Copyright © 2023 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
The spring of 1885 to the spring of 1886 was a significant period in the development of Sosman & Landis. They not only constructed a new studio building, but also diversified their business interests, establishing a panorama company. For the next decade Sosman and Landis tried their hand a variety of businesses, including lighting equipment, theatrical management, stock companies, and pottery.
Location
The studio building that Sosman & Landis leased in 1879 was located at 277 and 279 South Clark Street. They rented space alongside many other tenants in a large building at the northeast corner of Clark and Van Buren streets. They were situated one block east of the Rock Island Depot and two blocks north of the Dearborn Station, as well as being near two public transit lines.
There were a variety of nearby entertainment venues, employing dozens of scenic artists. Theaters located just a few blocks to the north of the studio included Haverly’s Theatre, McVicker’s, Hooley’s, the Chicago Opera House, the Grand Opera House, and the Olympic Theater. A few blocks to the south was the People’s Theatre and Park Theatre. Three panorama buildings were also nearby. Two were a few blocks southeast of the Sosman & Landis studio: the Battle of Gettysburg in the National building and the Siege of Paris in the American Panorama Building. The third panorama was a few blocks northeast of the studio. The Battle of Shiloh was featured in the newly-constructed World Panorama building on Michigan Ave.
To the north of Sosman & Landis’ Clark Street Studio.
To the south of Sosman & Landis’ Clark Street Studio.
The Popularity of Panoramas
I am going to briefly touch on these three panoramas that were delivered between 1883 and 1885, as they were likely the instigator for Sosman and Landis to establish the Grant Panorama company. The most popular subject matter in the United States quickly became Civil War subject matter. From a timing perspective, we are twenty-two years away tragic events of 9/11 in 2001. 1885 was twenty-two years away from the height of the Civil War. Both were still in the forefront of public memory for many Americans.
In 1879, a group of Chicago investors commissioned Paul Philippoteaux to create a Battle of Gettysburg panorama. This is the same year that Sosman & Landis moved to their studio on Clark Street. City residents were familiar with Philippoteaux’s work, as “Paris by Moonlight” had been exhibited in Chicago in 1875 (Chicago Tribune 21 Oct 1883, page 4). It took four years from conception to the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg panorama. In the fall of 1883, advertisements credited the work to Philippoteaux, Joseph Bertrand, and Lucien Sargent. The panorama’s popularity soon prompted another Philippoteaux panorama. On June 20, 1884, the Siege of Paris opened across the street from his Battle of Gettysburg (Inter Ocean 20 June 1884, page 8).
The two panorama buildings that once house the Battle of Gettysburg and Siege of Paris. Link to 1890 image posted to Chicagology: https://chicagology.com/?s=cyclorama
Another photograph showing the location of the two panorama buildings when facing south. Link to 1912 image posted to Chicagology: https://chicagology.com/?
A third panorama opened in Chicago the summer of 1885. Credited to French artist Théophile Poilpot (1848-1915), the Battle of Shiloh panorama’s progress continued to make newspaper headlines. On April 30 of that year the Chicago Tribune announced “Though not yet 35 years of age, [Poilpot] has visited some part over every country on the civilized globe, and his travels crossed the equator eight times. He arrived in this country last fall and went direct to ‘Hornet’s Nest,’ the scene of Shiloh, where he devoted several months to the study of the battlefield” (page 8).
Battle of Shiloh Advertisement in the Chicago Tribune on July 31, 1885.
To my surprise, I recently discovered photographs of the Battle of Shiloh Panorama Guide at rare bookseller’s website. Here is the link: https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/4947/l-b-crooker-mapmaker-f-j-mcintosh/manual-of-the-panorama-of-the-battle-of-shiloh-michigan-avenue-between-madison-and-monroe-streets?soldItem=true
On August 1, 1885, The Inter Ocean reported “The Battle of Shiloh panorama adds another splendid battle piece to Chicago’s attractions. The painting and direction of the work have been accomplished by T. Poilpot of Paris, who., thanks to the enterprise and liberality of local capital, has been given every advantage for the projection and perfection of the titanic pictures. Mr. Poilpot is an artist who has a large experience in similar works on a large scale, having painted in Paris ‘The Taking of the Bastille;’ ‘The Charge of Reischoffen’ (franco-Russian war), and ‘Busenval’ (episodes of the siege of Paris). In London he painted the ‘Charge of Baklava;’ and in Russia, ‘The Crossing of the Danube.’ ‘The Battle of Shiloh’ is his first distinctive American work, and he is now engaged upon ‘The Battle of Manassas,’ and will shortly commence the famous marine fight of Monitor and Merrimac.” The article continues, heralding Poilpot’s skill and painted details in “The Battle of Shiloh.”
What Chicago investors realized between the summer of 1884 and 1885 was that there was much more of a demand for tickets to the Battle of Gettysburg than the Siege of Paris. Chicago residents were more interested in Civil War battles, than foreign wars. I am going to pause here and remind readers that many of the well-known scenic artists working in Chicago at this time had fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. This included both Sosman and Landis, as well as several of their staff members.
Panoramas remained a risky investment. However, when they succeeded, investors reaped large profits. There were a surprisingly number of panorama companies that appeared during the 1880s. By 1883, panorama companies began to pop up all over the region. On Nov. 15, 1884, the Wisconsin State Journal reported, “New Organization – The Northwestern Panorama company, of Milwaukee, filed articles of association with the secretary of state to-day, the capital stick being $25,000. The object is to give panoramas and other entertainments” (page 4). Located on Cedar Street, the firm was operated by scenic artists Louis Kindt and Thomas Gardner.
Louis Kindt’s Panorama Company
On November 17, 1884, the “Milwaukee Letter” section of Minnesota’s The Saint Paul Globe, announced, “Paul Bechtner, Otto Osthoff and Louis Kindt have incorporated the Northwestern Panorama company and will soon erect in this city a building of the same style and size as that occupied by the ‘Battle of Gettysburg,’ at Chicago. The panorama to be exhibited will be the battle of Vicksburg, with two contending armies and the gunboats on the Mississippi river. Mr. Kindt is a scenic artist and has taken sketches at the scene of the battle. He is the artist who painted the picture of the battle of Lookout Mountain, now on exhibition in the exposition building” (page 2).
Kindt had made a name for himself as a scenic artist in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio, beginning in the mid-1860s. He was listed as a painter of theatrical scenery in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Chicago Directories. In Chicago, Kindt was employed as a scenic artist at the same time as Henry Burcky, Joseph Hart, Thomas McGann, Louis Malmsha, Ernest Pappineaux, Harry Ribbet, and J. Howard Rogers were associated with various theaters there.
In 1884, Kindt had organized a panorama company in Milwaukee, while continuing work as a scenic artist throughout the region. The size of a panorama was certainly not daunting to scenic artists. In fact, in 1890 Sosman & Landis delivered a cyclorama to the Broadway Theatre in Denver, Colorado. Of the project. Moses wrote, “I painted my first cyclorama sky backing, forty feet high and 395 feet long. There were three different skies. The cyclorama was operated from the fly gallery. We had no borders, all exterior settings were painted on set pieces which carried out the same arrangement that was used in the auditorium of Chicago
Kindt’s Siege of Vicksburg panorama was approximately this same size. Scenic studios were designed to accommodate huge panoramic pieces. Unlike a rotunda building with permanently positioned canvas, necessitating that the artists move from one scene to another. Scenic studios moved the fabric, and not the artists. It was common for a larger spool of fabric to gradually unroll. Each section was tacked to the frame and painted. This section was then released and spooled on the opposite side of the frame – like a moving panorama. This is because the scenic artists for the theatre used distemper paint and not oil paint. Like constructing a moving panorama, distemper paint allows the fabric remained lightweight and pliable. This also means that a distemper panorama can easily be shipped from one location to another. When panoramas were produced with oil paints, moving them becomes a logistical nightmare due to the weight.
It is no wonder that Sosman & Landis constructed a studio in 1885 that could accommodate their own version of a Grant’s Trip Around the World panorama. The footprint of their new two-story building was 44’-0”x 150’-0”. This space could have easily accommodated the production of a panorama when shifted along the paint fame from one fabric spool to the next.
Back to Kindt’s Vicksburg panorama…
On Dec. 10, 1884, The Oshkosh Northwestern announced, “Louis Kindt, the scenic artist, formerly a resident of this city, is one of the projectors of the Northwestern Panorama Co., recently organized at Milwaukee with a paid capital of $25,000. Mr. Kindt and several other artists are now engaged on a panorama representing the siege of Vicksburg, which ended by the surrender of the city, July 4, 1863. It is 400 feet long and 36 feet high. When completed it will be placed in a new building to be erected for that purpose. Mr. Kindt has charge of the scenic work for the Opera House and Turner Hall of this city and his reputation is a guarantee of success in his undertaking. He spent some time at Vicksburg recently and no doubt will produce a life-like representation of the scene” (page 3). I was especially interested that Kindt worked for the Oshkosh Opera House. This was the same venue that both Moses & Graham and Sosman & Landis bid on stock scenery for in 1883. Awarded to Moses & Graham, it was at this point that Moses, Lemuel L. Graham and John H. Young returned to the Sosman & Landis studio.
Interestingly, a second Northwestern Panorama Company opened the next year. On Oct. 11, 1885, The Saint Paul Globe announced, “Articles were yesterday files with the register of deeds incorporating the Northwestern Panorama company, with a capital stock of $200,000, and a liability of $5,000. The incorporators and directors are John Watson, Robert C. Kalkoff, George H. Eastman, George G. Jacoby and T. J. Buxtow as incorporators” (page 3).
The appearance of tis second firm may have been the incentive for Kindt to change the name of his panorama company from the Northwestern Panorama Company to the United States Panorama Company. On Sept. 12, 1885, The Oshkosh Northwestern reported, “The United States Panorama Co. is breaking ground to-day on Algoma St. to exhibit the Battle of Gettysburg, painted by the well-known Mr. Louis Kindt, at one time a citizen of Oshkosh, who has also painted the battles of Vicksburg and Lookout Mountain” (page 3). Earlier, the Wisconsin State Journal had reported, “The most attractive thing at the fair this year will be the Battle of Gettysburg, brought here under great expense. This picture represents a battle of July 2nd, 1863, and is about 75 feet in length and 39 feet in height; was painted by the most skillful artists in the country under the supervision of well-known Louis Kindt, the painter of Vicksburg and Lookout Mountain. The management will save no expense in making the foreground and surroundings of the picture as natural as possible. No one should fail to see it, because without having been seen it cannot be conceived” (page 4). It is interesting to read how much smaller this panorama is from his previous one that measured 400 feet long.
Kindt’s panorama company was established shortly after German-born Chicago businessman, William Werner opened the American Panorama Company; both were in Milwaukee. During the spring of 1885, Werner staffed his panorama studio with well-known European artists. The size of Werner’s staff rivaled that at Sosman & Landis during this time.
A photograph of Werner’s staff at the American Panorama Company studio building, 1887. Panorama artists: (from the left, standing) Franz Bilberstein, Richard Lorenz, Johannes Schulz, and Bernhard Schneider; (from the left, sitting) Wilhelm Bernhard Schroeder, Franz Rohrbeck, Friedrich Wilhelm Heine, Karl Frosch Thaddeus Zukotynski, George Peter, Amy Boos, August Lohr, and Herman Michalowski. Here is the link to the Wisconsin Historical Society image: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM26069
Unlike Kindt, or Sosman & Landis, Werner solely focused on the production of panoramas. Between 1885 and 1889, the American Panorama Company produced eight panorama paintings at the Milwaukee Studio. His is a link to a short paper about Werner and his firm for more information: http://www.germanamericanpioneers.org/documents/WhathappenedtothePanoramaPainters.pdf
When considering the production of panoramic works at this time, it is not hard to recognize that most artists were Europeans, those recently brought to the United States for this work. These were not individuals interested in permanently moving and becoming naturalized citizens. Such was the case in many other trades at this time.
Immigrant Labor
I also need to mention the 1885 Alien Contract Law, also known as the Foran Act. The first section stated, “It shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation, or in any way assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners, into the United States, its Territories, or the District of Columbia, under contract or agreement, parol or special, express or implied, made previous to the importation or migration of such alien or aliens, foreigner or foreigners, to perform labor or service of any kind in the United States, its Territories, or the District of Columbia.” Here is a link to the full act: https://immigrationhistory.org/item/foran-act-of-1885-aka-alien-contract-labor-law/
This basically described what Werner and other companies were doing, except there was a loophole for the entertainment industry. The legislation specified unskilled labor. Exceptions were made for skilled labor, such as artists or performers. Many theatre practitioners were not thrilled about an influx of competition, even when they are also foreign-born. In fact, in 1888, English scenic artist and actor, Harley Merry, joined Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett in the Actor’s Order of Friendship to lobby against the wholesale importation of foreign actors and touring companies.
Image of H. Merry in 1886.
Merry was later instrumental in establishing the American Society of Scene Painters. In 1892 the organization was established in Albany, New York, with the executive staff consisting of Richard Marston (Palmer’s Theatre), Henry E. Hoyt (Metropolitan Opera House), Homer F. Emens (Fourteenth Street Theatre), Sydney Chidley (Union Square Theatre), Harley Merry (Brooklyn Studio) Brooklyn and Ernest Albert (Albert, Grover & Burridge, Chicago). Keep these names in mind, as you read the rest of this post about 1885. Keep these names in mind as you read the remainder of this post.
Back to 1885. This year, there are three panoramas on display painted by foreign artists. Werner has brough over an entire team of foreign artists to staff his panorama company in Milwaukee. Kindt is producing his third panorama. Two panoramas depicting General Grant’s Trip Around the World are planned in Chicago.
General Grant’s Trip Around the World
On June 11, 1885, the Chicago Tribune reported, “A license was granted at Springfield yesterday to incorporate a panorama company made up of Chicago men whose object will. Be to exhibit a series of gigantic views illustrative of scenes of Gen. Grants trip around the world. The incorporators are Frank C. Bromley, the artist, John H. Atkinson, and John V. A. Weaver. Mr. Bromley, who was seen yesterday, said that the project was already advanced to a certainty for the near future, although many essential details are still unarranged. In a general way the scheme is sufficiently outlined above. Mr. Bromley will contribute some of the views form sketches of his own made during the extensive travel over the scenes covered by Gen. Grant. The rest will be gathered from various sources. It is not yet determined whether the canvases will be housed in a permanent building or arranged for transportation to different cities” (page 8). For context, Bromley frequently exhibited artwork at with other Sosman & Landis employees at Louderback & Co. Galleries, only a few blocks away. In fact, Thomas G. Moses collected works by Bromley for his own home. In 1885, Bromley lived at 78 Monroe, just three blocks north of the Sosman & Landis studio on Clark Street.
About the same time that Bromley began his Grant Panorama project, Sosman and Landis also began to plan for their own version. This was the same summer that Poilpot’s Battle of Shiloh panorama opened in Chicago.
Sosman and Landis’ Grant Panorama Company
At the beginning of 1886, Sosman & Landis moved into their newly-constructed studio on Clinton Street. The first project was a panorama. Sosman & Landis employee, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Mr. Strong and I started on a very interesting panorama of Grant’s trip around the world. We were alone in the big studio for some time before the whole force came over. We enjoyed painting the panorama as it was continuous. There was some careful blending to be done.” On March 31, 1886, The Inter Ocean announced the following their new company in the “Embarking Upon Business Section” (page 6). The announcement stated, “The Grant Panorama Company, at Chicago, to exhibit a moving panorama of scenes in the life of the history of General U. S. Grant; capital stock, $50,000; incorporators, Charles S. Gillespie, Perry Landis and Joseph Sosman.” Although the firm’s first studio on South Clark Street was in an ideal location, there was simply not enough space for their ever-increasing workload, or something on the scale of a panorama project. They needed a building specifically designed for the manufacture of painted scenes.
The General Grant Memorial Park
It is understandable that two firms came up with the same idea when one considers the popularity of panoramas in Chicago and the City’s plan for the General Grant Memorial Park. In 1885 donations were collected for the park. Donors to the cause were individually listed in local newspapers. Companies were also named if several employees donated to the cause. Such was the case with Sosman & Landis in August 1885.
On Aug 2, 1885, the “Chicago Tribune” published a list of Sosman & Landis employees who contributed to the Grant Memorial Fund:
Sosman & Landis $10.00
Thomas G. Moses $2.00
Henry J. Buhler $2.00
David A. Strong $1.00
George W. Dayton $1.00
J. C. Evans $1.00
Karl Boettger $1.00
Frank E. Gates $1.00
John Moore $1.00
Edward Loitz $1.00
C. W. Carey $1.00
C. M. Crouse $1.00
Frank Lewis $1.00
William Martin $0.50
Frank Ford $0.50
B. P. Lee $0.50
Julius Fehrman $0.50
Fred Miller $0.50
Hugo Schoessling $0.50
Mrs. J. S. Curran $0.50
Ed Donnigan $0.25
Kirke W. Moses $0.25
I have written biography’s for this entire list of individuals. Just use the keyword search function. The firm’s donation was also noticed by Sosman’s hometown newspaper. On Aug. 6, 1885, “The Macomb Journal” reported, “We see by the Chicago papers that Sosman & Landis, scenic artists, and their workmen, made up a subscription of $19 to the Chicago Grant monument fund” (page 4).
I am going to provide some financial context for the General Grant Memorial Park donations in 1885. The average prices for food that year: meat was 12 cents a pound; eggs were 17 cents per dozen; bread was 5 cents per loaf; sugar was 8 cents per pound; potatoes were 45 cents per bushel, and soft coal was $2.95 per ton. $1.00 in 1885 has the equivalent purchasing power of approximately $31.00 today. However, considering average annual earnings at the time, $1.00 was not insignificant. In fact, the average annual wage in the United States for 1885 was $589.00. For more information about wages in the US from 1880-1889 visit: https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1880-1889
With all of this in mind, Thomas G. Moses earnings at Sosman & Landis were $3,050 in 1884 and $2,975.00 in 1885, well above the average.
The Sosman & Landis employee donations provide a wonderful snapshot of who was working in the main studio at the time. In addition to the 21 Sosman & Landis employees listed above, there were at least 15 other individuals working for the firm that year who did not donation at this time. Also, other than Mrs. J. S. Curran, I have yet to identify any individuals who were working in the sewing rooms and office. She could not have been the only seamstress when considering the amount of scenery that was being produced in 1885.
All told, there were at least 36 employees at Sosman & Landis in 1885, not including the two founders of the firm.
Other 1885 Sosman & Landis staff members included Charles Landis, James M. Wood, Charles Ritter, David Strong, Henry C. Tryon, Edward Loitz, Edward Morange, Hardy Maratta, John H. Young, Henry C. Barrow, Charles S. King, Charles E. Boyer, C. D. Baker, Frank Ford, and Frank Gates. It is very likely that these individuals were on the road at the time that donations were collected. Gates had joined the force that summer, leaving his position at Pope’s Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. On July 12, 1885, The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported, “Mr. Frank Gates, who has been the scenic artist for Pope’s Theatre for a year or more, left last night for Chicago, where he will engage himself to Sosman & Landis, scenic artists on South Clark Street. He intends to remain in Chicago” (page 9). On Aug. 15, 1885, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch announced, “Frank Gates is with Sosman & Landis, of Chicago” (page 12). Later Gates partnered with fellow 1885 Sosman & Landis scenic artist, Edward Morange. Gates & Morange settled in New York, becoming an extremely well-known Broadway Design Team.
A Gates & Morange advertisement in 1902.
This was a very significant time in American Theatre History, as scenic artists and stage carpenters from all over the country began working for the same firm. In many ways, Chicago became a melting pot of stage craft. This gathering of talent and meeting of minds resulted in a variety of events that highlighted members of the scenic art community. A new exhibit was being planned to showcase the talents of American scenic artists in Chicago.
The Scene Painter’s Show
In 1885 the American Scenic Artist Exhibition was conceived, planned, and exhibited. Newspaper announcements specified that all artworks for the exhibit “must be painted in distemper color – scene painting fashion” (Detroit Free Press Sept. 7, 1885, page 5).
The announcement of the exhibit was published on the same page that featured Poilpot’s new panorama. On August 1, 1885, The Inter Ocean reported he Inter Ocean reported, “The scenic artists of this city held a meeting this week at Parker Galleries and determined to hold an exhibition and sale of works in distemper at those galleries early in September. Among those artists present were Ernest Albert, John Mazzanovich, Walter Burridge, David A. Strong, John Howard Rogers, Henry Tryon, George Dayton, Thomas Moses, John Howell Wilson, H. Burcky, Charles Ritter and others” (page 4). Parker’s Galleries, soon to be known as Louderback & Co. Galleries, was located on Wabash Ave., less than two blocks south from Poilpot’s panorama. In fact, it was halfway in between the panorama building and the Sosman & Landis’ Clark Street studio.
A series of articles advertising the upcoming exhibit were published in newspapers across the United States. For example, on Aug. 23, 1885, The San Francisco Examiner reported, “A very good move has been set on foot in the interest of art in Chicago by a number of gentlemen who propose to arrange for an exhibition of works in distemper, the contributors to be exclusively scenic artists. The exhibition will be held at Louderback & Co.’s galleries, No. 215 Wabash avenue, Chicago, commencing September 22d, and continuing for two weeks. The pictures are to be all original, but there is no restriction to subject, and they must all be sent in not later than September 15th. The managing committee includes the names of David Strong, John Mazzanovich, Ernest Albert, Walter Burridge, Thomas Moses, Henry Tryon, George Dayton, Charles Ritter, John Young, and William Petford. The art of scene painting has in these days reached a very high plane, and probably its results gratify even a greater number of people than those who visit art galleries. Such an exhibition as that indicated in the above announcement will assuredly contain many very interesting examples, as in addition to the painters whose names appear as members of the committee, there will probably be contributions from the brushes of Marston, Clare, Voegtlin, Goatcher, Hoyt, Witham, Halley, Duflocq, Roberts, Merry, and many others – Chicago News Letter “(page 7).
On Sept. 7, 1885, the Detroit Free Press reported, “Robert Hopkin is at work on two water colors, which he will send to the scenic artists’ art exhibition at Chicago. All contributions to this exhibit must be in by the 15th inst., and all must be painted in distemper color – scene painting fashion. The show promises to be one which will create a considerable excitement in art circles, as the best artists in America will contribute” (page 5).
On Sept. 26, 1885, The Inter Ocean published an article about the opening of the exhibition entitled, “American Scenic Artists. Exhibition in Chicago” (page 16). The article continued:
“During the coming week at the Louderback Galleries, No. 215 Wabash avenue, will be held a novel exhibition in a collection of aquarelle painted by American scenic artists. The galleries could not be better for the purpose, being the best lighted in the city, and when the public leave the walls covered with gems of scenic art they will think more of the scenic artists and their woks than they did before – not as they supposed, coarse whitewashers and daubers in general. In holding the exhibition in Chicago, it not only reflects credit on the artists, but will give the art patrons a chance to secure some bits worthy of galleries of a Corcoran or a Vanderbilt. Among the artists can be found the following: Matt Morgan, of Cincinnati; John Rettig, of Cincinnati; Farney, of Cincinnati; R. Hopkin, of Detroit; W. P. Davis and Graham, of Kansas City; Harly Merry of Flatbush, L. I.; Henry Hoyt, New York; Phillip Goatcher, Wallack’s Theatre, New York; William Voegtlin, New York; Getz, Boston; LaMoss, Boston. The local scenic artists have formed themselves a committee, and it is the intention if successful with this exhibition, the inaugural, to hold it annually.”
John Moran also wrote an article about the exhibit that was published in “Art Union, a Monthly Magazine of Art” (Vol. 2, No. 4, 1885, p. 85). Here is his article in its entirety:
“The Scene Painters’ Show. Chicago, October 12th, 1885.
The first Exhibition of Water Colors by American Scenic Artists has been open free to the public for some weeks past, in this city, and the eighty-four examples hung on the walls of Messrs. Louderback & Co.’s galleries include some praiseworthy and valuable works. Such a collection proves that the broad pictorial treatment requisite for adequate stage effect does not incapacitate a man for the finer and more delicate manipulation essential to good aquarelles, and shows, moreover, a healthy progressive spirit among scenic artists. The name of Matt Morgan has long been gratefully familiar to us, and he is represented by diverse and facile contributions. “Alone in the Forest Shade” (1), shows lumbermen with their load descending a wild ravine flanked on either side by towering pines. The feeling of solitude and gloom is forcibly conveyed, and the tree forms and foliage broadly yet carefully handled. “The Lost Comrade” (27), and “Waiting for Death” (14), are strong and weird aspects of prairies life, the former representing a horseman, lasso in hand, who has come upon the skeletons of a horse and rider among the pampas grass, and the latter a bull calf standing over the moribund body of a cow, striving with futile bellow to keep advancing wolves at bay. A nude figure, “The New Slave” (71), standing expectantly against a rich low-toned drapery, is exquisite in drawing and color and charmingly beautiful in suggestion. Mr. Walter Burridge runs the gamut of landscape figure and decoration and is good in all! His “Spring” (9), “Autumn Leaves” (39), and “Old Mill” (49), are deftly washed-in landscapes, true to nature and aerial in quality, while “My Assistant” (16), a study of behind the scenes life, and a “Ninety Minute Sketch” (83), of his friend Mr. Ernest Albert, show character and a nice sense of texture. Mr. Ernest Albert’s “Winter Twilight” (12), is full of sentiment of the season and excellent in composition, and his “October Morning” (31), “moonrise” (40), “Sunset” (79), and “Autumn” (80), are severally individual as transcripts and prove his mastery over the vehicle he uses. “A Decorative Flower Piece” (84), by the same artist, groups of roses, pansies and forget-me-nots in a most artistic and harmonious manner. “Nobody’s Claim, Col.” (65) and “Near Racine, Wis.” (76) By Mr. Thomas G. Moses, are among his best examples and are freely treated and with fidelity to locale character and sky effects. Mr. Albert Operti gives us some reminiscences of his Lapland tour in 1884, which are realistic and worthy, and Mr. J. Hendricks Young, “A Busy Day on Chicago River” (38), which together with the local bits by Mr. Moses, Mr. C. E. Petford and Mr. Burridge, is of historical value as it is skillfully painted. “Rats, you Terrier” (59), by the same hand, is a “snappy” and bright treatment of a dog’s head and fully catches the spirit of the English. Mr. Henry C. Tryon’s “Source of the Au Sable” (34), powerfully conveys a sense of somberness and grandeur, and though ample in detail loses nothing of the vastness and breadth, which such a landscape motion calls for. Other works deserving of notice are Messrs. George Dayton, Sr., George Dayton, Jr., the late L. Malmsha, C. Boettger, Chas. Ritter, H. Buhler and John Howell Wilson, whose “Country Road” (76” is especially fresh, verdurous and bright. It is to be hoped that this is only the forerunner of many like exhibitions and it marks a decided growth in the national art spirit.”
I have identified thirty scenic artists who participated in 1885 exhibition, piecing together their names from various articles. Here is the list, with their location in 1885. In some cases, I was able to indicate a primary employer, partner, or place of work.
Ernest Albert, Chicago, Chicago Opera House
C. Boettger, Chicago, Sosman & Landis
H. E. Burcky, Chicago, Olympic Theatre
H. Buhler, Chicago, Sosman & Landis
Walter Burridge, Chicago, Grand Opera House
William P. Davis, Kansas City, Graham & Davis
George W. Dayton, Sr., Chicago, Sosman & Landis
George W. Dayton, Jr., Chicago, Sosman & Landis
H. F. Farny, Cincinnati, Pike’s Opera House
Charles S. Getz, Boston, Boston Theatre
Phillip Goatcher, New York City, Wallack’s Theatre
Lemuel L. Graham, Kansas City, Graham & Davis
Robert Hopkin, Detroit, William H. Power shows
Henry E. Hoyt, New York, Park, Casino and Star Theatres
Edward La Moss, Boston, Boston Museum (as assistant to T. B. Glessing)
Louis Malmsha Chicago, McVicker’s (passed in 1882)
J. Mazzanovich, Chicago, McVicker’s Theatre (with Rogers)
Harley Merry, Flatbush, L. I. Casino Theatre NY
Matt Morgan, Cincinnati
Thomas G. Moses, Chicago, Sosman & Landis
Albert Operti, New York City
C. E. Petford, Chicago, Columbia Theatre
John Rettig, Cincinnati
Charles Ritter, Chicago, Sosman & Landis and Hooley’s
J. Howard Rogers, Chicago, McVicker’s (with Mazzanovich)
David Strong, Chicago, Sosman & Landis and Haverly’s
Henry C. Tryon, Chicago, Sosman & Landis and Columbia Theatre (with Petford)
William Voegtlin, New York
John Howell Wilson, Indianapolis, Grand Opera House
John H. Young, Chicago, Sosman & Landis
Nine of those listed above were working at Sosman & Landis in 1885. Two were former employees, who had just left the firm to establish their own studio in Kansas City (Graham & Davis).
More than one-third of the participants in the first American Scenic Artists Exhibit worked for Sosman & Landis between 1884 and 1885.
To be continued…
