Part 715: Charles E. Boyer, Sosman & Landis Shop Foreman
In 1909, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “After twenty years of good service, Charles Boyer, our foreman, quit us. We all regretted his going. Watt Williams came into the studio and worked as my assistant. Pretty good, but very careless.”
Moses was referring to the loss of Charles E. Boyer (1865-1935).
I have uncovered little about Boyer, but his name popped up in an interesting article that touches on another aspect of scenic studio life – the scenic artists’ sketching trips. Previously I have explored the sketching trips taken by Moses and other Sosman & Landis artists to gather information for scenery compositions and improve their skill.
A sketching trip taken by two Sosman & Landis artists was recorded in an article published in the La Cross Sunday Tribune on September 23, 1956 (page 13). The article provided the artistic provenance for quite an interesting oil painting.
The picture was a wedding present, given the Rev. and Mrs. Gustave Edwin Anderson, of 902 Avon St., as a wedding gift in 1921. The painting was a composite that combined two oil paintings, given by the bride’s father, Charles E. Boyer, noted as the “foreman of a studio in Chicago.” For me, this verified that it was the same individual that Moses mentioned in his diary, especially since the artists were noted as working for “Sosman-Landis Studio.” Boyer had received it as a gift from two young artists, H. Putoff and Victor Higgins, whom he befriended. This would be Hans Duvall Puthoff and Victor Higgins, who would later each become week known as nationally acclaimed fine artists.
Here is the article:
“Rev. And Mrs. Anderson Own Unusual Painting
Young Artists Unaware They Painted Twins
Some paintings are more than works of art; they are stories told in oils. The story of such an oil painting dates back to approximately to the summer of 1913 when two young artists, H. Puthuff and Victor Higgins began their career at Sosman-Landis Scenic Studio in Chicago.
Vacation had come and the two boys went out to California to visit one of their mothers. On leaving Chicago they promised the foreman, Charles E. Boyer, that each one of them would bring back and oil painting for him. Their vacation was a series of busy, happy days of painting. Soon the last days came and will them the question of what painting they were going to give the boss.
The mother suggested the twin pictures, but said, “We have no twin pictures. We have always worked separately and never conferred about our work.”
“Oh yes you have, boys. I’ll pick them out first. She did. Unknowingly each of the boys had painted different halves of the same foothill with canyon and Point Loma near San Diego, in the background. When placed together the sky matched perfectly and so did the contours of the hills, canyon and wheat field, although the wind had blown the grain in different circles because the boys had painted different days. And a tree in the foreground, with its slight irregularities, show signs of two different artists. Together the oils make a perfect whole.
Both men regretted giving their halves, but finally conceded that giving it to the boss was the best solution.
Although the date of 1913 does not agree with Moses’ entry, Boyer and Higgins did work at Sosman & Landis in 1909, the same year as Boyer’s departure. Moses wrote, “In 1909, Victor Higgins also returned to work at Sosman & Landis, completing the interior of the American Music Hall.”
Boyer died at the age of seventy in Chicago. His last residence was at 3512 Le Moyne street and was survived by his wife Retta, son Clermont daughter, Mrs. Ruth Boyer Anderson, and three grandchildren (Chicago Tribune, 26 June 1935, page 23).
To be continued…
