while summers were occupied with painting scenes of the New England coast and Nova Scotia.

Woodbury eventually spent his summers in one particular location – Ogunquit, Maine. There he founded the Ogunquit Summer School of Drawing and Painting. He first visit to Ogunquit was in 1888. That summer, he rented a room at Captain Charles Littlefield’s “Ogunquit House” on Shore Road where he painted his first scenes of the Ogunquit River and wharves. At the time, the area was nothing more than a cluster of fishermen’s homes, yet Woodbury immediately recognized the potential for artists.

By 1896 Woodbury established his own studio in Perkins Cove, a picturesque inlet with colorful fishing boats. In 1898 he opened his “Ogunquit Summer School of Drawing and Painting.” It was later re-named “The Art of Seeing – Woodbury Course in Observation” by 1923. Woodbury taught at Ogonquit for thirty-six summers, enrolling between sixty and one hundred students in a six-week course of “painting and drawing from nature.” The course was divided into three parts, with a drawing course held in Boston, just prior to his summer move to Ogunquit every summer. The Ogunquit art school ran from approximately mid-July to mid-August and remained in continuous operation from 1898 until his death in 1940. The only exception was between 1917 and 1924 when Woodbury closed the school to work for the US government.

Woodbury and his students rendered realistic depictions of local life and the sea, rejecting the modernist innovations that were popular at the time. He taught his “art of seeing,” which emphasized subjectivity in art. In other words, he promoted how things seemed, rather than how they appeared – just like many theatrical settings during the nineteenth century. Woodbury believed that every student, no matter the degree of talent, could benefit from his drawing and painting courses. His schools attracted both professional and amateur artists alike.

Fundamental to Woodbury’s teaching methodology was his emphasis on the powers of observation and memory. He emphasized the importance of including motion into each composition. Woodbury also introduced the use of motion pictures as a teaching device by 1928. This was to facilitate his students comprehension of things and people in motion; creating quick and accurate sketches utilizing basic artistic principles.  Seeing and understanding movement was fundamental to his artistic approach. He was known to say, “Paint in verbs, not nouns.”  In Chicago, Moses commented on his own artistic approach in 1905, writing, “I will always keep them lively.”

Woodbury’s approach to marine painting shifted the traditional viewpoint, placing the composition midway over the waves. He was considered by some to be the greatest marine painter after Winslow Homer. Woodbury also published three books that defined his art education philosophy: Painting and the Personal Equation (1919); Observation: Visual Training Through Drawing: (1922); and The Art of Seeing (1925)

In addition to teaching at his own school in Ogunquit, Woodbury taught in Boston and at the Wellesley College. He was a visiting art professor at both Dartmouth College and the Art Institute of Chicago. It was in Chicago where he met Thomas Moses, prompted Moses to travel east for a sketching trip. Woodbury’s students came from as far away as California to study in Ogunquit, setting up their easels for plein-air painting. Moses had always been a plein-air painter, traveling throughout the United States since the 1880s to gather information for both his fine art works and painted settings for the stage.

Woodbury’s approach to seeing meshed with that of scenic artists who created stage settings. Whether creating a large-scale or small-scale compositions, each method was based on the art of seeing. As a “Chicago Sunday Tribune” article noted in 1892, scenic art of high grade was “only different from other studio art in its breadth – a mere question of scale” (Chicago Sunday Tribune, Dec, 18, 1892, page 41).

The same year that Moses passed away, Woodbury’s art school brochure noted, “If the few who create and the many who appreciate have a common basis of training in the value of things seen, felt and heard, the gap between life and the arts will be filled and the gain be as great to the general education as to the artist.” He desperately hoped to establish “a universal graphic language,” where art was an essential part of everyone’s life.

To be continued…

Part 526: Raphael Strauss of Noxon & Strauss

Thomas G. Moses wrote, “J. Francis Murphy was an assistant to Mr. Strauss, who was the artist at Hooley’s Theatre in 1874. The well-known illustrator and water colorist, Charles Graham, was also an assistant to Mr. Strauss at this same time.”

Raphael Strauss was Thomas C. Noxon’s first partner, establishing the scenic studio Noxon & Strauss in St. Louis, Missouri, during 1868. The company lasted for approximately four years, running from 1868 to 1872. In 1868, Noxon & Strauss painted a setting for “Seven Sisters” at the Olympic Theatre (The New York Clipper, 25 April 1868, page 6).

Strauss and Noxon were both immigrants. Noxon was born in Montreal, Canada, during 1829, and moved to Ohio as a child. At the age of sixteen, he traveled to St. Louis to continue his artistic studies. Noxon worked as a decorative painter, itinerant artist, and studio artist, establishing four scenic painting firms throughout his career: Noxon & Strauss, Noxon, Halley & Toomey, Noxon, Albert & Toomey, and finally Noxon & Toomey. At the time of his passing in 1898, the “Dramatic Mirror” reported, “His name appears on the corner of theatrical curtains in almost every large city in the country, and is also seen in the theatres of Europe” (2 July 1898, page 6). In 1872 Noxon & Strauss were still working together in Chicago at Hooley’s Theatre; the partnership ended sometime after that.

Many scenic artists worked in Chicago after the great fire of 1871, decorating a variety of new buildings as the city rebuilt itself. Noxon & Strauss led painted the new drop curtain and scenery at Hooley’s Theater. “The Chicago Tribune” reported, “The drop curtain will fill the entire stage opening, and is being painted by Noxon & Strauss. The design will be the castle and town of Heidelberg, surrounded by drapery” (10 Dec. 1872, page 8). An “Inter Ocean” article further described the painting, “The original drop curtain design depicted a scene from Heidelberg surrounded with painted drapery. The picturesque castle and town suggesting European origins was common for the time, as many compositions harkened to the old world” (Chicago, Illinois, 14 Sept. 1872, page 4). This drop curtain that was later replaced during 1874 by Strauss, with Murphy and Graham as his assistants. Moses watched as the second drop curtain was created as he gilded the opera boxes while working for P. M. Almini.

By 1878, Strauss was working with Charles Witham. They provided the new scenery for “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” at the Grand Opera House in San Francisco, California. The opera’s new season was inaugurated with the “reconstructed version” of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” “The Clipper” reported, “The scenic effects by Witham and Strauss were beautiful and realistic pictures.” (23 Feb. 1878, Vol. 25, page 383).

Raphael Strauss (1830-1901), was a German-American artist who worked throughout the United States during the middle and end of the nineteenth century. Strauss was both a writer and artist, producing landscapes, portraits, miniatures and tinted photographs. Born in Bavaria, Germany, he trained in Munich. Strauss arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio between 1857 or 1858. He was consistently listed in the Cincinnati directories from 1859 until his passing in 1901.

It was the German-American artist, John Auberg (1810-1893), who suggested Cincinnati to Strauss, as he had immigrated a decade earlier, settling in Cincinnati by 1853. There was a large German population of the city. John Auberg also became known as Jean Aubery. Born in Kassel Germany, he first moving to the United States in 1848. Prior to his departure to America, he completed numerous portrait and church commissions throughout Europe. After his arrival in Ohio, he advertised as both a portrait artist and tinter of photographs.

During 1859 Strauss tinted photographs alongside Ausbery, Israel Quick, David R. Hoag, Williams Porter and Allen Smith Jr. They all worked at 100 West Fourth Street in Cincinnati. In 1862, the group divided, resulting in two firms: Hoag & Quick and Porter & Strauss. The partnerships lasted throughout the Civil War years. Strauss’ art studio was located at the corner of John and Everett Streets. He traveled throughout the region as an itinerant artist; working on various projects that included scenic art, miniatures and portraits. As many of his colleagues, Strauss was both a fine artist and scenic artist.

By 1869, Strauss again shared a studio in the second Pike Opera House Building; Aubery, Quick, Adrian Beaugureau, Frank Duveneck, and Dwight Benton were among the artists. (The Cincinnati Enquirer, 12 Feb. 1933, page 49). This six-story structure replaced the first Pike’s Opera House after it was destroyed by fire in 1866. The second Pike’s Opera House theater was located on the second floor, with offices above, located on Fourth Street between Vine and Walnut streets. It was similar to the first entertainment venue, but was expanded to cover an entire city block.

During the 1880s and early 1890s, Strauss continued to share a studio with Aubrey in the Pike’s Opera House Building at 152 West 4^th Street. Their studio became a local salon for artists and art lovers alike. In his final years, Aubrey was known as “the ancient Aubrey,” while nurturing younger artists in Cincinnati’s “over the Rhine” community.

Strauss’ worked was exhibited at the 1863 Western Sanitary Fair, the Cincinnati Industrial Expositions (1871 and 1873), and the Art Institute of Chicago (1897). He later became vice president of Cincinnati Art Club. By 1895 he was still active with the group as its secretary (The Boston Globe, 27 Oct. 1896, page 28).

Strauss passed away in Avondale at the age of 71. His residence was 565 Hale Avenue. Strausss’ obituary reported, “He was a prominent in art circles, being a member of the Cincinnati Art Club and the Order of B’ne B’rith. Mr. Strauss leaves a widow and four children. Phillip Strauss, Mrs Julius Freiberg and Mrs. Dan Goldstein of this city, and Joseph Strauss, of Chicago” (The Cincinnati Enquirer, 8 May 1901, page 7). Joseph B. Strauss was a structural engineer and designer who revolutionized the design of bascule bridges He established the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company of Chicago and later became the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, passing away only one year after the bridge’s completion. Strauss’ widow of 43 years was Caroline Baermann. Once a pianist, an accident ended her concert career.

To be continued…

Part 525: Thomas G. Moses and “By-Paths in the Mountains”

Yesterday, I examined the artistic career of Charles Graham. During 1879, Graham went on a sketching trip to gather information for Rebecca Harding Davis’ article series “By-paths in the Mountains.” Her three papers were published Harper’s Magazine during 1880; they described a fictional trip in the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina.

In 1927, Thomas G. Moses submitted several tales about stories past sketching trips under the heading “Tom Moses’ Trips.” One series described Moses’ sketching trip to West Virginia during 1885. His trip followed the same path as Graham’s. Moses first met Graham I 1874 when they were both working at Hooley’s theater in Chicago; Moses was gilding the opera boxes while Graham painted the drop curtain.

The “Green-Mountain Freeman” reported “The experience of Charles Graham, one of Harper Brothers’ artists, who has just returned from a sketching tour in the south strongly illustrates the lawless antagonism which every northerner may expect to encounter who attempts to live there. Mr. Graham started out in August to make sketches for the illustration of a series of articles by Miss Rebecca Harding Davis, which are to appear in Harper’s Magazine, and returned to New York a few days ago. As a northerner he was looked upon with extreme suspicion, and his movements were so closely watched as to impede seriously the progress of his work. It was even pretended that he was mistaken for a revenue officer, and he was once shot at by moonshiners”(Montpelier, Vermont, 29 Oct. 1879, page 2).

“The Macon Republican” reported that ‘By-Paths in the Mountains’ was “beautifully illustrated by seventeen drawings by Charles Graham and Miss Jessie Curtis” (Macon, Missouri, 8 July 1880, page 1). Curtis’ contributions were mainly depictions of local residents, whereas Graham illustrated the landscape. “By-Paths in the Mountains” explored the landscape and history of West Virginia through the eyes of its fictional adventurers. Scenes included the falls of Blackwater and Dobbins House. Her fictional travelers traversed in the same country that Thomas G. Moses, John H. Young and Henry C. Tryon would explore on a sketching trip five years later in 1885. Moses’ tales of this West Virginia journey was published in the Palette & Chisel newsletter during 1828. Moses’ article borrowed from Davis’ publication.

Here is one example in Davis’ 1880 article: “The wilderness upon whose edge our travellers had just entered, runs back for hundreds of miles, and is as yet literally unexplored by civilized people. There is a house name Koesson’s somewhere on it, where a German by that name, with four other families, settled fifty years ago. They never appear in the settlement, live upon game and a few pigs, dress in skins, and according to Jerry, have all property in common. “They took nyther law nor decency nor God in thar with them,” said the shrewed hunter, “an I reckon they haven’t found any to speak of since.” An energetic explorer of this range of mountains, from Pittsburg succeeded in the summer of 1878 in taking a boat and launching it to then Blackwater. It was the first that had ever insulted that untamed little savage of a stream. He proposes to venture in it this summer up into the heart of Ca-na’an, and to unearth this barbarous tribe.”

Here is the same information presented in Moses’ article years later: “The wilderness runs back from the river hundreds of miles and is, as yet, literally unexplored by civilized people, according to the word of our landlord Davis. There is a house named Koesson’s somewhere in the wilderness, where a German of the name, together with four other families, settled fifty years ago. They never appeared in the settlement, lived upon game and a few pigs, dressed in skins and had all property in common. “They took nyther law, decency nor God in that wilderness,” said the landlord, and I reckon they haven’t found any to speak of since. An energetic explorer of this range of mountains, from Pittsburg, succeeded, in the summer of 1878, in taking a boat and launching it in Blackwater. It was the first one that had ever insulted that untamed little savage of a stream. He proposes to finish his work by venturing into the heart of Canaan, as the natives call the wilderness, and unearth this barbarous tribe.”

There are more other similarities between Rebecca Davis’ 1880 article and the article written by Thomas G. Moses. It may have been Moses’ writing about Graham in “Stage Scenery” that prompted him to discover the old article.

To be continued…

Part 524: Charles S. Graham

Thomas G. Moses first encountered the scenic art of Charles S. Graham (1852-1911) and J. Francis Murphy (1853-1921) while working for the P. J. Almini decorating firm in 1874 Moses wrote, “In June I was sent to Hooleys Theatre to work. On the scenery [were] employed J. Francis Murphy and Chas. Graham. I was put in charge of the proscenium boxes, mostly gilding. I could see the work being done on the paint frame. I was more convinced that scenery was what I wanted to do; more opportunity to do landscapes.”

Charles S. Graham (1852-1911) was born in Rock Island, Illinois. He became a topographer for the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1873. It was while working for the railroad that he received his initial artistic training as an artist and draftsman. He soon sought other artistic opportunities, such as scenic art and illustration. Graham was present when the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1883, covering the event for Harper’s Weekly

By 1874, Graham was painting theatrical scenery in both Chicago and New York. He would primarily work as a scenic artist until 1877. It was on one of his early scenic art projects at Hooleys Theatre that Moses encountered him in 1874.

While in New York, Graham continued to work as a scenic artist for a variety of theatrical venues, including the Standard Theatre at Broadway and 33^rd Street. For one production, he provided “new and elaborate scenery” for the premiere production of “Mignon” in New York,” with mechanical effects by W. Gifford (New York Daily Herald, 17 March 1878, page 4). That same year, he also created an large backdrop for the Order of Elks annual ball (The Brooklyn Eagle, 27 Jan. 1878, page 3). The newspaper reported, “The ball will be held this year at the Academy of Music, which is to be very handsomely decorated, the back of the Academy stage to be occupied by an immense canvas representing the ‘Gathering of the Elks,’ now in course of preparation by a young scenic artist, Mr. Charles Graham.”

Graham continued to be employed as a scenic artist; he worked for Gates & Morange, a leading scenic studio of the time. Graham painted alongside other well-known scenic artists who also worked for the firm, such as Thomas Benrimo, William E. Castle, Alexander Grainger, Arne Lundberg, and Orestes Raineiri. Gates and Morange’s scenic studio was one of the premiere scenic studios during the early twentieth century. It was located in Chicago during 1894 after Edward A. Morange met Francis “Frank” Edgar Gates. During the day, the two scenic studio founded studied fine art, while at night the painted settings for stage shows. Although starting their company in Chicago, Gates and Morange soon moved to New York to produce settings for dozens of Broadway shows. Their first Broadway work occurred in 1897 – “Straight from the Heart” by Sutton Vane and Arthur Shirley.

Graham was also mentioned as a scenic artist that appeared in a “Chicago Sunday Tribune” article, “Paint Mimic Scenes, Men Who Have Found Fame in (entire article in past installment #245):

“Scenic art of high grade is, however, regarded today as only different from other studio art in its breadth – a mere question of scale. As to the quality of finish it may be remarked that when scenery is lacking in detail it is due to lack of knowledge in the painter, lack of time, certainly not in accord with any principle of stage painting. Formerly the theatrical painter was expected to be truly catholic in his accomplishments, and was called to attempt any subject that the playwright might designate. Now this work, as in other lines of art, is falling more to specialists, and with far better results in figure, drapery, landscape, or architectural design. In spite of many drawbacks in the past, scene painting as a school has been an excellent one. Witness many good men who have left it to win distinction in the galleries of Europe and America: De Loutherbourg, Porter, Boulet, Jacquet, Lavignoc, Leitch, Stanfield, Roberts, Allen, Cole, Detaille, Kingsbury, Potast, Rymnosky, Wets, Guetherz, Peigelheim, H. Fillaratta, Homer Emmons, Charles Graham, and J. Francis Murphy. It will be observed that this list has members of the English Royal Academy, some famous Germans and Frenchmen, and, too, America is ably represented.”

In addition to scenic art, Graham became well-known as an illustrator. By 1878, Graham was hired as a staff artist at Harper’s Weekly; he remained there until 1892. During this time, he contributed illustrations for a variety of other publications, including the New York Herald, the Chicago Tribune, the American Lithograph Company, and Collier’s. It was one of Graham’s first illustrations for Harper’s during 1878 that he depicted scenic artists working on a paint bridge high above the stage. Graham’s best-known work was for the publication “Peristyle and Plasaisance.” For this publication, he created a series of watercolors depicting scenes from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the Columbian Exposition. These colorful plates remain as one of the best sources, offering insight into the event. Advertisements stated that Graham’s paintings illustrated “nooks and corners of the Fair as no photograph could do.”

Near the end of his life, Graham was employed by a lithographer. In 1909, Graham suffered a stroke while working in Davenport, Iowa. He was forced by failing health to give up active work and return to New York as soon as he had recovered sufficiently to permit travel back east (The Rock Island Argus, 12 August 1911, page 5). By 1911, he passed away at the Metropolitan Hospital in Manhattan, after a prolonged illness of a nervous disorder (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 10 August 1911, page 3). He was fifty-nine years old at the time. Graham was survived by his daughter Bessie Graham.

To be continued…

Part 523: Ada Clifford Smith Murphy, otherwise known as Mrs. J. Francis Murphy

J. Francis Murphy’s wife, Adah Clifford Smith Murphy (1859-1949), was a landscape artist, a portrait artist, and miniature painter. She deserves special mention about her contributions to the art world apart from the post that I did on her husband. Born in Saratoga, New York, during 1859, she was a student at the Female Art School of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Also referred to as the Cooper Union Art School, she was a pupil of Douglas Volk and an active artist before meeting her husband.

In November 1883 Adah Clifford Smith married the artist John Francis Murphy at the age of 24; John was six years her senior. The couple met at a skating party while she was a student at Cooper Union Art School. Her husband had moved to the East Coast in 1875, after working as a scenic artist in Chicago.

In 1886, the couple traveled to Europe, first staying in London and then France.  While staying in Montigny, she recorded that they sketched local scenes from June until October, when they departed for Amsterdam. During their travels, they enjoyed seeing many paintings that they had previously only known through photographs. Adah’s works were exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York beginning in 1886. She remained prominent in eastern art circles from that time until 1933.

The Murphy’s established a studio in the Hotel Chelsea, but after a visit to Arkville, New York, they decided tomove to the Catskill Mountains.  In Akville, the couple found accommodations at an establishment owned by Peter Hoffman. They convinced Hoffman to build a hotel. The Hoffman Hotel was constructed in 1886, and included 17 buildings, many of them shingle-style cottages that are occupied to this day. The Hoffman Hotel, later the Pakatakan Hotel, served as the gathering center of the Pakatakan Artist Colony, named after an old Lenape Native American village on the same location.

In 1887 the Murphys built a home and studio in this small town of Arkville, and named their studio “Weedwild.” They painted the surrounding landscape, occasionally venturing off to capture scenes of the western Catskills.  The Murphy’s presence in this area, prompted many of their artist to visit, including, Alexander H. Wyant, Parker Mann, E. Loyal Field, Frank Russell Green, H.D. Kruseman Van Elten, George Smillie, Walter Clark, Arthur Parton, Ernest C. Rost, and J. Woodhull Adams. Initially staying at the hotel, many visiting artists later purchased property and built their own studios, naming each studio as the Murphys. The Pakatakan Artists Colony contained the summer cottages and studios of 13 artists. It is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, located off New York State Route 28, just west of Dry Brook Road.

In 1887, the “Menorah: A Monthly Magazine for the Jewish Home” reported that Ada C. Murphy exhibited paintings at the Academy of Design. The article’s author noted that Murphy’s “little studies” were “strongly impressed with the influence of her husband, who is doubtless her master, in an artistic sense, but full of evidence of native talent and feeling” (Volume 2, page 268). Nothing like having your success ultimately attributed to a male – your artistic master.

In 1888, the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported that “Recent achievements of Women Painters, Drawings in Pastels at Wunderlich’s – Strong and Commendable Work” (13 May 1888, page 10). The article commented, “The woman artist is almost a new product of our civilization, but she exhibits a talent and sometimes a genius that entitle her to high consideration…oddly enough the women painters succeed best in themes that are bold and strong. In flowers, birds and fashion plates they never seem to lift the subject out of tediousness, but in things that demand force of execution and largeness of method they are often surprising. It is said that woman was originally the superior of the man in every sense. Perhaps she has entered on a struggle for prestige.”

In 1893, Ada C. Murphy was mentioned as a contributor to the fifth annual exhibition of water-colors by American artists at Messrs. Frederick Keppel & Co. (The Art Collector: A Journal Devoted to the Arts and the Crafts, Volumes 5-6, page 38). Forty-three artists exhibited eighty watercolors; six were women. In addition to her husband, this group included well-known scenic artists, such as H. G. Maratta, W. C. Fitler, Jules Guerin, and H. C. Rehn.

During 1896, “The St. Joseph Herald” featured Murphy in the article “A Clever American Artist” (17 Nov. 1896, page 4). The article reported, “A union of kindred tastes was made when Mrs. J. Francis Murphy and her husband were married. He is one of the best of American landscape painters and his wife has done work that is almost as good as his. She is a very clever flower painter, and in her landscapes there is much of the sentiment and tenderness that appears in the work of her husband. She is a bright and charming woman, and has many friends who have delighted in her success.” In 1894, Mrs. J. Francis Murphy received the same Hallgarten prize as her husband had previously received in the 1880s (The Buffalo Enquirer, 5 April, 1894, page 4). “Her art education was largely obtained as the Cooper Institute, and she is also a pupil of her husband. She has exhibited at the Academy [National Academy of Design] since 1886, and at the Walter Color Society since 1885.” The “St. Paul Daily Globe” added that Mrs. J. Francis Murphy “derived much advantage from her summer’s study of the art galleries of Europe. She spends her summers in the Catskill Mountains. While she and her husband live amiably in a cosey cottage, they have two separate studios. Mrs. Murphy is a hard worker, and paints equally well in water colors or oils.” Mrs. Murphy’s studio was located at 222 West 23^rd St. (The World, 27 Feb. 1898. Page 25). Her husband’s studio in New York was located at the corner of Tenth Street and Broadway (26 Jan. 1880, page 9).

The “Soldier Clipper” noted, “Another clever illustrator and brush-woman is Mrs. J. Francis Murphy, who holds her own in the world of art with her talented husband. Mrs. Murphy is as happy in oil as in crayon work and ranks high as an illustrator. Her fancy is for old ruins, soft moonlight and fantastic shadows. Nothing could be more suggestive of sentiment and poetry than one of her moonlight paintings, where shadows are deep and lights are strong” (Soldier, Kansas, 27 June 1895, page 7).

Her work was included in the annual exhibitions of the Art Institute of Chicago (1889, 1896); the Boston Art Club (1893-1897); the American Water Color Society (1898); the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901); the annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1912), and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (1915).   Murphy was a member of the National Association of Women Artists by 1914, and also a member of the National Arts Club.  Up through 1918 she exhibited in 25 annual exhibitions.

She outlived her husband, John Francis Murphy (Dec. 11, 1853 – Jan. 30, 1921), by almost three decades, passing away at the age of ninety years old in 1949.

To be continued…