Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
Here is an updated post about John Ulrich Tschudi (1850-1921) and a recently discovered painting by the artist.
By 1890, the Kansas City Scenic Co. was mentioned in connection to a new opera hall project in Little River, Kansas. The “Little River Monitor” reported, “The carpenters work on the new opera hall is going on at a lively rate. Canfield & Co. are doing the work in good shape, Messrs. Tschudi, Dunn and Oldham, of the Kansas City Scenic company, are painting a set of scenes for the hall, and are doing a fine job. The mammoth drop curtain is a beauty. It is ornamented with the business cards of our merchants and others, and will be first class in every particular” (16 June 1887, page 3). Tschudi was a scenic artist who had worked in Kansas City since 1883.
I am going to take a moment and explore the life of John U. Tschudi, another immigrant who arrived in America during 1857. In 1881, Tschudi is first mentioned as being the scene painter who received the contract for the Whitley Opera House in Emporia, Kansas. He worked alongside J. W. Morris the stage carpenter. They put in a complete set of scenes and the latest improvements in stage equipment. By 1882, Tschudi was twenty-two years old and advertised as sign painter in Emporia. However, his advertisements soon announced that he was a fresco, scenic artist and sign writer (Evening News, Emporia, Kansas, 31 July 1882, page 4). He requested that people leave their sign orders at Moore’s Drug Store in town (The Evening News, 31 July 1882, page 4). Tschudi shipped ornamental signs across the country, even to Colorado and was associated with the Whitley Opera House (Emporia Daily News, 27 July 1882). As with many young and talented scenic artists, Tschudi soon partnered with Foreman, a stage mechanic and they delivered scenery to the Garfield Opera House in Kingman, Kansas (Kingman Daily Courier, 7 Dec., 1887, page 2).
Of his early life, Tschudi explained his background to a reporter in 1896, “I was born in Switzerland in 1852, but am an American artist. I came to the United States in 1857. My father was an artist in France and I, only one of eight children, am an artist. I was fond of it from childhood. When I was a boy I sometimes got punished for drawing comic sketches on the walls, and I would neglect my lessons to draw those pictures and frequently get kept in school on that account. (Daily Lexington, 24 Aug 1896, page 3). Other newspapers expanded, “After school days he studied with has father and assisted him with his work and soon developed such artistic taste in landscape painting that his father concluded in 1868 to send him back to France to finish his studies. ‘After five years,’ says Mr. Tschudi, ‘I returned to America and took a fancy to large work, and consequently went to theatrical scene painting, and have since that time worked in many of the finest theaters both in this country and abroad. My father was the famous fresco artist under the old masters in France for ten years. His work can be seen in France, Italy, Switzerland and America at the present time. He died in his 69th year in New York” (Daily Leader, Lexington, Kentucky, 15 Aug, 1896, page 3).
When asked why he never changed the spelling of his name, he responded, “ I have no reason to be ashamed of it, as it is famous in Swiss history being the name of one of the oldest families on record and was borne by artists, generals and men of high rank, and at the present time there are a number of recognized artists in the family.”
In 1887, the “Wichita Star” reported “A reporter was shown the number of samples from scenic-artist work from the brush of Kansas City Scenic Artist company, in which company figures, as an artist, Mr. J. W. Tschudi, formerly of the city. The work is artistic and ranges throughout the entire term of scenic work. Landscapes, rocky passes, woods, streets, palaces, parlors, chambers, kitchens, hovels – in fact every known term of scenic effects were painted in the highest style of art (22 March 1887, page 4).
In 1888, Tschudi, was working on his own and noted as being “beyond all doubt, the thorough, classical scenic artist in Kansas. His fine conceptions of mountain and sea, of glen and valley, of hill and dell, when spread upon canvass by his deft hand, are gems of beauty on which the eye fondly hangs. The COURIER heartily commends Prof. Tschudi to the managers of the Greensburg Opera House. By 1895, Tschudi was advertised as “one of the country’s finest artists,” and was delivering sizable scenes to the Phillips opera house in Richmond, Indiana (Richmond Item, 28 Aug 1895, page 3).
To be continued…
