Part 722: The Palette & Chisel Club Camp at Fox Lake, 1909
Like theatrical managers, scenic artists also sought to escape the tranquility of the country, escaping the hard work of the studio and the noise of the city. Thomas G. Moses wrote of summer sketching trips to Fox Lake, Illinois, throughout the early twentieth century, especially in 1909.
In 1905 the Palette & Chisel Club at the Chicago Society of Artists formed an artistic community along in Fox Lake. The club was founded in 1895 and consisted of a variety of artists and craftsmen for the purpose of work and study. The members were “all wage-workers, busy during the week with pencil, brush or chisel, doing work to please other people” (Inland Printer, 1896). On Sunday mornings, they gathered for five hours to paint just for themselves.
Fox Lake provided haven far away from the hustle and bustle of Chicago. Many Sosman & Landis artists journeyed to Fox Lake whenever they could escape the studio for a few days, including Moses. In the beginning, the site was quite rustic with tents and cots. In 1906, one year after the group formed the camp, Moses joined the Palette and Chisel Club. At the time, the group consisted of approximately sixty local painters, illustrators, and sculptors. Of Moses’s first trip to their seasonal camp, he wrote, “June 1st, I made my first trip to the Palette and Chisel Club camp at Fox Lake, Ill. Helped to put up the tent. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed it. I slept well on a cot. Made a few sketches. A very interesting place. I don’t like the cooking in the tent and there should be a floor in the tent. I saw a great many improvements that could be made in the outfit and I started something very soon.”
By 1908, Moses wrote, “I bought the portable house that we built years ago and at that time we received $300.00 for it. I finally got it for $50.00, some bargain. It cost $25.00 to remove it and we will put it up at Fox Lake in the Spring.” The house had been used in Forest Park that summer to show the attraction, “The Day in the Alps.”
The next summer, Moses wrote, “As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up. I gave the camp a portable kitchen and it was some class. I felt sure I would manage to get a camp outfit worth while and the boys all fell in line with me.” In 1909, he also wrote, “I also enjoyed sketching at the Lake. That is one thing I don’t think I could ever get enough of. But our business has to be taken care of before too much pleasure.”
There were two significant events over the course of the last five years that placed Fox Lake in more of a personal context for me. The first occurred in Minnesota, and the second occurred in Maui. In 2014, I discovered a map to Fox Lake drawn on the backside of a Scottish Rite drop destined for Winona, Minnesota, in 1909. This was the same year that Moses wrote, ““As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up.” Located near the top batten on the stage right side, I discovered the pencil sketch while placing the Winona scenery collection into temporary storage for the City of Winona. The backdrop was later sold in an online auction with many others from the scenery collection. It is now somewhere in storage at the Des Moines Scottish Rite, likely not to be seen for years.
The second event occurred in 2017. That fall, three very small paintings by Thomas G. Moses came into my possession from Moses. One of his great grandchildren sold these and a few others to me. Our friendship began, after he responded to a 1996 letter that I sent out in 2016. Three of the paintings from his collection were of the same size and vintage, with one titled “Fox Lake, 1909.” The other two depicted a distant lake and the Palette & Chisel Club’s portable house at Fox Lake. These three scenes painted on hardboard had remained with the family for decades; they meant something special to Moses.
It was Moses’ view of Fox Lake that prompted my entire journey to the Hawaiian Islands.
They each remain a lovely reminder to me – take time for yourself. We all need to enjoy some form of scenic retreat, a respite from the daily grind. That is one of the reasons that I decided to start offering Scenic Art Retreats last year, hosted by Historic Stage Services. They are held at a stagecoach stop along a picturesque river in central Minnesota. Here is the link: http://www.historicstageservices.com/training.html
To be continued…
