Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
Victor Higgins worked as a scenic artist at Sosman and Landis during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
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.”
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.
To be continued…
