Scenic art examples from the Scenery Collection, stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.
The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.
Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps.
A unique last name can guide research, helping track down an individual in historic records and newspaper articles. However, a really unique last name causes difficulties due to continued misspellings throughout the decades. Similarly, common names in a region are also a nightmare, varying from one state to another. For example, in Minnesota, Scandinavian immigration caused an abundance of Johnsons, Olsons, Nelsons, and Petersons in city directories. Any of these last-name issues are compounded when individuals traveled for work, such as scenic artists and stage mechanics. Of all the scenic artists working at Sosman & Landis, Fred Scott may be the most difficult one to track down due to the commonalty of his last name
Fred Scott was a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis, c. 1904-1911, although this period of time could realistically span from 1889-1923. Part of the problem in tracking down information about this particular scenic artist is that there are multiple listings for artists named Fred or Frederick Scott across the country. Even narrowing the search to Chicago from 1890-1910 is problematic due his common last name.
Long after Scott’s employment at Sosman & Landis, he was remembered by Thomas G. Moses, Art Oberbeck and John Hanny. Scott’s earliest association with the firm was recorded by Moses in 1904. That year, Moses left his position at Moses & Hamilton in New York and returned to Chicago to work at Sosman & Landis. It was at this point that Moses became vice-president of the firm, a company shareholder, and was given complete aesthetic control over all projects. This meant that he still painted as a scenic artist for the firm, but now supervised all of the design, construction, painting and installation. Moses’ return did not sit well with all of the studio artists. In 1904, he wrote, “When Mr. Sosman announced to the ‘gang’ that I was coming back and would take charge of all the work, there was much dissention among a few. Fred Scott tried to start a mutiny and quit, hoping the others would follow. But none did, and he came back. I put him on for he was a clever painter.”
Scott was also remembered by Oberbeck and Hanny, who started as paint boys during the first decade of the twentieth-century. Both men were interviewed later in life by Randi Givercer Frank for her Master’s Thesis, “The Sosman and Landis A Study of Scene Painting in Chicago, 1900-1925” (University of Texas, Austin, 1979).” In her paper, Givercer includes brief mention of several staff members at the studio. Both Oberbeck and Hanny remembered Scott, but in varying ways. She wrote, “Fred Scott was an excellent colorist. Oberbeck thought that Rider and Scott were the only two scene painters who used Scott’s color theory that every color must have an undertone. According to this theory, every color used in painting must have the same color in it to hold it together. Oberbeck painted ten or twelve Masonic Crucifixion scenes with Scott. To start, they would lay in the entire drop in ultramarine blue. Every color from the extreme light tones to the most dark, would have a little of that blue in it. Similarly, in Masonic treasure Room scenes, layered-in in burn umber, every color used would have some umber in it.”
That being said, Givercer later wrote, “Scott was a very bitter and eccentric man, The boys in the studio were afraid of him; he didn’t get along with many people. If something went wrong when he was painting, he’d take a six-inch brush, dip it in all the colors along the palette, stand back, throw it in the middle of the drop, and walk off. Or he would tear the drop off the frame in a fit of rage. Scott refused to let his son even talk about becoming a scene painter, but he did help the young boys at Sosman & Landis. He gladly taught Oberbeck anything he could, until Oberbeck was earning more money that he was. John Hanny once received a surprising letter from Scott, in which he gave him encouragement and constructive criticism. At another time his advice to Hanny was: If you’re unfortunate enough to want to be an artist, if you insist on being an artist – for heaven’s sake, be a good one.”
Moses mentioned Fred Scott again in 1911. At the time, the Sosman & Landis studios were extremely busy, with projects keeping both the main studio and annex studio on 20th Street. Moses left Nicholas J. Pausback in charge of the studio during his absences. That year Moses wrote, “Pausback had his hands full; Scott acted bad.” This does not paint a picture of a kind and considerate individual. Yet it suggests that Scott may have been skilled enough for an employer to overlook his basic personality flaws.
To date, I have only located one Cincinnati newspaper article that mentions a scenic artist named Frederick Scott in the twentieth-century. In 1898 Sosman & Landis has branched into theatrical management and sent several scenic artists to Cincinnati to work on several projects. On Nov. 6, 1898, the “Cincinnati Commercial Tribune” credited scenic artist Frederick Scott with the scenery for Brady Stock Company’s ‘Cyrano De Bergerac’ at the Star Theatre. The article reported, “The scenery for the new play is being made up by Scenic Artist Frederick Scott. Five elaborate sets will soon be completed.” This newspaper article places Scott in Cincinnati at the end of the nineteenth-century, possibility already working for Sosman & Landis. The Cinicnnati city directory listed an artist named Fred Scott for the years 1899 and 1900. Although no workplace is noted, Scott was living at 1312 Sycamore.
Article about Frederick Scott from 1898.
I have narrowed my Fred Scott search down to one likely candidate in the Chicago City Directory, an Englishman who worked as an artist in Chicago, beginning in the mid 1880s.
The only bread crumb is the mention of Scott refusing to let his son even talk about becoming a scene painter. Unlike single men who move from one city to another, a family is a bit easier to track in census reports; or so I thought until this particular quest. However, marriage and obituary notices for children often provide a glimpse into the lives of their parents.
My research suggests that Scott relocated his family from London to Chicago in 1891. Like some immigrant families, a father or older son journeyed to American prior to moving his family. This meant that they were able to secure work, gain income, and have adequate funding to cover the move of their family. This is how my grandmother traveled from Poland to the United States. Her older brother came first, and he gradually raised enough money to send for each sibling; one at a time.
My research indicates that Scott began working in Chicago in the mid-1880s. He is first listed in the Chicago City Directory in 1885, Frederick Scott, living at 274 Avon pl. He is again listed in the 1888 and 1889 Chicago Directory, working at 512, 70 State, and boarding on Clark Street. This is not meant to say that he did not return to visit, marry, and plan the relocation of his family. So, here is the history that I have located to date.
Frederick Scott was born on Aug. 6, 1854 in London, England, the son of Alice and Samuel Scott. He married Ethel Julia Grant Ketchum in 1890, and moved both wife and infant daughter to Chicago in 1891. The Scotts were counter in the 1891 London Census before emigrating to America. This meant that he missed being included in the 1890 Federal Census. However, by 1900 Scott was working as an artist and living at 5019 Turner Street in Chicago. At the time, the Scott family included his wife Ethel and children Marjory (b. May 1890, England), Granville (b. April, Illinois), Edwin (b. Feb. 1899, Illinois) and Bobs Victor (b. May 1900, Illinois). The Chicago birth record for Granville lists his parents as Frederick Charles Scott and Ethel J. G. Ketchum.
Within the first decade of the twentieth century, Scott’s marriage ended, and his wife remarried another artist. Ethel married Edwin S. Mitchell on Sept. 19, 1908. Her wedding records note that he was the daughter of James Ketchum and Matilda Grant, born on October 31, 1865, in Poona, India. He mother was Scottish and her father English.
The 1910 Census listed Ethel and Edwin living in Chicago with their five children from previous marriages: Ethel Marjory Scott (19 yrs.) and Granville Scott (14 yrs.) were listed as Edwin’s step-children, while Edwin K Mitchell (11 yrs.), Victor A. (9 yrs.) and Dorothy V. (4 yrs.) were listed as his biological children. Georgia was later born (1911). The two would celebrate the birth of Georgia in 1911. I am skeptical about Edwin and Victor, as those were also the names of Ethels and Fred’s youngest children.
The 1920 census provides a little more information about this blended family. Ethel M. and Granville are now adult children, still living at home. Ethel M. was working as a cashier for a Music Co. and Granville working as an electrician. In regard to their father, Fred Scott appears to have vanished from print.
I have yet to track down any obituary for Fred Scott, a second marriage record or any other historical record that suggest what happed to Scott after his wife remarried. Other than Moses’ mention of Scott in 1911, there is no further record of his work as a scenic artist.
Maquette and scenic pieces from the Scenery Collection, stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.
The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.
Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps.
Hans Putuff was a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis, c. 1906-1909. He worked with Victor Higgins and the two gifted a painting to the firm’s foreman, Charles E. Boyer, after a sketching trip in 1909. Years later, their gift made the papers in La Crosse, Wisconsin, when the origin of the interesting painting was remembered as a wedding gift to Boyer’s daughter, Ruth Boyer Anderson.
Hanson Duvall Puthuff (1875-1979) is remembered as an Impressionistic painter in the early California Plein-Air Movement, c. 1910-1940. Much has been written of his easel art, yet his backstory seems to be a series of “cut-and-paste” articles. Occasionally, there will be one line about his work as a sign painter or scenic art endeavors in 1906 for “Sosman Studio,” but little else is cited. That being said, he is a difficult individual to track down, not only because of his early work as an itinerant artist, but also because of his name change and consistent misspellings over the years. Hanson took the last name of his adoptive mother sometime in the 1880s, at the very beginning of his artistic career.
Hanson B. Puthuff (1875-1972)
He was an easel artist, frescoer, sign painter and scenic artist. There is no question that he was incredibly skilled and extremely versatile. His fine art paintings are often described in detail and commended for their coloration and play of light. However, it is his personal story that intrigues me the most. Keep in in mind that by this point I have spent years tracking down Puthuff’s career in historic records and city directories. The majority of his life until 1910 was spent with his adoptive mother as they traveled west to Denver and then Los Angeles. His care and dedication for Elizabeth C. Stanley Puthuff is a story in itself. I am captivated by the loyalty and love that caused this young artist to take care of his adoptive mother until her dying day, as well as adopting her last name.
Hanson Duval (some records note Duvall) was born on August 21, 1875, in Waverly, Missouri. This date is even suspect, as other records suggest March, with little known of his birth parents. He was purportedly the son of Alonzo Augustus Duval and Mary Anne Lee. Other names filter in and out of historic records, but his parents were cited as coming from Kentucky. When he was only two years old, Hanson’s mother passed away and he was adopted by close family friend, Elizabeth Puthuff (1845-1910). Most historical records use the phrase “passed on,” with the idea that Hanson’s father left his son and moved on with his life. This may have been the driving force over the years that caused Hanson to always care for Elizabeth, as she was the one who took him in during his greatest time of need.
Elizabeth’s care and love for Hanson was also born of loss. Since 1865, Elizabeth had lived as a Civil War widow, managing to support herself as a seamstress. She was born in Tennessee, the daughter of Jacob and Rebecca Stanley and by 1850 the family was living in Jefferson, Indiana.
Elizabeth married James T. Puthuff at the age of 22 years old. Their union is only briefly mentioned in a wedding record, a mere scribble. The timing is too quick to suggest a lengthy courtship, but it was in the midst of the Civil War and the two were married at the height of James’ service. Here is the timeline that makes me wonder what else was at play: James first enlisted in the Union army in St. Louis, Missouri, on Nov. 1, 1863 and mustered out as a Private with the 12th Cavalry that same day. He enlisted a second time on Jan. 29, 1864, and mustered out with Company K in the Missouri Veteran Volunteers on March 7, 1864. He and Elizabeth were married on March 31, 1864 and James was killed a little over two weeks later. A week after his passing, on April 23, 1865, Elizabeth filed for a Civil War Pension.
It was Sergeant Perry O. Singleton who reported that James was killed by gunshots from either rebels or a bushwhacker on, or about, April 15, 1865 near Montgomery, Alabama. Puthuff was originally buried 100 yards from Mr. Howard’s store 1 ½ miles south of Shorter’s Station near Cross Keys, Macon County, Alabama. His body was later exhumed and buried at Montgomery, Alabama cemetery and relocated again to Marietta National Cemetery. If I am interpreting records correctly, his gravestone does not match his history, and the cemetery is aware of it.
Elizabeth was a widow for twelve years before adopting Hanson. At the time, she was thirty years old and working as a seamstress. Over the years, she went by Mrs. Elizabeth C. Puthuff, Lizzie Puthuff, and Mrs. L. C. Puthuff. Regardless of directory listing, she was often noted as the widow of J. T., Jason T. and James T. Puthuff. What is so interesting is that her Civil War Pension Application listed James S. Puthuff, but that may have been a clerical error. Or a simple misreading of a handwritten T.
Five years after adopting Hansen, the two were listed in the 1880 Federal Census. At the time, they were living in Rio Norte, Colorado. Hanson Duval was listed as Lizzie’s adoptive son and she was working as a dressmaker. The two were still living in Rio Norte in 1888, when Lizzie posted a series of advertisements: “Mrs. L. C. Puthuff, Del Norte, Colo. Fashionable Modiste! Respectfully solicits a continuance of the patronage of old friends and a trial by new customers. Works done on short notice, Corner Columbia avenue and Sixth street.” They soon relocated to Denver,
Sometime between 1880 and 1890, Hanson changed his last name from Duval to Puthuff, with Duval becoming his middle name. I have yet to locate any legal records of has name change. By 1890, Hanson was studying with Ida De Steiguer at the Fine Arts Department of the University of Denver, ca. 1890 – 1893. In 1893, Hanson was listed in the Denver City Directory as a janitor for the Art School.
By 1894, Hanson took a position as a fresco painter in Peoria, Illinois, while his mother stayed behind for the year and continued her dressmaking. This was likely an apprenticeship in ornamental painting. In the 1894 Peoria City Directory listed Hanson’s employment address as the YMCA building, 109-111 N. Jefferson Ave. By 1896 Hanson returned west and was again listed in the Denver City Directory, now as a fresco painter, but still living with his mother. In 1897, Hanson listed himself as an artist, but soon returned to Peoria for another year of work. Projects in the city included murals at City Hall and local churches. While in Peoria, he was listed as a frescoer at Trapp & Hocking, located at 228-229 Adams, the corner of Fulton in the Woolner Bldg. His residence was 619 Sixth Ave. Although I have yet to locate a listing in 1899, his mother was still living in Denver.
The 1900 Federal Census provided a little more information about the two. Listed as L. C., “Lizzie” listed her birthday as in March 1845 and that her father and mother were from Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. Hanson’s birth month was listed as August in 1875 with both of his parents originating from Kentucky.
By 1901 Hanson was working as a sign writer at the Curran Bill & Poster Distributing Co. This advertising firm was located at 1728 to 1734 Lawrence Ave. in Denver. Hanson continued to work for the firm as a sign painter throughout 1903. He was also listed in the artists section of the Denver directory too. For context, James A. Curran owned the firm and was considered not only the father of outdoor advertising in Colorado, but also the “boss bill poster of the Rockies.” Curran’s first advertising business was established in Leadville, Colorado, in 1880. By 1881, he was working with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. He was also an early advertising agent for the Tabor Opera Houses in Leadville and Denver, tying directly into my research about the railroad’s gifting of picturesque advertising curtains to Colorado opera houses. By 1883, Curran relocated to Denver where he established the Curran Bill & Poster Distributing Co., a business that rapidly became the preferred painting and sign poster firm throughout the region. He employed scores of scenic artists and sign painters such as Pufhutt. Curran was also an agent for traveling theatre shows that included the Nellie Boyd Dramatic Co., Sullivan and Company and Damrosch Concerts. Curran artists were was likely the connection between Pufhutt and Chicago (Sosman & Landis). By 1906, Curran was also the owner and president of the Curran Opera House in Boulder, Colorado.
Pufhutt’s work for Curran also became his connection to Los Angeles. In 1904, Hanson & Lizzie moved to Pasadena, California, likely at the recommendation of A. Allison, of the Curran Bill & Poster Distributing Co. On Jan. 23, 1904, “Billboard” announced, “A. Allison, formerly of the Curran Co., Denver Colorado has been elected secretary and general manager of the California Billposting Co. of Los Angeles. Mr. Allison brings with him to the new form a fine knowledge of the business (page 15). For the next few years, Pufhutt worked for the California Billposting Co. as he made inroads into the Los Angeles fine art community. Although he continued to be listed as an artist in the Los Angeles Directory, Pufhutt worked across the country, including in Chicago at Sosman & Landis studio, sporadically between 1906 and 1909.
In California, Hanson’s primary focus of artistic study was Eagle Rock, La Crescenta, Corona del Mar and La Canada. By 1905, Puthuff was featured in the “Los Angeles Times.” On Oct. 22, 1905, the newspaper reported:
“The true artist is dowered at birth by a fairy godmother, and her great gifts to him are sight and insight – the clear eyes that takes in the outward aspects of beauty, the swift intuition that seeks and finds its spirit and its meaning. The schools may supply him with tools, or he may fashion his own to suit his needs. It matters not, so long as he persistently holds fast to his two gifts, and so long as he does not begin to believe that the mere tools of his trade are the “whole thing.” For he was made an artist by the grace of God. Al other painters and artisans in the temple – clever, conscientious, painstaking, intelligent artisans, if you will, but still artisans, and their presence is often an intrusion which does not further the true worship of the goddess of art. They pose as high priests, when they really belong among the humblest of penitents. Hanson Putuff, the subject of this appreciation, is one of our painters who is an artist. Sight and insight, Putuff has already done much, but he will do a great deal more. Let the doubting Thomases, if there are any such, so to the exhibit of his sketches with the friends who believe in him have urged him to hold in the near future. Hanson Puthuff is of Kentucky parentage, and of French and English extraction – and these fortunate accidents of birth have given us an impressionist and a reactionist who knows moderation. He studied portraiture and figure painting with Henry Reed and Jean Mannheim, in Denver, and this laid the foundation for his accurate knowledge of construction and good drawing. But in his study of landscape he had no helpers, going straight to Nature in his search for beauty and truth, as every artist must. His home studio, which he planned himself, and which he decorated throughout, with his own hands, is a pleasant, unobtrusive, artistic, little redwood bungalow on Avenue 52, in Highland Park, Here his many sunny sketches may be seen, and here he conducts a life class two evenings a weeks. This class is attended by earnest young men, who are for the most part employed in various handicrafts during the day, and who can find no other time for learning to paint and draw, But all know this is to be their golden opportunity. And not one of them is a purposeless idler. Hanson Puthuff, it will be seen, is doing much for the cause of art in Los Angeles” (page 62).
By November 4, 1906, the “Los Angeles Times” published Puthuff’s portrait alongside an article entitled “Pictures by Three Painters” (page 82). Advertising the upcoming Blanchard Gallery exhibition, it gave a little history about Puthuff’s increasing popularity among those “who are sincerely concerned with the progress of art in Los Angeles.” The article reported, “In the first place, it will give us an opportunity to judge, with some degree of correctness, the progress made by Hanson Puhuff in the last two years. It was then that he first became known to us, in the Ruskin exhibit, through three or four pictures of unusual strength and promise. He now has some twenty-five new canvases to show, portraits, figures, landscapes and marines – and they will convince us, I think, that he has not been standing still.”
Within the next three years, he became extremely well-known in the region. On October 1909 George Whart James wrote an article entitled “Hanson Puthuff and His Work: A Study and an Appreciation” for the “Arroyo Craftsman” (pages 31-37). That same year, Puthuff and his adoptive mother were living at 401 W. Ave 52. Erroneously, the city directory listed him as Anton Puthuff, with Hanson still working as a scenic artist, but now employed by Charles F. Thompson Scenic Co. In addition to his easel art and scenic art, Hanson continued to care for his aging mother.
Just as Lizzie took care of Hans as a small child, Hanson continued to care for his mother until her dying day. It was not until after his adoptive mother passed, that Hanson married and began a new life. On October 5, 1910, Puthuff married May P. Longest in Los Angeles. Their marriage announcement was published on October 4, 1910 in the “Los Angeles Herald” (page 14): “PUTHUFF-LONGEST. H. D. Puthuff, age 35 and May P. Longest, age 18; natives of Missouri and Kentucky, residents of Los Angeles.” May was certainly not 18, as she had been listed in as a single artist in the city directories for five years. She was born in 1879 and 31 yrs. old.
May was first listed in the 1903 San Jose Directory, living with her mother Mrs. Anna W. Longest, at 532 n. 14th Street. That only lasted for a year, and soon May was on her own. She continued to be listed as an artist until her marriage to Hanson and began having children. The couple celebrated the birth twin sons (Duvall J and Lee C., b. 1912), Robert H. (b. 1914), Paul M. (b. 1916), Matilda L. (b. 1918) and Addie W. (b. 1920). As one child after another was born to the couple, May’s artistic aspirations diminished and her husband’s soared.
In order to support his growing family, Hanson continued to work as a scenic artist and sign painter at a variety of studios. In 1912, he was listed in the city directory an artist at T. H. B. Varney, still living at 401 W Ave 52. Charles M. Elliot was also working for the firm at this time too. T. H. B. Varney previously was a founder of the bill posting firm Owens, Varney & Green (L. D. Owens and J. C. Green). This was a period of transition of Puthuff, however, as his easel art continued to gain national and international recognition. His success and continued work at advertising studios funded the purchase of a new home at 161 College View.
On January 8, 1913, the “Los Angeles Times” included an article on Hanson Puhuff and his studio (page 26):
“If you labor under the contemptuous delusion – some fairly intelligent people do – that the painter of pictures is a lazy man, prone to loaf and invite his soul, go to the airy studio of Hanson Putuff in Eagle Rock and become enlightened.
“Here you will find a score of landscape sketches and studies painted in three weeks, an average of one a day. And they aren’t thumbnail sketches either. Hanson Puthuff doesn’t cover postage stamps. Some of the studies are hardly less than three by four, and most of the others are almost as big in size. Puthuff, whose technique is admirably easy and free, wields a big brush attached to a strong and pliable wrist, and he requires space in which to express himself.
The new studio is situated on the charming climbing avenues among the hills of Eagle Rock – beautiful hills, now covered with the rich cloth-of-gold of Southern California’s early summer. It is on College View avenue, so called because it offers a glimpse of the new buildings on Occidental College, also among green hills, Diagobally opposite Puthuff’s studio is that of landscape artist Aron Kilpatrick, landscape painter. Arion Putnam, another landscape painter, is not far away, and on the outskirts of Glendale, still very near, Eugene Frank is domiciled, Val Costello and the Wendt’s own lots in the vicinity, and will probably erect studios some time. A veritable artists’ colony, you see a wonderful nest of landscapists. Mark my words, it’s a colony that will become famous some day, for some of the colonists are already bug men and the rest all intend to grow big.
All Hanson Puthuff’s recent studies were made in his immediate neighborhood. Indeed, he hardly found it necessary to stir from the shade of his own vine and fig tree. The views from his studio windows are very wonderful, a series of pictures of already ‘composed’ oaks and valleys, hills and mountains.
“I think it was Jean Francois Millet,” said he,” who declared that the artist who couldn’t find materials at home was hardly an artist at all. By the same token,” he added with a modest smile, “I’ll have to consider myself a real artist, for I find plenty of stuff right here. But see for yourself.”
So I “saw for myself,” studying with pleasure and interest the last vigorous sketches of this gifted young painter of California landscape. The “stuff” was indeed all good, the best that have so far come from a man that never paints poorly. In truth, Puthuff have every right to consider himself a real artist.
The painter of landscape deprecates a “subject” picture. Therefore, “I don’t suppose you’ll be much interested in this,” said Puthuff, about to turn to the wall of a study of the famous Eagle Rock, that tremendous boulder thrusting its gray flank through the side of a hill, and offering to a gaping world its strange shadowing picture of a flying eagle. But I was interested, for the canvas was a picture as well of a “subject,” a picture of finely modeled hills under a gray sky, varied in color, poetic in feeling. And the great eagle hovered against the rounded wall of rock, giving the theme a certain grandeur. This picture was an “order,” given by a real estate dealer, I believe. I congratulate the lucky owner of it, for he has much more than an advertisement, he has a picture of sterling worth without the hall mark of “business.”
A strong bit of painting is “Morning,” green and yellow hills as seen from Puthuff’s backyard. Oaks are climbing up the hillsides towards a sky as full of color as the heart of an opal. Equally vigorous in handling is “Verdugo Road,” showing eucalyptus trees on either side of the sunny road just before it dips into the valley. The cloudy sky if of an exquisite blue-gray, a color invented by Puthuff for Nature to imitate – if she can.
In “Verdugo Mountains” we see the mountains on a cloudy day just after a shower, when the air is washed clean and pure as a crystal. Sunlight and shadow play over a bewildering mosaic of colors. The foreground embankment is of a tawny hue, while below lie green orchards. “Silvery Light,” as its title indicates, is a study of delicate mists as they affect hills and valleys. The light throws its glamours over pale greens and purples, and turns the Verdugo hills into fragile blues. It is an unusually charming picture, a happy blending of fact and vision.
Sunshine and Flowers” gives us yellow blooms (species unknown to painter and deponent,) set on a sunny slope among eucalyptus trees and live oaks. There are blue mists beyond them. The picture is full of living brightness. “Lupin,” painted in Verdugo Park, shows the pal purple blooms massed in the foreground, which is a level valley tanned yellow by the sun of early summer. The hills beyond are floating in silver mists.
Though Hanson Puthuff is known as a landscape painter, now and again he essays the portrait, and with marked success. A recent counterfeit presentment is that of George Alexander, first president of the Jonathan Club. The subject is seated at a table, Hands and face are cleverly modeled, yet with the utmost simplicity. The color scheme of Bronx-browns and grays is pleasing and harmonious, decidedly individual, as Puthuff’s color is apt to be. Another attractive recent portrait is that of a child. W. W. Mines’ little 2-year-old daughter, in white against a cream-colored background, a difficult subject technically, but triumphantly carried out. I have shown, I think, that at least one artist in Los Angeles, has learned the value of hard work. I could point out a score of others.”
In 1914 he was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Salon and by 1915 received two silver medals from the Panorama-California Exposition. Puthuff’s WWI draft registration card listed his physical appearance as tall, medium build, blue eyes, gray-brown hair. That year, he was working as an artist at another advertising firm – Foster & Kleiser, located at 231 San Pedro St. Los Angeles. The registration still listed Hanson’s home address as 161 N. College View, Eagle Rock, LA. Walter Foster and George William Kleiser founded Foster & Kleiser Outdoor Advertising in 1901. Their immediate prosperity led to regional branches in the Pacific Northwest to outdoor plants in Los Angeles, San Francisco and eastward toward the Atlantic seaboard. Interestingly, his son’s draft registration for WWII would also noted Robert H.’s employer as Foster and Kleiser. By 1920, the Puthuff family included Hanson, May, their six children and May’s mother, now 70 years old. In the 1920s, Hanson’s projects included habitat displays for the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Later commissions included model displays for the Santa Fe Railroad and panoramas for the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
May Longest Puthuff passed away on Dec. 12, 1939 at the age of 60. Puthuff remarried and continued to live for more than three decades, passing away at Corona del Mar. On May 12, 1972, the “Los Angeles Times” Puthuff, Hanson D., age 96. Passed away Friday, May 12, Dean of California landscape painters. Survived by wife Louise, sons Paul and Lee Puthuff, daughter Matilda Scoville, step-daughter Sara Blatterman, 8 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. No funeral services at his request.”
Puthuff made a name for himself in the fine art world and is associated with the Eucalyptus School of California landscape painters. He was a co-founder of the California Art Club and the Laguna Beach Art Association. Thomas G. Moses and many other Sosman & Landis artists were also members of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Puthuff’s artworks remain in many collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, and Bowers Museum, as well as being catalogued in the Smithsonian American Art inventory.
His legacy also lived on in his many students. On February 11, 1943, the “Granada Pioneer” in Colorada included an article entitled “Thumbnail Sketches.” The artist remembered taking private lessons from Hans Puthuff, “one of the foremost nature artists on the west coast” (page 3).
Scenic art examples from the Scenery Collection, stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.
The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.
Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps
Charles Edward Boyer worked as a foreman at Sosman & Landis from 1889 to 1909.
He was born on November 7, 1865, in Chicago, the youngest of two sons born to James A. Boyer (1824-1866) and Julia Anne Ege (1837-1890). His father was one of several children born to John Kerst Boyer and Elizabeth Aurand. Charles older brother, John K., was named after his grandfather in 1861. James A. Boyer was the youngest of five children, with his siblings being: Valentine (1814-1890), Peter (1815-1820), Nathaiel (1817-1827), and Marie E. (1829-1894). It was Marie’s second husband that greatly affected Charles’ youth and the families circumstances after the death of his father in 1866.
James A. Boyer worked as a ship caulker and assed away on October 9, 1866, leaving a young widow with two infant children. By the summer of the following year, the three were in dire financial straits. On August 9, 1867, the “Chicago Evening Post” posted the following notice: “Estate of James A. Boyer, deceased. Public notice is hereby given to all persons having claims and demands against the estate of James A. Boyer, deceased, to present the same for adjunctions and settlement, at the regular term of the Country court of Cook county, to be holden at the courthouse in this city of Chicago, on the first Monday of September A.D. 1867, being the second day thereof.” His unexpected passing meant that Julia was forced to sell their home, and by the fall, the “Chicago Evening Post” published her intent to sell:
“Notice is hereby given to all whom it may concern that as guardian of John K. Boyer and Charles E. Boyer, infants, I shall apply to the Superior Court of Chicago at its April term, A.D. 1867, for an order to sell the west forty (40) feet of lot number ten (10), of block number forty-five (45), in the original town of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois. Signed, Julia A. E. Boyer, Guardian, and B. E. Ellis, Solicitor” (March 16, 1867, page 3).
By April 11, 1867, Julia posted another notice in the “Chicago Times” for two weeks:
“Julia A. E. Boyer, guardian of John K. and Charles E. Boyer. Petition to sell the west forty feet of lot ten, block fifty-five. Original Town, to enable her to pay liabilities of the estate” (page 3). On October 25, 1867 (page 3), the “Chicago Evening Post” announced the Guardian’s Sale of Real Estate on Saturday Nov. 9, 167 to the highest bidder, with terms one-third cash and the two remaining payments of one and two years, secured by notes bearing eight percent interest and trust deed upon the property sold.” Despite her desperate attempts stay financially afloat, she became the financial target of Marie Boyer’s second husband Laurin P. Hilliard, an up-and-coming Chicago businessman.
For two weeks in 1869 there were two notices published in the papers:
The first was “Laurin P. Hilliard v. Wm. Boyer, et. Al Bill to compel specific performance of an alleged contract by Charles E. Boyer, since deceased, for the sale of Lot 2, subdivision of Blocks 5 and 6, Canal Trustees’ Subdivision of blocks in south fractional half of Section 29, 39, N. 14 east.”
The second was:
“Laurin P. Hilliard v. Elizabeth Boyer et als. Bill for deed of an undivided half interest in 5,760 acres of land in Iowa, the legal title to which at the date of his decease was in Charles E. Boyer, but in which complainant claims the interest stated, as a partner in the purchase.”
The story gets a little complicated and could be a drama in itself. Hilliard was already well-off when he decided to target his wife’s family. Maria’s first husband was Medor B. Beaubien, a Pottawatomie Indian who purportedly abandoned her when his tribe relocated to Kansas. It was Beaubien’s property that came into question and Hilliard went after it in a long and drawn-out litigation with forgery allegations tossed in. The case was summarized in the “Chicago Evening Post” on August 3, 1872 (page 20). Hilliard had a profound influence on the lives of not only Julia, but also her young sons.
So, who was this man who gained wealth by suing those who could not defend themselves? Laurin Palmer Hilliard (b. 1814) was one of the earliest settlers, arriving in Chicago by 1836. He started out as a general merchant, but then became a lumber dealer and ship builder between 1841 and 1861. He also worked as a country clerk before becoming City Commissioner. By 1872, he was the president of the Protection Life Insurance Co and featured in the 1877 publication, “Chicago Business Men and Vistors.” At the end of Hilliard’s brief bio, it stated, “his substantial character and unsullied name is a tower of strength to the company.” By the 1890’s Hilliard was a millionaire, but spent quite a bit of time in court for the questionable business tactics of his life insurance company.
He lived until 1895 and when he was struck and instantly killed by a carriage. Karma seems to have arrived a little late in the game.
Regardless, in 1869, Hilliard was fifty-five years old, wealthy and cashing in on widow who was just trying to survive with two small children. This court case would place undue hardship on Charles, his brother and mother. Although I have yet to confirm what the outcome of the suit, my guess is that Hilliard won. In 1870, Julia, her two young sons, and 74 yrs. old mother, Hester McLaughlin, were boarding at the home of Robert A. and Rebecca Dimmick. She need help, and quick.
On November 12, 1870, Julia remarried a younger man name John F. Allen (b. 1841). The two celebrated the birth of two daughters, Laura and Ella in 1873 and 1877. Laura was born in Chicago, and Ella was born in Wisconsin. By 1880, they moved to Kansas where Charles’ step father was the Sherrif of Trego County, Kansas. Her sons from her first marriage, Charles and John, grow up quick, never attend school and are employed at young age. John was not included in the 1880 census, as he passed away at the age of nineteen on March 5, 1880; cause unknown.
A few years later Charles returned to Wisconsin and was working in La Crosse as a boiler maker for M. Funk. He returned to Chicago by 1889 when he began working for Sosman & Landis as a foreman. The 1890 Chicago Directory lists Boyer as a foreman, working at 236 Clinton, the same address as Sosman & Landis’ main studio that year.
On August 29, 1894, Charles married Maretta “Retta” Dunaway (b. 1874). Retta, and her twin sister Maria, were born in Wisconsin, and that is likely when Charles met Maretta. It appears that Retta was a twin, with her parents being Colwell Dunaway and Louisa Almeda Johnston. Charles and Retta celebrated the birth of two children, Clermont Aurand Boyer (1895-1961) and Ruth Claudine Boyer (1900-1972). Aurand, names after his grandmother’s family. The Boyers continued to live in Chicago for the next few decades, with Charles working as a foreman in the studio. In 1909, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “After twenty years of good service, Charles Boyer, our foreman, quit us. We all regretted his going.” Boyer continued with in this same profession for the short term, but I have yet to determine where he worked after Sosman & Landis. In 1910, Charles E. Boyer was still listed as a foreman in the theatrical scenery industry.
The 1920 Federal Census listed Boyer as a manager at a Brass company. He would continue in this capacity until his passing until 1935, working in the employment department of the firm. Boyer passed away on June 24, 1935. On June 26, 1935, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Burial Rites for Charles E. Boyer, 70. Funeral services for Charles E. Boyer will be held at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon in Oakridge cemetery. He died Monday in his home at 3512 Le Moyne street at the age of 70. He is survived by his widow Retta; a son, Clermont; a daughter, Mrs. Ruth Boyer Anderson, and three grandchildren; brother of Mrs. Ella Hamilton and Mrs. L. R. Zeimer of Lakewood, O. Services at Oak Ridge Abbey” (page 23).
Boyer’s work at Sosman & Landis was not remembered until 1956 when a newspaper article described the wedding gift that he gave his daughter in 1921. His daughter Ruth married Rev. Gustave Edwin Anderson in La Crosse, Wisconsin that year.
On September 23, 1956, the “La Crosse Sunday Tribune” published the following article on page 13:
“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.”
Painting that Charles E. Boyer gifted to his daughter in 1921.
Victor Higgins worked as a scenic artist at Sosman and Landis during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
William Victor Higgins (1884-1949)
William “Victor” Higgins was born on June 26, 1884, in Shelbyville, Indiana. He was the son of John Tilson Higgins (1955-1935) and Rose E. Doolan Higgins (1855-1931). Victor was one of eight children born to the couple and raised in Shelby County. His siblings were Richard C. (b. 1880), Francis Wheeler Higgins (b. 1882), Ambrose (b. 1886), Marie Cecilia Higgins Fischer (b. 1888), Wilford D. (b. 1890), Robert M. (1891), Tresia P (1898) and John Tilson Jr. (b. 1898). Amazingly, two of his sisters lived to be 101 years old, with Francis passing in 1983 and Marie passing in 1989.
On February 14, 1914, Higgins was featured in “The Inland Printer,” a trade journal in the printing and allied industries. The article was republished in hometown newspaper with pride, especially as it featured his early sign painting in the area. The article’s author commented, “In interviewing Mr. Higgins I have set down what he said to me as he said it, interpolating no questions or suggestions, as I feel sure the reader can better obtain an idea of what Mr. Higgins’ personality in this way.” Here was what Higgins had to say about his early career in Indiana and later training in Chicago and Europe:
“My first work in Chicago was in a sign shop on Kinzie Street. The pay was just two dollars less than the sum required for board. I quit and looked for something else. The next job was painting signs on walls. On the first undertaking, which happened to be a sign on a wall of an engraving house (Rodgers, I think), the rope broke, and I was shunted off to one of those racks they build out of windows for gasoline and benzine cans. In falling I jarred one off and it fell four floors, struck the dock and then went into the river.
“Of course, I was thankful, and decided to quit the sign business, I climbed thru the window, and on my way out passed through an art department and got an insight into the work that would have taken much longer had I tried the regular way. I asked them for a position, and they took my name and address.
“Not long after, I took up the painting of theatrical scenery and specialized somewhat in staging the opera.
“Three years ago, I went to Europe for a period of study in the studios in London, Paris and Munich. In England I became a member of the St. Ives Club, and in Munich a charter member of the ‘Club of American Artists in Munich.’
“In Paris I studied in the studio of Revue Menard and came in contact with other mural painters.
“Since returning to America I have been occupied with mural work in Chicago and the Middle West. The largest commission was the Englewood Theater, which included the working out is the entire color scheme from floor to draperies. The mural panels in this theater covered a surface of sixteen hundred square feet.
“I have exhibited pictures in England and France, also with the exhibition of American artist in Chicago and with the Chicago Society of Artists. My first exhibition upon returning to America was at the Palette & Chisel Club, I am a member of this club and have held the office of vice-president.
To date, the earliest mention that I have located for Higgins as a sign painter is from 1899. On Nov. 27, 1899, Higgins placed an advertisement in the “Shelbyville Daily Democrat”(page 4) – “Mr. Victor Higgins is engaged in placing in some very handsome signs in this city, both in gilt and aluminum. Give him a call. Address, Meltzer, Indiana.” Within a year, Higgins moved to Chicago and initially continued his sign painting trade there. It is really Shelby County newspaper notices that I can track his scenic art career.
In 1900, the Federal Census report listed Higgins as an artist and living in Liberty, Iowa. Sometime between the summer of 1900 and the fall of 1901, Higgins moved to Chicago and continued as a sign painter. On Sept. 10, 1901, the “Shelbyville Daily Democrat” reported, “Victor Higgins, who has been home visiting his parents for about four weeks, returned to Chicago this morning to resume his position, that of an expert sign painter. ‘Vic’ is getting to the front rapidly. His natural talents in his chosen profession insure him in a lucrative profession.” This was obviously before his accident and beginning as a scenic artist.
Sometime between 1901 and 1905, Higgins was hired as a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis. He was there long enough to assist journeyman artist Fred Scott and gained his own palette.
In 1905, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Victor Higgins, one of our promising young men, quit to take up picture painting and started with a strong determination to win, and I think he will.” Higgins continued to work in Chicago, but also began painting in New York. On April 19, 1906, the “Shelbyville Daily Democrat” still noted “Victor Higgins of Chicago”(page 2). On October 25, 1906 (page 3) the “Shelbyville Daily Democrat” reported, “Victor Higgins, an old Shelby county boy has been working in New York City for several weeks and is again in Chicago, having accepted a good position there as a scenic painter.” He likely realized that continuing to work in a scenic studio would provide the necessary income for sketching trips and continued artistic studies.
In Chicago, Higgins studied at the Art Institute alongside E. Martin Hennings and Walter Ufer. At Sosman & Landis, Higgins worked alongside Walter C. Hartson, Fred Scott, Edgar Payne, William Nutzhorn, David A. Strong, and Ansel Cook, to name a few. In New York, his fellow scenic artists were William Smart, Art Rider, and Al Dutheridge. It was in New York, however, that Higgins’ career as an easel artist began to take off.
In 1908, Higgins met Robert Henri (1865-1929), a leading figure of the Ashcan School of art. Keep in mind that Henri’s students included Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, George Bellow, Norman Raeben, Louis D. Fancher and Stuart Davis. Art history books record that Henri spurned the Academy and Impressionist school of painting, encouraging a revived realism and rallying “for paint to be as real as mud, as the clods of horse shit and snow that froze on Broadway in the winter.” Higgins’ artistic training in Chicago and New York led to additional studies abroad. It was Carter H. Harrison, former Chicago Mayor and avid art collector, who financed Higgin’s artistic study in Europe. At the time, Chicago offered many opportunities for artists and during Mayor Harrison’s administration, the Chicago City Council created the Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art (1914-1945). This commission used taxpayer money to purchase paintings and sculpture created by Chicago artists. It is no wonder that Chicago attracted artists from around the world.
Before his departure to Europe, Higgins mailed a picture postcard to Moses at Sosman & Landis. Dated May 5, 1908, the photograph showed Higgins, sketching outside with an easel and umbrella. His face was scratched out and replaced with a cartoon expression. The front of the postcard read, “Dear Mr. Moses, Notice that pained expression on my face. V. Higgins.” The two continued to correspond during Higgins’ European studies. Higgins mailed another postcard to Moses from London in 1909. It was addressed to “Mr. Thos. G. Moses, 417 So Clinton St, Chicago, Ill, USA,” the main Sosman & Landis studio. Higgins wrote, “Your letter received. With the gift settled, I will write you all of it. Lots of fun in sights. Regards to the boys,” signed V. Higgins.” The “boys” were the scenic artists at Sosman & Landis; Moses frequently referred to his painting crew as “the boys.”
Higgins studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, where he was a pupil of Rene Menard and Lucien Simon. In Munich, he was a pupil of Hans von Hyeck. Throughout his travels, Higgins sent Moses postcards to share his artistic journey with the older artist. In 1909 Higgins even mailed Moses a postcard from 16 Promenadenplatz, Munich. These postcards are now part of the Thomas G. Moses file in the John Rothgeb Papers at the Harry Ransom Research Center, University of Texas in Austin.
Upon Higgins’ return to the United States, he began working at Sosman & Landis again. In 1909, Moses wrote, “Victor Higgins also returned to work at Sosman & Landis, completing the interior of the American Music Hall.” This was a period of time at Sosman & Landis when the firm was swamped with work that included Scottish Rites theater work in Atlanta, Georgia and Kansas City, Kansas, as well as a massive Coliseum shows called “The Fall of Messiah” for the White City. Although he continued working as a scene painter for the theatre, Higgin’s repeatedly took short leaves from Sosman & Landis to go on sketching trips. On one trip to California, Higgins was accompanied by fellow Sosman & Landis artist Hans Duval Puthuff. Prior to their departure, they promised the studio foreman at Sosman & Landis, Charles E. Boyer (1856-1935), to bring back one of their paintings. The story of their painting to Boyer made newspapers years later in a newspaper article published in the “La Crosse Sunday Tribune” (La Crosse, Wisconsin, September 23, 1956, page 13).
Here is the article entitled: “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 an 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 newspaper article suggests that the painting dates from 1913, it is possibly from 1909, as that was the year Boyer quit working at Sosman & Landis. In 1909, Moses wrote “After twenty years of good service, Charles Boyer, our foreman, quit us. We all regretted his going.”
In Chicago, Higgin’s easel art continued to gain popularity. His success was heralded by his folks and shared with local newspapers, but he was still considered a scenic artist. In 1910, Higgins was listed as a scenic artist when he accompanied six other members from the Institute on a sketching trip to Oldenburg, Indiana. The “Brookville Democrat” published an article in 1910 about Victor Higgins and a group of artists who traveled from Chicago to Oldenburg, Indiana, for a sketching trip. The article was “Artists From Chicago Spend Two Weeks at Oldenburg Making Sketches” (Brookville, Indiana, 6 Oct. 1910, page 1). Seven Palette and Chisel Club members visited east-central Indiana during 1910. They stayed in the primarily German village of Oldenburg, one of the oldest communities in the state. The artists secured lodging at the Gibson Hotel, run by Joseph Merchen. At the end of their trip, the hotel displayed 130 landscapes that were painted during their stay. One of these paintings portrayed the group playing a game of pool. Each artist was painted with his palette overhead, depicting how he arranged his colors, left as a gift to the Oldenburg community. The Oldenburg painting collection was exhibited at the Palette & Chisel Club upon their return.
The newspaper article about the trip reported:
“Seven artists of the Palette and Chisel Club spent two weeks of hard work at Oldenburg and vicinity. The Palette and Chisel Club was founded fifteen years ago when the advanced students at the Art Institute of Chicago felt the need of a club in which each could ‘ride his own hobby, apart from school and yet be organized. In their meeting they relate their experiences gained from private work and observation, and thus mutually help each other. Although the organization began with but a few members, it has steadily increased and now boasts of a hundred members. It includes members from some of the best art schools of this country as well as abroad. Those members that visited our county follow different lines of work. Mr. H. L. Engle is an expert in the restoration of old masterpieces. Mr. O. E. Hake is one of the faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. He is a designer and illuminator for the leading editors and authors. Mr. J. E. Phillips is a noted commercial artist. Mr. R. I. Ingerle is a noted member and officer of the Chicago Society of Artists and a member of the Western Society. Mr. August Petrytl is a designer and illustrator. Mr. L. O. Griffith follows the same line of work. Mr. Victor Higgins is proficient in painting theatrical stage scenes. The Palette and Chisel Club send some of its members out every year to make their own choice. Some of the men who were here have traveled abroad and through the west and southwest of our country. This year through the influence of Mr. Higgins, we were honored with their visit. During their stay here, they have made one-hundred-thirty landscape sketches. Most of their work was exhibited at the Gibson House, where they had their headquarters, on Friday evening. The artists expressed surprise when told that there had been no other artists here before now to make paintings of the beautiful scenery that nature has so liberally scattered in these parts. They say that there is material enough here for years of work, and they will try to come back again in the near future.”
The Oldenburg group painting is now part of the M. Christine Schwartz Collection (https://schwartzcollection.com/), a privately owned collection consisting of paintings by mid-nineteenth- to the mid-twentieth-century Chicago artists.
On March 14, 1911, the “Shelbyville Daily Democrat” reported, ”Victor Higgins, the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Tilson Higgins, of near Meltzerville, is rapidly winning recognition from the leading art critics in his home city. Several of his drawings are on exhibition at the art exhibit in the Windy City and one of the Chicago papers speaks very highly of his work” (page 1). By 1911, Higgins took another year to study overseas. On August 19, 1911 (page 4), the “Shelbyville Daily Democrat” reported, “Victor Higgins sailed from Montreal, Canada, on August 12, for a year’s travel and study abroad…He has traveled extensively in the United States and during the winter spent in California produced a mountain scene which won him a place among artists in the Chicago art exhibit of 1911. Mr. Higgins has always been reticent in regard to exhibitions of his work, and the only piece here, ‘The Oldenburg Chapel at Sunset,” is owned by his sister Miss Marie Higgins. The best wishes of a host of friends accompany Mr. Higgins in his study and travel.” This was one of those trips that can change an artist’s career in an instant, opening doors that were previously ajar. By March 18, 1915, the “Shelbyville Democrat” reported, that Higgins “won first prize this week with his painting “Moorland Gorse and Bracken” at the Art Institute in Chicago, and the picture has been purchased for the Municipal Art Gallery in Chicago. Mr. Higgins has been in Chicago for many years and rapidly forging to the front as an artist” (page 6). Despite his rise in the fine art work, Higgins continued to work at Sosman & Landis. In 1916, he was pictured in front of a drop curtain at the firm’s main studio in Frank H. Atkinson’s “Scene Painting and Bulletin Art.”
Victor Higgins at Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio.
Other artistic awards granted to Higgins were from the Municipal Art League (1915), the Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago (1917), and the first Altman prize for the National Academy of Design (1918). He is represented in permanent collections of the Art Institute in Chicago, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles Museum, as well as many other public and private collections. In addition to living and working in Chicago, Higgins began to spend more time sketching in the Southwest, especially in Taos as was associated with the Taos Society of Artists. In addition to private commissions, Higgins designed and painted ten murals for the Courthouse in Taos, and even ran for Mayor of Taos. It was also in Taos that Higgins also met his first wife, Sara Parsons. Their marriage made headlines in his hometown newspapers.
On May 3, 1919, the “Shelbyville Republican” reported, “Mrs. Higgins was formerly Miss Sarah Tudor Parsons, daughter of Sheldon Parsons, claimed New York’s famous portrait painter now of New Mexico, where Mr. Higgins met his bride. She is also a granddaughter of Albert Harris, New York financier and relative of Admiral H. P. B. Harris of Washington, D.C. They will make their home in New York and New Mexico, spending 3 months of the year in New Mexico where Mr. Higgins has been doing wonderful work” (page 1). Less than a week later, the newspaper announced a visit form the newly married couple. On May 8, 1919, the “Shelbyville Democrat” announced, “Famous Artist Returns from New York with Bride. Victor Higgins and Miss Sara Parsons”, who were married in New York on April 22, area visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Tilson Higgins.” (page 11). The article continued, “Mr. Higgins has an art studio at Taos, and it was there that he met Miss Parsons about five years ago. Their friendship developed into an engagement and culminated in their recent marriage in New York…. Mr. Higgins attended the Shelbyville high school and showed such natural ability as an artist that he was sent to Chicago to study there as well as New Mexico, where he first went with a colony of artists to study during the summer months, about five years ago, when his romance with Miss Parsons began.” The couple celebrated the birth of their only daughter Joan in 1922. Their marriage did not last the test of time and divorced in 1924. Higgins later remarried at the age of fifty-three years old.
In 1937, Higgins married for a second time. On July 28, 1937, the “Santa Fe New Mexican” reported that the couple was married at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Taos and “a few intimate friends of the couple were present at the ceremony.” The article noted, “The wedding in Taos unites one of New Mexico’s most distinguished artists and a woman who is known throughout the Southwest as a patron of the arts. Mr. Higgins who has made his home in Taos for 25 years, is a member of the National Academy an on board of the Harwood Foundation. He is represented in the permanent collection of the Chicago Art Institute, Corcoran Gallery of Washington D.C., Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts and various ither museums. He has been a consistent winner since 1914. Mrs. Higgins, a summer resident of Santa Fe for the past seven years has one of the most modern art collections in the nation, including works of El Greco, Cezanne, Gaugin, Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Degas and the later modernist painters. She plans to bring the collection to New Mexico from her San Antonio estate, Sunset Hills. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins will be at home until October at St. Teresa, one of the guest houses on Mabel Dodge Lujan’s famous Toas Estate adjoining the Indian Pueblo. They will spend part of the winter in San Antonio. They will make their home in Taos, Santa Fe and New York.” Unfortunately, their marriage did not last and the two separated in 1940.
Higgins passed away on August 23, 1949, and is buried at the Sierra Vista Cemetery in Taos, New Mexico. Much has been written about Higgin’s fine art, his influences, approach to painting and artistic awards, with often little or no mention of his scenic art. I often get frustrated as many artistic trades are ignored, and yet color theory and paint application techniques were not solely garnered in art institutes or academies. I often wonder if art historians simply don’t understand the training or skills garnered by artists in scenic studios when they were painting compositions for the stage.
Scenic art examples from the Scenery Collection, stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.
The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.
Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps.
Maquette and scenic pieces from the Scenery Collection, stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.
The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.
Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps.
Walter C. Hartson began his artistic career as a scenic artist. Over the course of two decades Hartson worked for scenic studios run by both Thomas G. Moses and Sosman & Landis in New York and Chicago. Even after he made a name for himself in the fine art world, Hartson continued to paint stage settings. By the end of his career, Hartson was associated with the Chicago Society of Artists, the Palette & Chisel Club, the Salmagundi Club, the Rochester Art Club, the Duchess County Art Association, New York’s Kit Kat Club, the New York Water Color Club, Allied Artists of America, the American Watercolor Society, the National Arts Club and the Grand Central Art galleries. Hartson was a full member of the National Academy of Design, and yet, continued to work as a scenic artist until his mid-40s. As a scenic artist Hartson was able to explore color and painting techniques on a large scale.
Walter Carroll Hartson was born in Wyoming, Iowa, on Oct. 27, 1866. He was the son of Lafayette F. Hartson (1825-1892) and Loirett S. Hartson (1843-1920). The second child of five, his siblings were Emma (b. 1853), Dewit W. (b. 1860), Flora M. (b. 1875) and Ansel (b. 1877). The year before Walter was born, the “Iowa State Gazetteer” listed his father as gunsmith. By 1870, Lafayette Hartson was listed as an insurance agent, a career that he would continue for more than a decade.
In 1880, Walter Hartson married Carlotta A. Ogden. Ogden was also born in Wyoming on September 9, 1866, the daughter of Edward & Mary Smith Ogden. They both attended elementary school until the fifth grade and married when they were twenty-four years old. The two initially lived in Chicago where Hartson continued his studies at the Art Institute. He exhibited his artworks alongside many contemporaries who also worked as scenic artists, including future Sosman & Landis staff members Hardesty Maratta, Fred McGreer, Edward Morange, Frank C. Peyraud, and Harry A. Vincent. In 1889, he was working at 263 State Street; this was the same address were McGreer and Vincent also worked that year. Merchants located at 263 State ranged from a photography studio to Martin Emerich Outfitting Co. If I had to hazard a guess, they were likely painting photographic backings.
Hartson, McGreer and Vincent became part of the Sosman & Landis West Side Force in the early 1890s, working directly with Thomas G. Moses at the annex studio. Throughout the 1880s, Hartson continued to make a name for himself as an easel artist too, and by the 1890s was exhibiting in one show after another across the country. Hartson became well known for his landscape painting and atmospheric effects. In Chicago and in New York, he was part of scenic art community that studied, worked and socialized together, planning sketching trips when they weren’t painting scenery for the stage.
Along with many scenic art colleagues in 1893, Hartson donated artwork to a charity sale for the destitute (Chicago Tribune, 31 Dec. 1893, page 18). It was during this decade, that Hartson was first recognized on a National level. In 1895, Hartson won the bronze medal for his artwork at the Atlanta Exposition. This award helped support his studies abroad. On Jan. 28, 1897, the “New York Times” announced, “Mr. Walter C. Hartson, who has spent the last two or three years in Holland, has placed on exhibition at the Klackner Galleries, 7 West Twenty-eighth Street, fifty-six oil and water-color paintings of scenes in the Netherlands, which show that he has spent his time in the lowlands to good advantage, It is unnecessary to describe Mrs. Hartson’s work, except as a whole, as the subjects of most of the paintings, as well as their execution, is almost similar in every instance. The work in general is marked by abundant sentiment, good tone and color, and sympathy with the misty moisture-laden atmosphere of the lowlands, and by a keen appreciation of the artistic possibilities of canal and meadow, of windmills and village houses and streets. Mr. Hartson has made a close study of the masters of the modern Dutch school, and to those who love the scenery and atmosphere of Holland , a visit to this collection will be found both interesting and delightful” (page 5).
By 1898 Hartson received an award for his “Fields of September” at the seventy-third annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design (Chicago Tribune, 26 March, 1898, page 1); the Third Hallgarten Prize. By 1900, Hartson exhibited in a watercolor exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute. The Chicago “Inter Ocean” commented on two of Hartson’s paintings in 1898:
“Of course, the best may not have been in sight, but some signed by Walter C. Hartson, arrested me. It is in tone and treatment much like a McIlhenny that stood not far away. Both these are in treatment between Corot and George Inness, Sr., although not so rich in color as the later. They lay in color, and then wash it down until everything is blurred, enveloped, atmospheric and gray. Still there is sufficient firmness and purpose, good modeling and no muddiness. Only an experienced painter can do this difficult thing.”
On Jun 26, 1898, the “Chicago Tribune,” mentioned his work, “Two cleverly painted water-colors of Dutch scenes by Walter C. Hartson, a former Chicago artist are shown at Thayer & Chandler’s. Both are light and lively in color and effect, and consequently more interesting than much of his more serious work, in which he inclined to blackness and heaviness” (June 26, 1898, page 33). It was is his ability to capture light and atmospheric effects that translated so well not only in Hartson’s easel art, but also in his scenic art for the stage.
Regardless of his fine art recognition, Hartson continued to work as a scenic artist. In 1902, Moses wrote, “We secured the paint room at the 14th Street Theatre, which gave us six frames. Walter C. Hartson and Arthur Barr joined our forces and our work kept on increasing. We now had an office in the Broadway Theatre Building, a bookkeeper and an office boy, with a very swell uniform. We were getting very classy. We were also starting a big payroll.” Hartson was working for Moses & Hamilton that year, not Sosman & Landis. In 1902, Hartson also won the Gold Medal of the American Art Society and by 1904 won the First Landscape Prize in the Osborne competition.
Hartson continued returned to Europe in 1907. His passport application listed his physical appearance at 41 yrs. old: 5’-10”, with high forehead, blue eyes, small nose, wide mouth, round chin, brown hair, fair complexion and oval face. On July 31, 1907, Hartson received a U. S. Consular Certificate from Henry Morgan, Consul, of the United States of America in Amsterdam, certifying that he was registered as an American Citizen in the consulate. The purpose of Hartson’s trip was listed as painting. The Hartson’s returned from oversees on June 24, 1908, sailing from Liverpool. Sketches from this trip resulted in a series of exhibits. Even in 1916 Hartson exhibited 26 water colors from sketches that he made on this Holland trip, the subjects being mostly marine and landscapes. On May 1, 1916, Brooklyn’s “Standard Union” advertised “An Exhibition of Water Colors by Walter C. Hartson.” Of Hartson’s credentials, the advertisement stated, “Mr. Hartson in 1895, at the Atlanta Exposition, received a bronze medal and honorable mention. The National Academy of Design, 1898, presented him with a Third Hallgarten Prize. He won the gold medal from the American Art Society in 1902, and in 1904, in the Osborne Competition, he won the first landscape prize.”
After his return to the United States in 1908, Hartson again worked as a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis in Chicago. In 1909, Thomas G. Moses wrote “Walter Hartson joined our force at 20th Street in August and seemed to be satisfied with conditions.” He also exhibited in the Windy City that year. On March 29, 1909, the “Chicago Tribune” reported that Walter C. Hartson, of New York, N.Y., and Jane Mahon Stanley of Detroit, Michigan, exhibited artworks at Marshall Field & Company picture galleries. It appears that returning to work as a scenic artist was the quickest way to make money after depleting one’s expenses after artistic studies in Europe, hence the return to Sosman & Landis in Chicago that year. From March 1910 until March 1911, Hartson and his wife again traveled overseas, visiting England, Holland and Belgium. At the time, the Hartson’s permanent address was at 53 West 126 St. in New York.
It is at this time that Hartson began listing himself in census reports and directories as a studio artist. The shift may have been prompted by newfound friends Arthur J. Powell, G. Glenn Newell and Harry Franklin Waltman. Newell, Waltman and Hartson eventually left the city to seek solace in the Dover Plains, each establishing a studio in the picturesque region. Hartman relocated around 1917 and worked from his studio in Wassaic, New York, following Newell with Waltman who slightly preceded him. Later, Powell joined the trio. It was the rolling hills of the Harlem Valley that kept the four men occupied (Poughkeepsie Journal, 21 June 1953, page 6A). Dozens of newspaper reports noted that the four artists painted the area with great affection.
Walter Hartson, seated left in article.
All four men were born in small rural towns but sought their art careers in nearby metropolitan areas. Hartson, Waltman, and Newell studied extensively in Europe and each independently found their way to the New York art scene. All four artists became members of the Duchess County Art Association. On January 4, 1946, the “Poughkeepsie Journal” announced that the works of Hartson, Newell, Powell and Waltman were being honored by the Duchess County Art Association, with an exhibit of their work in the Campbell Hotel Gallery. Over the decades, their work was continually rediscovered. On February 25, 1977, the “Poughkeepsie Journal” announced another exhibit of the four artists’ works at the Thomas Barrett House in an article entitled, “Once Important, They’re Forgotten” (page 3). The author reported, “Their paintings still hang in the libraries, in school, the bank. You get a very definite sense of place with these paintings. It is definitely the Harlem Valley.” Powell also worked as a scenic artist, and in 1927 painted a decorative panel for the first scenic artists ball held in Chicago.
The 1920s were a defining period for Hartson. He and his wife again planned and international tour with stops in China, Japan, India, Italy, and Greece. They traveled for five months, returning from Cherbourg on May 19, 1924.
The last two decades of Hartson’s life were spent painting in Amenia, Duchess County, New York. The same month that he was honored by the Duchess Country Art Association, his wife of sixty-six years passed away. Carlotta Hartson died on Jan. 26, 1946. The two were separated for less than seven months, as Walter followed her in death on July 19, 1946. Hartson’s obituary was published in the “Harlem Valley Times” on July 25, 1946:
Walter Carroll Hartson, 80, Wassaic, well known landscape artist, died Friday in Canaan, Conn. He was born in Wyoming, Iowa, son of Lafayette and Loretta Johnson Hartson. On Dec 20, 1888, he married Carlotta Ogden of Wyoming, who died Jan. 27 of this year. Mr. Hartson studied at the Chicago Art Institute, and after some years in that city, moved to New York City, where he combined work in his own studio with the painting of stage scenery. In the early years of the century, he lived in Holland, where he did considerable work in water colors. During that period, he won the Hallgarten prize of the National Academy of Design, the landscape design for a Dutch windmill in the Osborne competition and a bronze medal for honorary mention at the Atlanta exposition. About 20 years ago, he purchased a home in Wassaic and established his studio there, where he continued to record in oil, the beautiful landscape of Duchess county.
By August of 1946, everything that the Hartson’s had once held dear was liquidated at an auction. On August 4, 1946, the “Hartford Courant” advertised “Important Estate Auction of Antiques, Furniture, Bric-a-Brac & Paintings for the estate of the late Walter C. Hartson of Wassaic, New York “(page 38). It is hard not to read through the list of their belongings listed for sale, and not feel profound loss. It is always hard to witness and entire estate liquidated, as it often defined a person, providing great insight into their travels and life. The last paragraph of the 1946 advertisement noted, “The SALE includes a large selection of original works of the late Mr. Hartson, who was a renowned LANDSCAPE ARTIST, having exhibited both in America and Europe, He was a well-known traveler, studying many years abroad. He won many honors, including the National Academy of Design in 1895. First landscape prize, Osborne Competition, New York City, 1904, and was a prominent members of many important artists clubs, including the Chicago Society of Artists, and the Allied Artists of America. This will be a rare opportunity for art lovers to acquire works of this well-known landscape artist. Sale positive. Terms. Cash.”
Their nephew, L. D. Hartson of Oberlin, Ohio, was the administrator of the estate. A professor at Oberlin College at the time, Louis Dunton Hartson was Dewit’s eldest son.
Regardless of the liquidation of Hartsons’ worldly possessions, his scenic art legacy lived on. Near the end of his career, Hartson was remembered by Art Oberbeck. Oberbeck was interviewed by Randi Givercer Frank for her Master’s Thesis, “The Sosman and Landis A Study of Scene Painting in Chicago, 1900-1925” (University of Texas, Austin).” Givercer wrote, “[Hartson] was a New York artist and one of the best exterior painters Art Oberbeck ever encountered. His advice on exterior painting was, “Never paint an exterior using chromes beyond middle distance, Use ochre and cobalt blue for distant green.”
