Author: waszut_barrett@me.com

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

On June 1, 1893, Thomas G. Moses hired Fred McGreer to work at the Sosman & Landis  annex theatre on the West Side of Chicago.  He joined the West Side Force that included A. J. Rupert, Frank Peyraud, and Harry Vincent.  Moses recorded that McGreer “proved to be a good man.”

            Frederick Beesley McGreer was born in Muscatine, Iowa in 1866. He was the son of John McGreer and Louisa Beesley. The couple celebrated the birth of three children, with Fred being the oldest. The younger children were Eva (1869-1934), Rob Roy (1879-?) and Essie (1882-1966). Rob, Fred and their father all became artists. The family tale is quite something, beginning with John’s arrival to Muscatine, Iowa as a young man. Upon his passing on June 13, 1908, the Muscatine “News-Tribune” remembered John’s artistic abilities: “his greatest claim to distinction was as a comic picture painter. His skill with the brush was something marvelous and his comic designs were strikingly and peculiarly inimitable and original.” John did not have to fortune to begin his life as an artist, he began his career in mercantile pursuits, and engaged in the grocery trade with his stepfather Charles Drury. During the Civil War, John McGreer worked as a sutler, furnishing provisions to Union soldiers. It was near the end of the war that he married Louisa, with the first son arriving the next year. After the end of the war, John managed the City Hat Store. His success in the hat business allowed the family to move to Chicago 1870 where he established a pictorial printing office. Despite being burned out and losing everything in the Great Fire of 1871, he pursued his new occupation and was later acknowledged as a pioneer in this line.

John McGreer’s obituary remembered, “Much of his time and talent was devoted to the painting of comic pictures for which work he was especially gifted and won celebrity.” His listings in the city directories were either as artist or publisher, and by 1885 was associated with the Cartoon Publishing Co. in 1885. The McGreers frequently returned to Muscatine for family visits and were extremely close to John’s sister, Mrs. Henry Geiss, remained a resident of the town. Over the years, McGreer sent illustrated articles and cartoons for the Muscatine paper, including those that highlighted the artistic careers of his two sons, Fred and Rob. Fred McGreer had the good fortune to come of age in an artistic home with good press. His father’s publishing career greatly helped his sons’ artistic ambitions, keeping them very visible in the public eye.  By 1884, Fred McGreer worked as a lighting artist at the World Cotton Centennial in New Orleans. Later records would indicate that McGreer began working as a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis in 1887. Like many other scenic artists, he not only painted scenery for the firm, but also picked up extra work while on site. Additional work for scenic artists ranged from sign painting and decorative work to art exhibits and art classes.

On April 10, 1887, the “Inter Ocean” included a notice in the National Union section, announcing that McGreer was providing “an hour’s divertissement” in rapid oil painting at the Continental Council No. 55 (page 20). McGreer continued in this vein for the next two years as the couple celebrated the birth of their only son, Earl Milton McGreer on 3 May 1888. McGreer continued to work as a lighting artist, partnering with his cousin Ernest Cooke that summer. In August, the two were featured at E. W. Viall’s store on Main Street in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Each showed how fast paintings could be created and also gave lessons.  Their class sizes numbered 20 students, with the two also holding classes in Elgin and Janesville, Illinois.  By the fall, McGreer became a featured artist at James Wilde Jr. & Co., located on the corner of State and Madison Streets. If customers, spent more than $10 at the store, McGreer painted a complimentary 8×10 oil painting in ten minutes or less.  He was advertised as “the most Wonderful Artist in the World – the rapidity of his work is marvelous. Hundreds of thousands of people visited him at the New Orleans Exposition” (Nov. 28, 1888, page 8).  Every afternoon between 1 and 5pm, McGreer was stationed in the Children’s Department of the store.  Regardless of his travels as an itinerant artist, McGreer started a family in 1885. On July 14, 1885, Fred married Minnie Ella (Elma) Hunt in Ravenswood, Illinois. Minnie was from Cedar Rapids, Iowa (b. 1865). The two lived in Cedar Rapids before moving to Chicago a few years later. Within three years the couple celebrated the birth of their only son, Earl Milton McGreer on May 3, 1888.

By 1889, McGreer was listed as an artist in the Chicago Directory, living at 584 W, Van Buren. and working at 263 State. Interestingly, Walter C. Hartson and Harry Vincent also listed 236 State Street as their business address.  I have yet to identify this business, but these were the three that eventually formed the West Side Force for Sosman & Landis Studio in the early 1890s. In 1896 McGreer was still representing the Sosman & Landis studio when the firm was contracted to produce scenery for Green’s Opera House in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On August 29, 1896, “The Gazette” reported, “The scenery was painted by Sosman & Landis, the well-known Chicago artists, the work being done by Fred McGreer who formerly resided in this city and who has developed artistic talents that place him among the foremost painters of the country” (page 3).

By 1897, McGreer traveled with Thomas G. Moses and Edward Loitz for Sosman & Landis, painting scenery for the English Opera House (Indianapolis, IN), the Grand Opera House (Columbus, OH) and the Valentine Theatre (Toledo, OH).  Of these projects and his crews, Moses wrote, “I think we did some good work.” Sosman & Landis then offered Moses Pike Theatre Stock Company work in Cincinnati, Ohio. He accepted, writing, “I accepted $75.00 per week and went, taking McGreer and Loitz from Chicago.”  It appears as if McGreer never left Cincinnati and soon became the scenic artist for the Pike Theatre, sending for his younger brother, Rob, to be his assistant.

The next year, the artistic success of the McGreers was published in their old hometown of Muscatine, Iowa. On Dec. 25, 1898, the “Muscatine News-Tribune” article was entitled “John McGreer’s Boys. Two Muscatine Brothers who are Winning Laurels in the Theatrical Art World” (page 16).  

Here is the article in its entirety, as it provides a wealth of knowledge about the two:

“While the News-Tribune’s friend Mr. John McGreer, has been busy preparing the illustrated article which is a prominent feature of this edition, the management has taken the trouble to gather some facts and photographs that will show “Johnny’s boys,” Fred and Rob, their friends in Muscatine, the home of their birth.

Fred the eldest, is an exceptionally clever scenic artist, at present located in Cincinnati. When he visited Muscatine with his father some twelve years ago they gave what was called ‘lightning art exhibition.’ The late Geo. W. Van Horne, while watching Fred at his painting said: ‘Well Mr. McGreer, you ought to be proud of that boy. He has the making of a great artist, especially in the line of broad effects, as cyclorama, or scenic painting.’ Mr. Van Horne’s art criticisms were not made without a knowledge of art, for he had visited and studied in the Vatican, the Louvre, and all principal art centers of Europe.

The fine asbestos drop curtain that was in Hooley’s theatre, was the creation and execution of Fred. It was highly complimented be the entire Chicago press, and admired by patrons of the theatre. Fred has autographic letters complimenting his work from many leading lights of the stage, among them John Drew, E.M. Willard, Henry Irving, Joe Jefferson, Modjeska, Nat Goodwin, Augustus Daly, and others. The ‘Cat Concert’ drop curtain in the roof garden theater of the Masonic Temple was a unique and catchy production painted by Fred. The fine drop curtain which many Muscatine visitors to Cedar Rapids have seen in Green’s Opera House was also painted by Fred several years ago.

‘Rob,’ the youngest (just out of his teens) shows really more natural talent than Fred did at his age, but has not had the experience. His forte runs rather more to cartoon and figure painting, after his father, but with better opportunities for cultivation. His sketches show boldness, character, and originality.

“Scenic painting nowadays is a very important factor in the theatre, as all plays of importance require special scenes to harmonize with the play. Whereas in former years one set of scenery had to answer for everything.

At present the McGreer brothers are scenic artists for the Pike Theatre, in Cincinnati, and are winning both the applause of the public and the praise of the press.

In speaking of a recent production of ‘Alabama’ at the Pike, the ENQUIRER has this to say:

“Mr. McGreer, the scenic artist, has given what the people one of two settings that will bear comparison with anything the best stage of the country has ever known. His first act is not so good, lacking in harmony and completeness, as well as exact fitness in atmosphere and surroundings for the poetical character of Mr. Thomas’ writing, but the third act is almost a scenic masterpiece, and merited even better applause that that vouchsafed it last night, liberal and demonstrative as it was. In this respect nothing is wanting in Pike’s Alabama.’”

Pike’s prize play, ‘The Charity Ball,’ was recently given, and the COMMERICIAL GAZETTE says this of the scenery:

“Mr. McGreer, the chief artist of the house, gave three scenes to the play that were marvels of their kind, while all of the accessories were not only handsome, but so carefully chosen as to deserve the warmest and most sincere commendation.”

The CINCINNATI POST gives the brothers this complimentary notice regarding their work:

“From a plane of minor importance, the scenic artist has attained a position second to none about a theater. If the average person were asked the reason of the great success of the productions of the Neill Stock Company at the Pike, the answer would be, “The excellence of the company and the beauty of the scenery.” Two gifted artists are responsible for the elaborate stage settings that have been seen at this house. They are Frederick B. McGreer came to Cincinnati from Hooley’s Theatre, Chicago, and as an artist of exceptional talent and splendid taste in color and design. Robert McGreer, his brother, worked most of his life with Augustin Daly’s artists in New York. They form a duo whose combined work is the admiration of every patron at the Pike.”

The portraits accompanying this article are reproduction of recent photographs, but will scarcely be recognized by their many Muscatine friends who knew them in early boyhood days.”

In 1900, McGreer was still successfully employed at the Pike Theatre and listed in the1900 Cincinnati Directory was the chief scenic artist for the Pike Opera House, boarding at the Burnet House.

On April 15, 1900, McGreer described his artistic process to the “Cincinnati Enquirer” in an article entitled, “Vast Amount of Artistic Labor Contributed by Scenic Artist Fred McGreer Toward the Success of Many Pike Productions” (page 12).   

Although lengthy, it is a wonderful snapshot in time of McGreer and his scenic art process from 121 years ago:

“Perched up in a little room on level with the head of a big white lady who holds a cluster of electric lights, over the right proscenium box at the Pike, is a small room in which an unseen factor in many successes at that house toils industriously day after day making for success on the Pike Stage.

The potent influence is Mr. Fred McGreer, the capable scenic artist, whose stage settings at the Pike have been a prominent feature of the 60 odd productions seen at the house during two seasons he has worked there.

The writer, after climbing up a narrow flight of winding stairs and stumbling over bits of scenery reached this little den the other day, and found Mr. McGreer hard at work sketching out the stage plan for Nero’s banquet hall which will be seen there this weekend in ‘Quo Vadis.’ Rich in scenic opportunities, Mr. McGreer had spread himself on this big production, and judging solely by the care and work he has lavished on it, the scenic side of the piece promises to be a triumph.  Leading man and lady, villain or adventuress, or the others have thrilled with the applause at the Pike for their efforts, but Mr. McGreer who has contributed a great share to the stock company’s weekly offerings, seldom hears the same applause for his art as distinctly worthy as that of the players.

If the reader will follow we will take journey into his little den off the third landing of the winding stairs and see if we can’t get a faint peak at the amount of work a new production means to the indefatigable artist. You can imagine you climbed the stairway and arrived at the room, him half out of breath, with the writer who felt how sadly he had neglected his athletics. A generous part of the room is Mr. McGreer, a young man attired in a well-frescoed pair of shoes highly daubed overalls pulled over his other clothing. His sketches are works of art and marks the backdrops used in the course of a season, while at the other end a big roll of paper stands awaiting instructions.

When the photographer arrived, Mr. McGreer had just finished the elevation for the Nero palace.  He gave clear insight into the business side in painting a theatrical setting, which the average playgoer sitting in front would never realize from simply looking at it.  ‘We’ll begin at the beginning,’ said Mr. McGreer when told that his description of how a scene is built up was wanted. ‘The first thing that I do is to read the manuscript of the play to be put on. Then comes a consultation with the stage director regarding the practical openings for each setting of the play as every exit and entrance must be letter perfect so that the players will be kept within the point or sight and at the same time be able to make their exits properly.  This done I map out the stage plans for the carpenter with the elevations for each set, and he sets to work to make the wooden frames for the various scenes.’

On these plans the frames are all cut out and placed just as they go.  Then the heavy drill cloth is fastened to the braces which are attached to the paint frame.  This is worked by a windlass that can raise or lower the canvas at will.  The artists work on what is called the bridge while painting the scenery. This is a narrow platform suspended about 30 feet above the stage at the rear wall and the paint frames operates up or down close to this so that we can work up to the height on the drop merely by moving the windlass in whatever direction desired.

 The illustrations accompanying this show Mr. McGreer and his assistants at work on the paint bridge as well as several other phases of the work incidental to making the scenic productions for the famous play.

‘I am able to outline the scenes after they have been coated with glue priming, for which a particular glue is used that will not crack.  After the priming had dried I sketch the outlines with charcoal, and meanwhile the assistants are mixing their paints in buckets, and when I have concluded they set to work painting the scenery.  In this process, first the broad colors are laid in and then comes the ornamentation, such as the figures on the walls of interiors, or colors for the moldings to get the lights and shadows.  This is ended with the detail work of what we call bringing the scene together.  It is like the finishing touches you see the rapid-fire artists put on their pictures in the vaudeville theaters when a form emerges out of what is apparently a chaos of conflicting colors.  At this period, I may discover too much red at the base of a scene, or not enough red beneath the cornice of an exterior, and these must be toned down.

With the scene painted it is again hustled off the paint frame to make room for another act.  The painted set goes back to the carpenter to be cut out and attached to the lines running to the rigging loft, there being three lines to each drop. The columns and solid sections which will be noticeable in ‘Quo Vadis’ are made of what we call profile board.  It is a wooden veneer and is pre-hinged to a stand shipping.  These columns also stand by themselves as though apparently part of the setting.

In the first scene for ‘Quo Vadis’ the case is different.  The entire scene was originally painted on one big drop and then after it was completed I ‘red lined’ the whole scene.  This is to outline the columns and vases with a delicate red line, which the carpenter follows in sawing out these separate sections.  They are then all placed in position on the stage and the stuff that has been cut out is fastened together with a delicate netting which is invisible to the audience.  The perspective created the impression that they are standing alone though really the entire set is one big drop.  Some idea of the work required can be gained from the explanation that a single drop of this description generally requires the efforts of the carpenter and four assistants an entire evening to fix up.  On the drop for this garden scene, we used 1080 feet of cloth and about 75 pounds of paint. In order to attach them to the rigging loft about 300 feet of rope is also used.  Now another heavy scene is in the arena setting for the last act, in which over 700 feet of platform space is required, built up to a height running from two feet and reaching the topmost platform 15 feet above the stage.  These platforms are all hinged and made so they will fold for shipment as the piece goes on the road after it is used here.

In ‘Quo Vadis’ every scene is numbered and arranged so that it can be put together hurriedly and when brought into a theater is very much like the animal puzzles that are so popular with the Children at Christmas.  Only the stagehands will just know where every piece goes without being puzzled.

Mr. McGreer in conclusion estimates that he has painted over 30,000 feet of canvas for the big production this week and used about 2,000 pounds of paint in doing it, in addition to five barrels of whiting alone was used, while the paint was distributed among 20 or more colors. For ‘Quo Vadis’ everything had to be made new as nothing like it had been produced at the Pike.

Mr. McGreer during his two seasons at the local theater has mapped out and painted over 220 stage settings, and of these the ratio ran about three interiors to one exterior. The mere mechanical work of making the scenes is antedated by studies of the costumes as the ladies dresses and the scene colors must harmonize, and historical research as historical accuracy is demanded in these times.  In all his stay, nothing has been used over much, excepting the solid doors that figure in Pike productions.  These doors have been doing service for three seasons.  They have been slammed by the impetuous Nigel or gently brought to by the careful Todman, but in all that time the same old doors groaned under the weight of added paint until now they are so heavy it takes a firm grasp and a long pull to draw them open.

But this is digressing from Mr. McGreer.  Next week this popular artist will bid adieu for the summer, at least to his den back of the big white lady.  He goes to New York, having been engaged by Gates and Morange, the scenic artist there. If long and varied experience will count for aught, Mr. McGreer is sure to make his mark there for few visiting attractions as the first-class houses have exhibited scenery which compares to that which has been in evidence so frequently at the Pike.”

During the summer of 1900, McGreer painted scenery for the Sosman, Landis & Hunt production of “Quo Vadis.” Of the production, Moses wrote, “It was not a success, as another company with the same play got in a week ahead of this production at a better theatre, which naturally killed the Herald Square Show.” The artists for the Herald Square production included Thomas G. Moses, Will Hamilton, John H. Young, Fred McGreer, and Gates & Morange.

 McGreer left New York soon after this and headed to San Francisco. By January 1901 McGreer accepted a position as the scenic artist at Morosco’s Grand Opera House in San Francisco, California. He remained at the chief scenic artist for the venue until his passing in 1902.

Fred McGreer is buried at Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery.

Fred McGreer’s gravestone at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

On January 18, 1902, the “Muscatine News-Tribune” reported his passing:

“Noted Scenic Artist is Dead. Mrs. Henry Geiss departed last evening for Chicago, in response to a message announcing the death of her nephew, Fred McGreer, the descendent is a son of our former townsman, John McGreer, the News-Tribune’s special artist. The Chicago Record-Herald, in its last issue, prints a fine portrait of this noted scenic artist and says:“ Fred B. McGreer, whose death occurred last night Monday at the German Hospital in San Francisco, was one of the best scenic artists in America. His first work was with Sosman & Landis, Chicago, fifteen years ago [1887], and since then has been identified with many of the leading theatres of the country. The drop curtain at Power’s theater in this city was painted by Mr. McGreer. One year ago, he took charge of the scenic studio of the Morosco Grand Opera House in San Francisco. The remains will be brought to Chicago for burial. The funeral will take place from Graceland Chapel next Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock.” (page 1). No cause was listed.

Fred’s son Earl continued his artistic legacy and by 1918 his occupation was listed as manager of Commercial Art School. He served in the army during WWI, achieving the rank of Sergeant and then moved Los Angeles California where he lived until his passing in 1954.  

His uncle Robert McGreer also lived in California and continued in the theatrical trade after his older brother’s passing. Robert had accompanied his older brother to California in 1901 and was listed in the San Francisco Directory that year as an artist for the Grand Opera House. When Fred died in 1902, Robert traveled the world. From 1902 to 1910 Rob McGreer visited the “Orient, Australia and South Africa.” During this trip he married an Australian actress named Beattie in 1904.  The two were still married and living in San Francisco in 1910.  However, in 1912 he married another woman Olive Mary King in Honolulu, Hawaii. He departed for Hong Kong in 1913 without his young wife.  Interestingly, his 1919 passport application lists a second trip for “theatrical work” with stops in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Burma, India, Ceylon and elsewhere. McGreer departed San Francisco on October 22, 1919. Overall, Rob McGreer could be the topic of a whole separate post, so I will stop here.

However, during Rob’s first absence (1902-1910), his father went to live with their sister in New York and met his own tragic end.

John McGreer’s passing at the age of 69 yrs. old made headlines in newspaper across the country. The aged artist died while sketching the Hudson River. On June 13, 1908, newspapers described the horrifying incident:

“John McGreer, a landscape artist, of No. 602 West One Hundred and Thirty-second Street, was drowned in the Hudson River yesterday afternoon. He had his easel on an old barge anchored near the shore at the foot of that street, and was seated upon a pile of bricks upon the scow. Laborers who were working in the vicinity were suddenly startled by the shouting of the artist’s grandson, who cried out that his grandfather had fallen overboard. The laborers saw that the Albany, one of the steamers of the Albany Day Line, had just passed down the river, and they also noticed that the barge upon which the artist had been painting was rocking and rolling in the big swell from the passing steamer. They ran to the deck of the boat, where the little boy told them that his grandfather had been thrown into the water by the rolling of the barge in the swell. Two of the men leaped into a small boat near at hand. They had scarcely done so when they say that Mr. McGreer’s head appeared above the surface of the water about thirty feet distant from the barge. Before they could reach him he sank and was seen no more. John McGreer, the nine-year-old grandson, ran home and told has what had happen. The West One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street police station was notified by the dead man’s daughter-in-law, and efforts will be made to recover the body. The artist’s wife went to Atlantic City several day ago, and word was sent to her last evening. Robert McGreer, a son, is now in Manila. Two daughters of the artist are Mrs. L. N. Semper of this city and Mrs. Harry Crosby of Chicago. Mr. McGreer had been working upon his painting of the river for several days. The picture was a medium sized canvas showing a section of the Palisades and the Hudson with a schooner in the middle distance. The artist’s brushes and easel and picture were found upon the barge, and were taken to the home of his daughter-in-law. Mr. McGreer was sixty-nine years old and a civil war veteran. He lived, until recently, in Chicago”

To be continued…

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.

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

A. J. Rupert (1853-1934) worked with Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis from 1892-1893. He was part of the firm’s crew known as the “West Side Force.” In 1892, Moses and his scenic art staff moved into the old Waverly Theatre on the West Side of Chicago. They primarily focused on subcontracted projects. Of the space, Moses wrote “I had A. J. Rupert, Frank Peyrand and Harry Vincent besides a number of assistants and paint boys.  It was awfully hard to keep the building warm.  It was so big we had to use stoves.” Some of their projects a production of “Ben Hur” and settings for William Haworth’s “A Flag of Truce.”

By the early 1890s, Rupert had become extremely well known as a landscape painter, having trained in Europe and worked extensively as an art instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago. Many art history books list A. J. Rupert’s birthname as Arthur J. Rupert, frequently sharing the same snippets of information in regard to birthplace, international study and art exhibits. Art experts explain that there is very little information available about the artist when lost paintings credited to A. J. Rupert come to light. Part of the problem is that they have the wrong name; A. J.’s first name was Adam, not Arthur.

Tracking down the correct information to tell A. J.’s story has involved slowly combing through city directories to look cross reference names, occupations and addresses. A. J. is listed as Adam, Adam J., Adam Jr., A. T., and A. G.  The handwritten “J” seems to have caused a problem when submitting information to various city directories in the late nineteenth-century; the letter was frequently misinterpreted.  What complicates matters even more is that his A. J.’s father, John Adam Rupert, also went by Adam, and is listed as such in city directories and other historic records. For the purpose of this post, I will use the name A. J.  for the son and John “Adam” for the father.

The Rupert family remained together; they traveled together, lived together and worked together. They moved from New York to North Dakota, with stops in Michigan and Illinois on their journey west. A. J. was fortunate to have come of age in Chicago where he was able to pursue a career in art. He was in the right place at the right time to start out as a fresco painter for P. M. Almini.  A. J. began his painting career at the famous decorative art firm around the same time that Thomas G. Moses began working there, 1873-1874. By 1874, A. J. was listed in the Chicago directory as an artist. By this time, the Rupert family had resided in Chicago for seven years, having moved west after living in Michigan.

Adam John Rupert was born on August 19, 1853, in Fort Plain, Montgomery, New York. He was the son of German immigrants, John “Adam” and Barbara Rupert. John was born in Bavaria in 1827, emigrated to the United States with his family before 1850, and ended his journey in Fargo, North Dakota at the age of seventy. A. J.’s mother, Barbara, is a little harder to track down. Barbara Holtzapel was born in Bavaria in 1826 and passed away in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1904.That is all I know about the matriarch of the Rupert family.

In 1866 John “Adam” worked as a shoemaker in New York, a trade that he would pass along to his son Christian Henry Rupert. In Fargo, Christian would establish C.H. Rupert & Co. Boot Store by 1880. He was also Fargo’s City Auditor for quite a few years.  John “Adam” changed professions when his family moved to Chicago in 1867. He left the shoe trade to work for the railroad, working as a foreman, engineer and finally master mechanic. He continued to work in this capacity even after moving to Fargo.

The birth of A. J.’s siblings tell the tale of his family’s travels across the country from 1853 to 1880. I am constantly amazed at how frequently people packed up their families and moved to a new town or territory. It really is staggering when considering the logistics of young children, transportation, work and basic necessities.  The two oldest Rupert children, Christian (1855-1913) and A.J. (1853-1934), were born in New York. Alonzo O. (1858-1920) was born in Adrian, Michigan. Helen (1860-1944) and John Henry (1864-1929) were born in Indiana.  The youngest child, John Adam Jr. (1863-1929), was born in Michigan, and then the family returned to New York where they remained until 1866.

The Ruperts left New York for Chicago and by 1867, John “Adam” was listed in the Chicago Directory as foreman at the M. C. R. R. roundhouse. By 1868, he was still with the railroad, but now working as a foreman in the M.S. & N.I.R.R. shop. In 1874 John “Adam” was listed as an engineer. As each of his sons came of age and secured employment, they were listed alongside their father in the city directory, always living in the same home together. First was Christian in 1873 (clerk), and then A. J. (artist) and Alonzo (messenger) by 1874. A. J. was the first to leave the family home, but would always return. His success in 1875 likely prompted his desire to study abroad. On August 8, 1875, the “Chicago Tribune” announced, “A. J. Rupert, a young artist and student at the Academy of Design, has several pictures in progress for the Exposition.” By September 8, 1875, the “Chicago Tribune” listed Rupert as one of the Chicago artists whose work was featured in the Western Wing at the Inter-State Exposition (page 1). By 1876, Rupert was studying in Munich.

From 1867 to 1876, the Rupert family lived at 755 Indiana Ave. in Chicago.  It was at this time that A. J. left to attend the Royal Academy in Munich. His 1876 passport application provided a physical description of Rupert at the 22 yrs. old: 5’-11” with dark hair, dark eyes and a fair complexion. During his absence his family moved into a new home at 29 Cottage Grove. In 1877 John “Adam” was working as an engineer, Alonzo as a bookkeeper, and Christian H. as a clerk. The Ruperts remained at their home on Cottage Grove until the end of 1879. When A. J. returned from his studied abroad, the Rupert family moved north. The family resettled in Fargo, North Dakota, with A. J. frequently visiting home to sketch the rolling prairie. However, his artistic career began to take off, so he remained in Chicago and opened a studio.

It was in 1880 that Thomas G. Moses began to study with Rupert, writing, “ I was determined to make something of myself.  I found an old friend, A. J. Rupert, with whom I had worked at Almini’s.  He was now an instructor at the Art Institute, in the life class.  He studied abroad and was very clever.” Moses joined Rupert’s art class, two nights a week for a very small tuition. Moses noted that it gave him enough courage to attempt some figure painting on drop curtains, commenting that many of the artists “were very clever and gave me a lot of valuable pointers, so I improved rapidly.” Moses continued his studies and in 1883 recorded that he “painted from life at Rupert’s Studio every Sunday.”

On October 2, 1881, the “Chicago Tribune” cited the location of Rupert;s studio at No. 34 Monroe Street. The article reported, “Mr. A. J. Rupert, who was at one time a pupil of the old Academy of Design, but for five years past a student abroad, principally at Munich, where he acquired the bold, broad handling now prevalent there, has a studio at No. 34 Monroe street, which is filled with many interesting sketches, studies, and bric-a-brac, most of them reminiscences of his foreign travel. A full-length portrait of his brother playing upon his violin is especially rich in tone, and there is much infusion of sentiment into the picture as the limitations of the subject would permit. All of Mr. Rupert’s work shows a good command of the brush, and whatever fault there may be in drawing or selection of subject, there is no hesitation or weakness in execution. Although a figure painter, he has some landscapes which show a close inspection of nature. A Dakota prairie upon which stands a solitary farm-house gives an excellent idea of the vastness and loneliness of that distant region. Two examples of his work are shown at the Exposition. No. 540, ‘Ruins-Pallas Temple, Roma,’ has been described at length, and No 741, ‘Landscape near Munich,’ is broadly handled in low key. Mr. Rupert is at present engaged upon the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Brust, of Prairies avenue, and will, in addition  to his studio work, conduct the evening life classes at the Academy of Fine Arts” (page 6).

By 1882 Rupert was hired to teach for the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago every afternoon during winter term. On October 15, 1882, the “Chicago Tribune” commented on the Exposition committee’s snub of Rupert’s painting, “The Beggars of Venice.”  The article reported, “The ‘Beggars of Venice,’ by A. J. Rupert has lately attracted many visitors to his studio in the Lakeside Building, extra interest being excited by the fact that the picture, which was painted for the Exposition, was rejected by the Art Committee of that institution as unworthy of a place in the collection. That any picture which A. J. Rupert could possibly paint would be deemed unworthy of a place in a collection which contains such wretched daubs as Ward’s ‘Tobacco Filed’ Douglas Volk’s Miln as Hamlet and Burleigh as Othello, and numerous others that need not here be specified, would on general principles he astonishing and  explicable except on the hypothesis of jealously and ill-will; but that so really excellent a work as the ‘Beggars of Venice’ should be rejected by the Art Committee is difficult to account for at all An artist who has been honored  by the hanging of a picture this year in the Paris Salon said of Mr. Rupert’s canvas, ‘It would be unquestionably and unhesitantly be accepted and hung in the Salon.’ But it would not do for the Chicago Exposition! The truth is the picture is exceptionally strong in many points – notably so in the bold, rich treatment of the massive marble pillars and in the handling of the architecture in general. The figure of the aged mendicant soliciting alms at the entrance of the gloomy and old palace is well drawn, and the artist has finely expressed the idea of contrast between the heavy grandeur of the stately edifice and the petty human squalor of the wretches who lie in wait for the charity of the occasional visitors. Mr. Rupert’s fame as an artist can far more securely rest upon this picture’s merits than can the fame of the Art Committee as competent and fair-minded persons rest upon their rejection of it” (page 20).

Rupert enjoyed quite a following, both among fellow artists and art enthusiasts. Moses greatly revered Rupert’s work, even naming his second child after his close friend. Moses bought a painting from Rupert in 1885 entitled “My Studio,” it measured 34” x 54”. That same year, Rupert exhibited artworks at the inaugural reception and exhibition for the Western Art Association (“Inter Ocean,” 23 Jan 1885, page 5).The group held their show at the Chicago Art Institute on the corner of Michigan Ave and Van Buren Street where a lot of collectors participated in the event. For this show, Rupert had exhibited three pieces “The Violinist,” “The Tramp” and “Discouraged Vestal” (“Inter Ocean” on Jan. 23, 1885, page 5). In 1887 “Adam J. Rupert” was listed in the Chicago Directory as an instructor at 200 Michigan av. He became increasingly invested in the establishment and exhibits of various art organizations. In 1888 he participated in the Chicago Art League Exhibition at Art Institute of Chicago.

By 1889 Rupert opened a studio at No. 59 Honore Block in Chicago and soon exhibited at the Chicago Society of Artists. On Nov. 10, 1889, the “Inter Ocean” reported, “A. J. Rupert, who at one time was instructor in the Art Institute, but who has of late been studying in Europe, has returned to Chicago and opened a studio at No. 59 Honore Block” (page 12). In 1891 Rupert’s artwork was featured next to those of Walter Burridge, Herbert E, Butler, L.S.G. Parker, Frederick Freer, and Joseph Jefferson (the actor). He remained extremely active at the Institute, as well as joining the Palette & Chisel Club. Other exhibitions including Rupert’s works at the Art Institute Chicago were in 1898, 1900, 1906, 1915, 1917 and 1919.  

Rupert was also listed as one of the founders of the Cosmopolitan Art Club in March 1892. Many of its members came from the Chicago Society of Artists. Founders included Franck C. Peyraud, Hardesty Maratta, Frederick W. Freer, Edgar S. Cameron, and others. Its purpose was to set a high standard for fine arts in the city of Chicago. Newspaper article announced, “This club, which is informal in its organization, is not intended to antagonize the interests of the older Chicago Society of Artists, but to procure the advantages of a smaller number of members having less diverse interests.” Their first annual exhibition was held in May 1892 at the Stevens’ Galleries. By 1896, the Cosmopolitan Art Club held their fifth annual exposition with A. J. Rupert, Hardesty Maratta, Frank Peyraud, Harry Wallace Methven and Charles Francis Brow as the painting committee. In

By the mid-1890s, Rupert began to travel throughout the United States, frequently stopping in Fargo. His name occasionally popped up the Fargo Directory, each time living with family there. By 1899, all of the Rupert family homes in Fargo were all located on 8th Ave. S. They remained a close-knit family. A. J. was also with his family at this time, but not for long.

In 1900 the Federal Census listed A. J. Rupert (artist) living in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Frank Peyraud was also living at the same boarding house on 6th Street, so we know it was the same A. J. Rupert. The two sporadically worked together from 1900-1904. By 1904, the two were painting Rupert a World Fair attraction. The project was for Henry Roltair’s “Creation,” an amusement at the St. Louis Exposition. Rupert and George Schreiber were the assistants to Frank Peyraud for this project. The attraction was described in the “Chicago Sunday Tribune” on May 29, 1904 (page 20). The article reported, “A great dome covers transformation scenes representing the creation of the world with dioramas showing what man has created in the world.” The took two hours and consisted of a boat trip travelled around the big blue dome, illustrating the works of God during the six days of creation. Other side trips in boats included the scenic vistas of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Alaska that allowed visitors to travel back into prehistoric time to primitive man. Another boat ride entered a labyrinth that depicted ancient countries and cities, including Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, China, Japan, Spain, France, and England. The cost for this adventure was $0.50 for adults and $0.25 for children.

The next year, A. J. was listed in the 1905 Fargo Directory, again living with family; this time he was living with his brother Alonzo at 312 8th S. Street. And then he starts to disappear from print. His lengthy stays in Fargo were likely associated with the passing of his father in 1897 and mother in 1904. But there are so many other factors that could have been at play. It is so hard to know why this artist who was so revered by Chicago Society simply started to fade away from the public eye, despite his continued exhibitions. I have to wonder if he blundered, or made a social misstep.

By the early twentieth-century it becomes increasingly difficult to track down Rupert’s whereabouts and he only occasionally appears in a city directory. Maybe his time in the public eye simply over. In 1911, A. J. was listed as an artist and living at 55 W. Ontario in Chicago. I have yet to find a wife or any children; Rupert seems to have remained single. The 1930 Census lists A. J Rupert as a lodger on Dearborn Street in Chicago, living alongside performers and salesman. He is still working as an artist, but no longer active. He passed away on Nov. 1, 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo, North Dakota.

Gravestone for Rupert Family at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo, North Dakota.

Gravestone for A. J. Rupert at Family Riverside Cemetery in Fargo, North Dakota.

To be continued…

Examples of scenic art and similar maquette 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.

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

On June 1, 1949, newspaper article across the country reported, “Frank C. Peyraud, 89, noted landscape artist whose works are represented in museum and private collections in the United States and Europe died last night.” He passed away on the eve of his 90^th birthday.

By the mid-1890s Peyraud was noted for his impressionist style, often depicting dramatic skies at dawn, sunset, or moonlight. His fine art was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy of Design (NY), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia), the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), the Pan-Pacific Exposition (San Francisco) and many other exhibits too numerous to mention. His paintings remain in a variety of collections worldwide, including the Art Institute and Union League Club of Chicago, the Municipal Collection of Phoenix and the Art Museum of Bulle, Switzerland. In 1935 the conservative Association of Chicago Painters and Sculptors awarded Peyraud a gold medal and he was widely regarded as the dean of Chicago landscape painters. 

Before becoming an internationally-known artist, Peyraud worked Thomas G. Moses at the Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio. At the end of 1922, Moses reflecting on the many great painters that he worked with over the years, including Peyraud in the list, writing, “I am drifting back to the days when some of the present-day successful artists were working for me …Frank Peyraud, now celebrated as a landscape painter, was with me in 1893.”  Moses first mentioned Peyraud in 1892. At the time, he was thirty-four years old and working as a scenic artist, panorama artist, and easel artist.

Francis Charles Peyraud was born on June 1, 1858, in Bulle, Bezirk Gruyère, Fribourg, Switzerland. Bulle is a small city near Lausanne. Peyraud attended the College of Fribourg in Switzerland, the Polytechnic School of Zurich, and the Beaux Arts of Paris before emigrating to the United States in 1880. When he settled in Chicago at the age of twenty-two-years old, Peyraud tried to continue his career as an architect.  On June 7, 1896, an article in the “Chicago Tribune” explained Peyraud’s shift from architecture to painting after emigrating to the United States, reporting, “He tried architecture here for a short time. But having no friends and but a feeble acquaintance with the English language success in that line was doubtful. He therefore gave up architecture for painting and studied in the ‘life class’ at the Art Institute School.” (page 50). Peyraud’s first work in the Chicago had been as a draftsman at the architectural firm of William Le Baron Jenney. A decade later he was working at Sosman & Landis.

Peyraud married his first wife, Angeline “Angela” Morand (1862-1898), on May 18, 1886. His wife’s parents, Joseph Morand (1812-1889) and Josephine Castella (1823-1889), were also from the Gruyère valley in Switzerland, making their daughter an ideal wife for the twenty-eight-years-old artist.  The couple celebrated the birth of four children: Estelle (1895-1920), Henry Simon Peyraud (1887-1960), Alice E. Peyraud (1890-1961),  and Albert S. Peyraud (1890-1892).  By October 9, 1888, Peyraud was naturalized and would not return to his homeland until after WWI. His permanent home remained Chicago for the rest of his life. Little was printed of Peyraud’s work until the 1890s, and then his career quickly soared as an abundance of projects brought him into the public spotlight.

The period from 1891 to 1899 was packed full of nationally-recognized projects. In 1891 Peyraud exhibited his artwork at the fourth annual exhibition and sale by the Chicago Society of Artists that fall. His works were exhibited alongside those of John H. Vanderpoel, Oliver D. Grover, Ernest Albert, Jules Guerin, A. F. Brooks, Alfred Payne, W. O. Swift, Jr., L. Mullgardt, J. Frank Waldo, Alfred Juergens, H. W. Rubins, Ludwig Jurgensen, Charles E. Boutwood, Harry Vincent, H. G. Maratta, Edgard Cameron, William Clusmann, F. L. Linden, A. J. Rupert, William Schmedtgen, Arthur Feudel, Frederick Freer, A. W. Street, C. T. Brown and N. Ledochowski (Inter Ocean, 23 Oct 1891, page 6). On Nov. 29, 1891, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “There is also a small landscape by Mr. F. C. Peyraud entitled “The Evening Star,” which is full of the poetry of twilight, which is a favorite theme of this artist. Half lost in the gathering darkness on the prairies is a cluster of houses and sheds, with few trees about them, and above them the evening star is seen rising. In a second exhibition of the Chicago Society of Artists that year, Peyraud was even the subject of a portrait painting by fellow artist Feudel. Feudel painted Peyraud in an “easy seated pose with a palette in his hand” (Chicago Tribune, 6 Dec 1891, page 38). Peyraud’s work was also exhibited at this time.

In addition to exhibiting in multiple galleries across the country, Peyraud continued work as a scenic artist and panorama artist. In1891, Peyraud touched up Paul Philippoteaux’s panoramic painting depicting the Battle of Gettysburg.  On Dec. 27, 1891, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “F. C. Peyraud left yesterday for Toledo where he has gone to retouch portions of the canvas of the cyclorama of Gettysburg by Phillipoteaux, which is now owned by Howard Gross, the head of the project of the cyclorama of Chicago fire. The work was recently transported from Philadelphia to Toledo and Mr. Peyraud has been engaged to make certain restorations and add figures in parts of the scene” (page 32). While in Toledo, Peyraud also gathered source material. A year later the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “F. C. Peyraud has just completed a pleasing winter scene made near Toledo, O. ‘Before Sunrise’ is the title he has given it, for it shows a suburban street with a cluster of houses covered with snow, and the first yellow streak of dawn appearing behind them. Mr. Peyraud is to send two recently mentioned in THE TRIBUNE ‘The Last Ray’ and a twilight scene, to the spring exhibition of the National Academy” (21 Feb 1892, page 39).\

Peyraud’s artistic opinions about nudes were also published. On Jan. 24, 1892, Chicago artists spoke in support of artworks picturing nudes after a protest in Philadelphia (page 39). Peyraud rebuttal for the moral attack stated, “The nude is the best means of expressing noble thoughts and ideals. The old masters have used it, the new generation will, and it will always be used. It is the fault of the public rather than the artists if the nude in art is looked upon without appreciating the thought it expresses. The public must be educated to appreciate it, but if Comstock and his class are to be allowed to dictate to artists they will reduce art to its lowest level.”

His theatre work with Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis included painted settings for William Haworth’s “Flag of Truce.” Moses worked with Peyraud, Maratta, A. J. Rupert, Harry Vincent, and a number of other artists. Peyraud continued to work with Moses on theater projects while also securing work with Steele MacKaye on his Spectatorium project for the 1893 Columbian Exposition.  He and Hardesty Maratta contracted with MacKaye during the planning stage of the Spectatorium. Maratta was hired to head MacKaye’s scenic department, with Peyraud on staff. The construction of the 9,200-seat venue was never completed, leaving both Peyraud and Maratta to look elsewhere for employment. Fortunately, in 1892, Sosman & Landis established a second studio in addition to their main studio. Of the new space, Moses wrote, “The Sosman and Landis Company had my new studio under way on the West Side.  The old Waverly theatre, 93 x 210 feet and 40 feet high; four frames were going in and there was plenty of floor space for all kinds of work.” After completing a project in California, Moses returned to Chicago and wrote, “ Found the new Studio all finished and I moved in immediately.  My arrangement was to have all sub-contract work – color and studio furnished me without cost…. I had A. J. Rupert, Frank Peyraud and Harry Vincent besides a number of assistants and paint boys.  It was awfully hard to keep the building warm.  It was so big we had to use stoves.”

As with many other Sosman & Landis artists, Peyraud also joined the Chicago Society of Artists, the Palette & Chisel Club, Society of Western Artists, and helped establish the Cosmopolitan Art Club of Chicago. By 1893, Peyraud was the Secretary for the Cosmopolitan Art Club. Peyraud belonged to a group of Chicago artists that functioned like a fraternal organization in many ways. They not only worked and played together, but offered aid to those who needed help. On January 17, 1894, the Chicago Tribune advertised that a “Charity Sale” of pictures in the rooms of the Chicago Society of Artists, on the top floor of the Anthenæum Building.  It continued ten days and the proceeds were turned over to the Central Relief Association for the benefit of the needy. Many of these same artists also supported Walter M. Dewey. On February 2, 1896, “The Chicago Tribune” reported, “The friends of Walter M. Dewey, a clever young Chicago artist, have been grieved to learn recently he has been sick for several weeks and it has been necessary to remove him to a hospital out of the city…His fellow artists, in their sympathy for Mr. Dewey and his family have arranged an exhibition and sale of paintings for his benefit.” These artists, all coming from a variety of backgrounds, worked, traveled, dreamed, and planned together. Their friendships, social exchanges, moral support, and partnerships went far beyond the realms of mere work or artistic study. They played and brainstormed together about future possibilities, not only for themselves, but also for future generations.

By the mid-1890s, Peyraud’s artistic style was already recognizable. On Dec. 11, 1896, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “F. C. Peyraud, who is fond of depicting the transient phases of nature, has several snow scenes and evening effects.” In addition to gaining recognition for his work, Peyraud became even more active in a variety of artistic organizations. On Nov. 1, 1896, the “Chicago Chronicle” listed Peyraud’s involvement with the Society of Western Artists. Regionals organizations of the group were founded in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago. In Chicago, H. W. Methyen, George Schrieber and Peyraud formed the committee in charge of the Chicago Exhibition (Chicago Chronicle, 1 Nov. 1896, page 9).

Peyraud and Maratta traveled to Peoria, Illinois, in 1895 where they completed two public painting projects and several private commissions.  They were contracted to paint murals and decorate the interiors of both the Public library and City Hall. In 1896, the new public library in Peoria, Illinois, was decorated with murals by Chicago artists Hardesty Maratta, F. C. Peyraud and Richard W. Bock. On June 7, 1896, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Frank C. Peyraud was born in Switzerland and educated as an architect. He studies at the College of Fribourg, at the Polytechnic School of Zurich, and the Beaux Arts of Paris. He came to America sixteen years ago and has lived in Chicago ever since. He tried architecture here for a short time. But having no friends and but a feeble acquaintance with the English language success in that line was doubtful. He therefore gave up architecture for painting and studied in the “life class” at the Art Institute School. He has exhibited pictures in all parts of the country achieving success with both landscapes and figure compositions. Mr. Peyraud also was one of the starters of the Cosmopolitan club” (page 50). On Feb. 28, 1897, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “On the walls of the main hall of the building there have been placed several paintings by Maratta and Peyraud, representing allegorical development of human intelligence. These paintings fill a series of panels, extending around three sides of the hall, and are broken in places by doors. The general color scheme is of pale green, ivory and gold.”

Peoria newspapers hailed Peyraud as “Illinois’ foremost landscape painter” who had produced artworks for the Union League Club, the Flanagan House, and the Peoria Women’s Club. Unlike Maratta, Peyraud stayed in Peoria for three years and offered art lessons for young aspiring artists. 

He remained in the city until his wife passed away. On June 10, 1898, Angela died from Tuberculosis, leaving him with four young children to raise. She was buried at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Chicago. In all likelihood, his in-laws cared for his children as Peyraud continued to accept work across the country.

On April 30, 1899, the “Philadelphia Inquirer” described Peyraud’s work on the Battle of Manila panorama (page 4). The Cyclorama Company’s reproduction of the Battle of Manila was exhibited at the Cyclorama Building at Broad and Cheery Street (formerly known as the Arena).The article reported, “A model of the Olympia has been erected in the centre of the great building. This is a fac-simile of the famous cruiser, but reduced to one-third her actual size. This mimic battleship is 120 feet long, 40 feet wide and 28 feet high…the linen canvas is the largest ever hung for cycloramic purposes, and is over 400 feet long and 60 feet high. The painting was accomplished in five weeks, the artists being Salvador Mege, the famous cycloramic painter, and F. C. Peyraud, the great architectural marine painter and scenic artist.” The article described, “The realism of the painting is startling and when the scene is lighted by hundreds of electric lights incased in specially constructed reflectors, really marvelous. The tropical sunrise effects are beautiful and the panoramic view of Manila with the little village of Caloocan close by would more than repay the visit were there not even greater features to win the admiration and to excite the wonder.”

Peyraud won the Young Fortnightly Prize for the best painting in the Chicago Art Institute’s 1899 annual show.  It was the first of many awards he would receive over the course of his career.  Later awards would include a Municipal Art League prize in 1912 and the Art Institute’s Martin B. Cahn Prize in 1921.

However, he continued to complete work as a scenic artist, well versed in large-scale scenic illusion. By 1904 Rupert worked on an amusement for the St. Louis World’s Fair by Henry Roltair called “Creation.” A. J. Rupert and George Schreiber (each former Sosman & Landis employees) assisted Frank Peyraud for this project.

Peyraud eventually found love again in 1906 with fellow artist Elizabeth Krysher.  Krysher was a children’s portrait painter and illustrator. On June 14, 1906, Peyraud married his second wife in Chicago. She was 34 years old and this was her first marriage. The couple celebrated the birth of a son, Robert Francis Peyraud in 1908. The 1910 Census listed Frank and Elizabeth living with their three children: Albert (16 yrs.), Estelle (15 yrs.) and Robert (2 yrs.). Early on in their marriage, the couple traveled from California to the East Coast.  In Old Lyme, Connecticut, they even stayed with a colony of impressionist landscape painters. The couple eventually settled in north-suburban Ravinia, Illinois (a section of Highland Park) by 1919. However, their children grew up in not only a bi-lingual home, but also an artistic one.  

By 1918, Albert Peyraud (son from his first marriage) gave French art lectures at Camp Crane as part of the War effort. Servicemen expressed the need to be fluent in French in order to converse overseas. On June 15, 1918, the “Morning Call” reported, “The necessary of fitting the men for their duties in France by adding to their training a course in French conversation has been appreciated by the staff, and in particular the present cam administration purposes to develop a department of French instruction unequaled in any camp in the country…Twelve lectures are divided among four men…The subject of French Art will be discussed in three lectured by A. P. Peyraud, the son of F. C. Peyraud. Peyraud is a University of Illinois man, and an architect. He is an enthusiastic student of French Art.” (Allentown, PA page 3).

After the war, Peyraud was living with his wife and youngest son at 1230 Judiana St. in Chicago. With most of his children grown, Peyraud returned to Switzerland. In 1921, he applied for a passport to visit his hometown of Bulle. He left in July 1921, arriving in Bulle on August 1 where he remained for three weeks. Some historical sources indicate that he stayed in Switzerland for three years. He returned to Europe on 1923 after departing France in Dec. 9, 1923. During Peyraud’s European stay, his wife became increasing active in artistic circle. In 1922, Mrs. F. C. Peyraud lectured on the “Appreciation of Art” in Carbondale, Illinois. She was the sister of city Mayor F. C. Krysher. The “Carbondale Free Press” reported, “[Mrs. F. C. Peyraud] talked about several canvas paintings the work of her husband, a well-known artist, exhibited to the club (19 May 1922, page 3).

By 1930, the Peyrauds had all returned home to 1230 Judson Ave. in Highland Park. Peyraud was now 72, his wife 58 and youngest son 22. On Feb. 13, 1934, the Waukegan News-Sun” reported, “An art class conducted at Highland Park by Mrs. F. C. Peyraud each Wednesday afternoon from 1 to 4 o’clock at the Y.M.C.A. Mrs. Peyraud is a resident of Highland Park, and a speaker on subjects relative to art. She addresses the Waukegan Woman’s club this past fall” (page 2). In many ways, they continued to live very separate lives, each following their own artistic passions.

On Nov. 19, 1936, the ‘Chicago Tribune” published an article about Peyraud’s one-man show, held in O’Brien galleries, 673 North Michigan. The article reported, “Mr. Peyraud won for himself some years ago the title of “Painter to the Skokie,” because he  was as faithful a follower of its modes and aspects as Frank V. Dudley has been of the dunes. To this title now must be added “painter to all outdoors,” for his landscapes range over a wide sweep of territory, from Illinois to the farthest reach of the Pacific coast. Mr. Peyraud paints the autumn with particular sympathy and grace. His fall landscapes in brown and rust are as beautiful as any of the more glittering autumn pictures from the brush of John Spelman, for example. The quieter moods are as picturesque as those more decorative, or so he suggests. Mr. Peyraud handles sky and water with a craftman’s skill. He gets the feel of the countryside where he pitches his easel and nothing turns him from his path of recreating the beauty spread before him. His compositions are invariably satisfying, sometimes startling so. Shadows and sun play a part in many of his pictures, but wind, rain, and snow are rarely acknowledged. Serenity is a feature held in common by most of his work.”

Their youngest son Robert ended up serving in WWII and later marrying Nancy Forster. After the couple’s wedding on May 10, 1946, the “News-Herald” of Franklin, Pennsylvania reported, “Mr. Peyraud, a graduate of Northwestern University School of Journalism, is now employed in New York City where the couple will reside. He served during the war with the U. S. Army Air Corps in China, Burma, and India” (page 11). By this time, Frank Peyraud was well into his 80s, but not slowing down, and still painting.

On April 25, 1948, the “Chicago Tribune” published a feature article on Peyraud entitled, “Paintings of Another Chicagoan” by Edward Barry (page 154). The article about Peyraud was accompanied by several of his artworks, reporting, “These paintings are the work of a man who was born in French Switzerland close to come of the most beautiful imposing scenery on earth, but who has devoted a large amount of his time and effort to revealing to middle western American’s the quiet beauty that lies right under their wyes. Frank C. Peyraud does not demand the spectacular in nature – mountains and glaciers and roaring river – although he has successfully painted such things many times. He can be aroused emotionally, and his creative impulses deeply stirred, by the gentle contours and low horizons of such unpretentious country as the Des Plaines and Skokie Valleys. That he finds the Chicago area perfectly satisfactory as a source of inspiration is attested by the pictures here reproduced. Only one of them (June Morning on Cedar Creek – a scene near Galena) was painted more than 30 miles from this city…It is plain from Mr. Peyraud’s pictures that he has carefully observed, lovingly studied, and tellingly projected the subtle as well as grandiose in nature. Like all good artists he provides more than a reproduction of a scene. What he has personally seen and felt goes into the picture too.”

Peyraud passed away on May 31, 1948 at Highland Park, Illinois. His obituary was published in “The Pantagraph” (Bloomington, Illinois on June 1, 1948). It stated, “HIGHLAND PARK, ILL. – Frank C. Peyraud, noted landscape artist, died Monday. He would have been 90 Tuesday. Peyraud’s paintings won numerous prizes during the first third of the century. He is survived by his widow Elizabeth Krysher, also an artist, three sons, Henry, Albert and Robert, and four grandchildren. Peyraud is buried at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery.

To be continued…

Maquette 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.

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Hardesty G. Maratta was associated with Sosman & Landis from approximately 1884 to 1886. Hardesty became nationally known as a watercolorist, scenic artist, newspaper illustrator, color theoretician, and inventor.

“Hardy” Maratta was born in Chicago on August 22, 1864. He was the son of James B. and Mary Maratta. Unfortunately, I have uncovered little about his parents beyond a few city directory listings and some census reports. His father was living in Chicago by 1863, listed as a railroad agent and living at 222 S. Desplaines Street. He was associated with the same address in1865, although his occupation was listed as a clerk that year.

By 1882, the Marattas had moved up the street to 120 Desplaines. That year, Hardesty was listed twice in the city directory. The first time was as “Hardy Maratta,” an instructor at 504 W. Madison. His second listing in the directory was under the name “Harry Maratta,” a teacher residing at 120 Desplaines. 120 Desplaines is the same address where he and his mother would live six years later in 1888. I find it fascinating that 120 Desplaines was just a little north of his previous home, 222 Desplaines with Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church situated between the two addresses. “Old Pat’s Church” was located on the corner of Adams and Desplaines. Founded in 1846, the main building still predates the 1871 Great Fire, although it was added to over the years. The church has been described as the cornerstone of Irish culture in Chicago. To all indications Hardesty’s mother was Irish, and this may have explained their connection to the area for over two decades. By 1888 James had passed away, and only Mary and Hardy were listed as living at 120 S. Desplaines.

By 1883, Hardy Maratta was not only working with Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis, but also going out on sketching trips. In 1883 Moses wrote that he went on sketching with John H. Young, Ed Morange and Hardesty Maratta. Of their excursions he wrote, “We certainly had some good trips.  We were all working in watercolor. Most of our trips were along the river where we found good material and a lot of adventures – too numerous to mention.” In 1884, the four planned a trip west to Colorado. Moses wrote, “John H. Young, Edward Morange, Hardesty Maratta and myself talked and planned for over a year regarding a trip to the mountains of Colorado.  In our everyday work of Scenic Painting, we were called upon to paint all kinds of mountain scenes, and, as we had never seen a real mountain, we had to rely upon photographs or magazine cuts for our ideas.  So we were, naturally, anxious to see the wonderful piles of rock and earth. We started on the 15th  of June 1884, at one o’clock P. M.” Moses’ travelogues detailed the journey from Chicago to Breckenridge, Colorado. Years later, he published the story as a series of articles for the Palette & Chisel Club’s newsletter. The series, entitled “Tom Moses’ Trips, Breckenridge, Col.,”began, “Thomas G. Moses’ work as scenic artist has taken him to many strange places. Sometimes he has gone to gather material and at other times to execute commissions. As he is a careful observer of men, customs and local scenes, this series of accounts of his sketching trips contains much of unusual interest.

Here is a link to the first article: https://drypigment.net2017/08/29/tales-from-a-scenic-artist-and-scholar-acquiring-the-fort-scott-scenery-collection-for-the-minnesota-masonic-heritage-center-part-192-tom-moses-trips-breckenridge-1884-fir/

After a week in Colorado, plans changed; Maratta and Morange were not prepared for the rough conditions and returned to the Windy City. Moses wrote, “Morange and Maratta were getting tired of the hard bed and indifferent food, so after a week of it they packed up and started east… We were sorry to see Ed and Hardesty go, as we had planned at least two weeks in the tent.” Regardless of Maratta’s early departure, this trip was one example of Maratta gathering source material for other commissions.

Maratta’s easel work increasingly gained recognition across the country. Although he continued to work as a scenic artist, Maratta’s water color and oil paintings appeared in a variety of exhibits from Washington State to New York. For example, in 1887, Maratta exhibited watercolors with the Indianapolis Art Association at the Masonic Hall (Indianapolis Journal, 17 April 1887, page 8). In 1890, his painting was included as part of an exhibition for the Northwest Industrial Exposition (Spokane Falls Review, 3 Aug 1890, page 6). In 1891, Maratta was one of many artists who exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute. Of Maratta’s work, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Hardesty G. Maratta, a Chicago artist of great promise, shows three pictures, two good ones and one that is not so good. The best one is called “An Effect of Evening” and has a marvelous sky, whose glow is reflected in some standing water in the foreground and also in the feeling it wakens in the one who studies it. “An Afternoon Sun,” by the same artist, is also good, but one can say that only in spots, as it were, for his “Road by the Willows.” In 1891 Chicago Directory, listed as an artist and living at 356 W. Madison. This was a new three-story brick building listed for sale by Griffin & Dwight in 1890. Maratta was basically living on the corner of N. Upper Wacker Dr. and West Madison Street, the same location where the current Civic Opera House stands and right near the Chicago Lyric Opera.

By 1892, Maratta was still working with several Sosman & Landis artists. He painted with Frank Peyraud, A. J. Rupert, Harry Vincent, and Thomas G. Moses, for William Haworth’s “Flag of Truce.”

In the mid-1890s, Maratta’s success as an easel artist landed him ever-increasing commissions. His work for the World Fair in Chicago prompted international travel. His 1892 US passport application described Maratta’s appearance at the age of 28 years old: black-brown hair, grey eyes, fair complexion, an oval face, small mouth, straight nose and broad forehead. A letter accompanied Maratta’s application:

“My Dear Mr. Brown,

The bearer, Mr. Maratta is an artist of Chicago. He is about to go to Spain in the interest of the Columbian Celebration Company and desires a passport. I will be personally obligated if you will see that he gets this document with all convenient dispatch. (letter to Wm Brown Aug 26, 1892).

            Maratta also partnered with another Sosman & Landis employee, Frank C. Peyraud, around this time. Maratta and Peyraud worked with Steele MacKaye (1842–1894) on his Spectatorium, designed to be the biggest auditorium and part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition.  Maratta was specifically hired to head MacKaye’s scenic department. In 1892 Maratta committed to a fifteen-year contract with MacKaye during the planning and development stage.  On September 25, 1892, the “Chicago Herald” described the much-anticipated venture: “After months of preliminary work, the initiatory steps for the construction of the biggest auditorium of the world were taken yesterday. A building permit was issued to the Columbus Celebration Company to erect a “Spectatorium” at numbers 1 to 27 on Fifty-sixth Street. The structure is to be six stories in height, 480 by 240 feet in dimensions and of frame and staff construction.” William LeBaron Jenney and W. B. Mundie were the architects of this endeavor, costing over $350,000 for the structure alone.  This price did not include furniture, scenery or machinery. In the article, MacKaye was quoted that the undertaking was “the realization of full twenty years of fond dreams and much study in the realm of the spectacular.”

The Spanish Renaissance style building more ground than any other building planned for the fairgrounds. The front extended over 480 feet with a depth averaging 311 feet. The height was 100 feet and included a large dome in the center will be surmounted by a statue of Fame. The theatre would seat 9,200, with ample exits that could empty the house in about half the time of an ordinary theater. The stage proscenium was 150 feet wide with a proportionate depth and arranged so it could accommodate its flooding with real water at a depth of four feet. The scenery was planned to run with wheels on railroad irons, placed under the water.  Each piece would be separately controlled from the prompter’s desk. The prompter will only have to push a button and the electric motor would do the work of 250 men.  MacKaye’s vision for productions at his future “super theatre” were described in 1892. On September 25, 1892, “Chicago Herald” reported, “The character of the performances to be given are promised to equal Wagner’s most extraordinary dreams of all that a great dramatic-musical performance should be. The greatest orchestral music, especially written by the best composers, solos and choruses by eminent artists, all Illustrated by brilliant spectacular and. realistic pantomimes, will be presented. The story of the piece to be given will be the life of Columbus and the discovery of America. Ships of the actual size and appearance used by Columbus will be fully manned by sailors in exact reproduction of the characters of those times. The capture of Granada and the procession of Columbus and Isabella to the Alhambra as well as the surrender of Boabdil, last of the Moorish kings, will be especially grand and on an immense scale. The scenery costumes and music will be elaborate and picturesque, and the promoters claim that it will be the greatest of the kind ever attempted.”

Unfortunately, the project was deprived of funds during the panic of 1893. On February 27, 1894, the “San Francisco Call” reported, “The MacKaye Spectatorium has failed and will go into the hands, of a receiver. It has not paid expenses; and with the death of its originator, it passes out of existence.” The deprivation of funds and MacKaye’s sudden death in 1894 left Maratta’s contract “null and void.” The dismantling of the Spectatorium was covered in the Chicago Tribune on October 7, 1893. “The Spectatorium, the large pile of steel and wood at the north end of the World’s Fair grounds, which was to have housed the grandest theatrical representations in the world, is being torn down to be sold as scrap iron. The Spectatorium, as yet incomplete, cost $550,000. It was sold for $2,250. The project was that of Steele MacKaye. He broached it first last year to leading capitalists of Chicago and it met with favor. The plan was to build a structure sufficiently large to give a representation of the discovery of America on a scale larger than was ever attempted. MacKaye invented new methods of lighting which promised to revolutionize the methods of stage illumination. The life of the production was to have been a great chorus arranged on the principle of the old Greek chorus. The organization of the company proceeded well. Work was begun, hundreds of men employed, and actors and actresses contracted with and put on rehearsal. The Spectatorium failed and went into the hands of a receiver June 1.” Then, Building Commissioner declared that the Spectatorium must be torn down as it was dangerous. It took two hundred men, thirty days, and $15,000 to clear the site and remove the 1,200 tons of iron. The lumber was repurposed for sidewalks and the building of small cottages for working people.

This was a turning point for Maratta in many ways. He didn’t exactly walk away from all theatre work, but he increasingly focused on easel art instead of stage art. He continued his partnership with Peyraud and the two completed a large commission for the public library in Peoria, Illinois, in 1896. On June 7, 1896, the “Chicago Tribune” published a lengthy article on the project and the two artists.  It reported. “A word about the artists who have achieved this notable success. Hardesty G. Maratta was born in Chicago and received his early art instruction at the school of the Art Institute. He has traveled much, making two trips abroad specially to study master pieces of artwork in the capitals of the Old World. He lived in the East several years and has been a frequent exhibitor in local and New York art exhibitions. He was one of the charter members of both the Chicago Society of Artists and the Cosmopolitan Art club.”

By the end of the century, Maratta spent significant time in the west and California. Some of his artworks remain in the Santa Fe Railroad Collection, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; Fogg Museum, Harvard University; and the Hubbell Trading Post Museum, Ganado, Arizona. He also exhibited many scenes from his European trips too. In 1898, Maratta exhibited a series of watercolors at Thurber’s Gallery. The “Chicago Tribune” reported, “At Thurber’s gallery tomorrow H. G, Maratta’s exhibition of water colors will be opened to the public. The collection which will be shown consists of thirty-five picturesque scenes from the various points of interest about the Island of Capri and the Bay of Naples.. Mr. Maratta spent a part of the summer in these favored resorts of painters, and seems to have found their inspiration for broader and more effective painting than any he has hitherto produced. His subjects are chiefly streets of the Town of Capri, often narrow and tortuous, sometimes rising abruptly, and always lined with the picturesque, stuccoed walls of houses glistening in the sunlight or silhouetting in luminous shadow against clear turquoise skies of southern Italy. There are also views of the beach with many colored fishing boats drawn up on the sand, precipitous rocks rising from the bay, and horizons broken by the classic profiles of the spur of mountains which springs from the Apennines and breaks up in picturesque irregular masses on the coast. In others the smoking cone of Vesuvius is a feature of the distance…Mr. Maratta shows in this exhibition the ability to choose most interesting subjects and a dexterity in the use of his materials which insures pleasing results “ (page 31).

By 1900 the Federal Census listed Maratta living at 161 Dearborn Ave. on the north side of  Chicago. He was staying at the Elroy, a furnished complex offering single and double rooms. He remained at this location while becoming increasingly active with the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1901, he was one of a jury for the annual watercolor exhibit at the Art Institute. He worked alongside Walter Burridge, William Boutwood and Miss Blanche Ostertag. Burridge was also a former Sosman & Landis scenic artist. Maratta didn’t completely abandon his scenic art roots and continued to work on theatre projects. He also applied for a scenic structure patent on Aug. 10, 1900 that was granted on July 9, 1901. His invention was for improved scenic realism on the stage with the use of curved wings and scenic pieces placed at an angle, enhancing the illusion of depth in a landscape setting. Here is the link to his patent:

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1314/images/31082_19016780-12002?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=9b3ead5723a1b74b89abbfe1fccc6c1d&usePUB=true&_phsrc=PJS4609&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=2411838

In 1904, Hardy was still working as a scene painter. On May 14, 1904, “The Daily Palladium” of Richmond, Virginia” reported, Maratta was hired to paint the new drop curtain for the Phillips Opera House, announcing, “The new curtain will be a gem of beauty. Mr. Hardy Maratta, who is considered the best watercolor artist in this country, will paint the picture in the center of the curtain which will be the ‘Grand Canyon of Colorado’” (page 1).

On October 16, 1905, Maratta married Adeline Smith in DuPage, Illinois, and this really began a new chapter in his life as Maratta began to explore color theory. In later years he would later explain that while cleaning several paintings by Guido Reni, he first became convinced that color harmony was a well-known science from long ago; he just happened to rediscover these ancient Greek rhythms.  In 1907, Maratta featured in a Chicago Tribune article entitled “Color Scale.” It was republished in papers across the country.  He explained, “I began studying this subject when I discovered the analogy that exists between color, music, architecture, and chemistry.  Music is a division of sound into harmonic ratios; architecture a division of space into harmonic ratios, and chemistry the division of elements in the same manner.” The article continued, “The blending and harmonizing of shades and colors were so exact in each of these that [Maratta] does not believe it could have been accidental.  Examination of pictures by other old masters confirmed his belief…Harmony of color, heretofore depending solely upon the training and taste of the individual handling of pigments, has been reduced to an exact science as the harmony of music.  This assertion of a great principle, forming the foundation for all art in which colors are used, is made by Hardesty G. Maratta, a Chicago artist, who has devoted the last twelve years to its solution.”  In 1907, Maratta published the “Margo Color System” in Chicago.

On Dec. 3, 1908, Maratta applied for a “Color-Chart” patent that was granted on April 13, 1909. Intended for artists and artisans, the color chart was to enable a person to select a plurality of colors which would harmonize with each other without depending on an individual’s color-sense, following a fixed rule based on the arrangement of the color spaces on the chart. Harmonizing complementals and harmonizing contrasting colors could be easily identified.

Here is the link to his patent as it is really quite complex:

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1314/images/31082_19099180-68004?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=9b3ead5723a1b74b89abbfe1fccc6c1d&usePUB=true&_phsrc=PJS4608&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=3455545

In 1909, “Scientific American Magazine” published the article entitled, “The Maratta system of color: Painting on a scientific basis” (Nov. 13, 1909, 311). The article noted “The Maratta chromatoscope chart illustrates how the harmonies, contrasts, melodies, chords, etc. are produced in a very simple manner. This chart is published at present for the use of printers. It is the scientific arrangement of the six colors and six hues that will enable a novice to select harmonious color combinations; it being so arranged that every seventh color is a complement, also showing the warm and cool colors, hues and tints on either side of the complement.”

The basis of his approach was also explained in the 1920 publication, “Arts & Decoration, Vol. XIV, No. 1.  The author explained the color system of Maratta, writing that any system of beauty, whether it is created or follows a system, is built upon rhythm (Nov. 1920, pg. 1). When Maratta finally decided to devote all of his time to the study of color, he first experimented with fire-resistant colors, making many burnt clay pictures.  Then he went into the factories where paints were made and studied them there. The article notes, “for a year, to demonstrate his theory, he painted stage scenery, using only three primary colors – yellow, red, and blue.”  Maratta also worked as a designer of TECO pottery at Gates Potteries in Chicago. He was one of the artists commissioned by Juan Lorenzo Hubbell, owner of the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado, Arizona, to copy Navajo rugs, especially the classic designs, in watercolor and oil.  These designs were hung on his walls to encourage the rug weavers working during the duplication of the designs. Maratta studied the coloring of the plains of the Southwest after returning from his time abroad.

Maratta died July 21, 1924 in Woodstock, New York and is buried in Woodstock Cemetery. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136451457/hardesty-gilmore-maratta#

Hardesty G. Maratta’s gravestone.

On August 30, 1928, the “Kingston Daily Freeman” announced “Maratta Pictures Privately Shown” (page 14).  The article reported, “Mrs. H. G. Maratta has announced that an informal exhibition of the paintings by the late Hardesty G. Maratta would be held at her studio (one of the Came Lasher studios)…Hardesty Maratta was a Chicago artist who twenty years ago gave up his successful career as a painter to manufacture the now famous Maratta Colors. His color scales, the ‘Triad’ of palettes for artists, have been adopted by leading artists and teachers the United States over.”

To be continued…

Examples of scenic art and similar maquette 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

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

From 1882 until 1886, C. W. Corey was associated with the Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio. He built stages and installed scenery during the 1870s and 1880s. Newspaper articles listed Corey as a stage architect, stage carpenter and master mechanic. His title varied from one project to the next. By 1882, Corey was linked to several stage projects with scenery by Sosman & Landis. He was an asset to the firm, arriving with ample experience and national connections. Although Corey’s permanent residence remained in Chicago, his projects ranged from Pennsylvania to Florida, and stretched westward to Kansas. By 1886 Corey began representing Sosman & Landis, listed as a master mechanic for the firm. He also worked for Lemuel L. Graham’s studio, a Sosman & Landis affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri. Some of the earliest projects completed by both Corey and Sosman & Landis were located in the southeast in 1882 -Alabama and Florida.

On September 2, 1882, the “Montgomery Advertiser” listed Corey as the stage architect for a new theatre in Montgomery, Alabama. The article reported, “The owners of the Theatre are putting it in thorough repair. They have made a new stage with all the modern improvements, so that combinations and spectacular performances can now be exhibited with ease and to the greatest advantage. They are also placing in the house an entirely new and complete set of very handsome scenery, eighteen feet in height. The stage is being constructed by Mr. C. W. Corey, one of Chicago’s best stage architect’s; and the scenery was made and put in by Messrs. Sosman & Landis, scenic artists of Chicago. When finished the Theatre will be first-class in all of its appointments” (page 4).

On Dec. 1, 1882, the “Pensacola Commercial” reported, “Mr. C. W. Corey, stage carpenter, of Chicago, Ill., arrived in the city last Wednesday, and has gone to work with a good force on the stage of the new opera house, and will have it ready for Ford’s company, who have an engagement here beginning on the first of January” (page 3).

Corey was again linked with the scenic studio of Sosman & Landis in 1884. The new opera house proprietors in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Messrs. Piazzo & Botto, hired Mr. Corey as the stage carpenter to build the new stage when the opera house was renovated. They also contracted the firm of Sosman & Landis to provide the new set of scenery for the stage.  Both were from Chicago. On July 10, 1884, “The Vicksburg Herald” reported, “Mr. Henry C. Barrow, scenic artist, representing the big scenery house of Sosman & Landis, of Cincinnati, arrived here yesterday, to contract with Messrs. Piazza & Botto, proprietors of the opera-house, for a new set of scenery for that building.” On September 23, 1884, the “Vicksburg Evening Press” announced, “Mr. Charles W. Corey, of Chicago, the stage carpenter engaged by Messrs. Piazza & Botto, arrived by this morning’s train. He is much pleased with the appearance and arrangement of our new Opera-house, and says it will make decidedly one of the handsomest places of amusement in the South. He says it is one of the nicest arranged places for an Opera-house he has seen anywhere South. Mr. Corey will proceed with work at once, and says that there will be no delay whatever from now on in pushing the work to a rapid and satisfactory completion. The managers of the Opera-house state that Mr. Corey has a big reputation as a stage carpenter, and that they are charmed with his favorable opinion of the house, because his opinion is that of a man who has had splendid experience in such matters and knows what he is speaking about” (page 1).

In the fall of 1884 Corey built three stages: Vicksburg, Mississippi, Aberdeen, Mississippi, and Gadsden, Alabama. On October 4, 1884, the “Vicksburg Herald” reported, “Yesterday morning, Mr. C. Corey, the stage carpenter employed by Messrs. Piazza & Botto of the opera house to arrange the stage of the new house returned here from Gadsden, Alabama, where he arranged the stage of a new theatre. Mr. Corey says that he will finish his work in a week or ten days, and by that time it is thought the house will be ready for opening. The chairs and railings have been shipped from New York and will arrive here in ten days” (Vicksburg, Mississippi, page 4). On October 16, 1884, the “Aberdeen Examiner” reported, “Mr. Corey, the representative of the stage fitting contractors in Chicago, is busily employed in erecting the scenery in the Masonic Temple Opera Hall, in our city. His zeal in the work is worthy of thanks and commendation of our people, for he is crowding two weeks labors into the one, in order that the hall shall be ready for Monday night and they shall not be disappointed” (page 3).

By 1886, Corey was recognized as a master machinist with Sosman & Landis. He was part of the staff that focused on western installations by the mid-1880s.  On March 6, 1886, the “Titusville Herald” in Titusville, Pennsylvania described the scenery in the new Emery Opera House (page 4). After a fire destroyed the Parshall Opera House, Capt. Emery decided to remodel the Armory. The article reported, “The scenery was furnished by the well-known firm of Sosman & Landis, of Chicago, and consists of two drop curtains, a double drop curtain and eleven sets of scenes. The principal drop curtain depicts a view in Palestine and was painted by the celebrated Tom Moses of Chicago. The work has been excellently done and has been put up in good shape by the competent master machinist of the firm, Mr. C. W. Corey.

On September 19, 1886, the “Fort Scott Monitor” included an article mentioning Corey entitled, “The Opera House.” The newspaper reported, “The fresco work in the remodeled opera house was completed last night and the painters left for their homes in Topeka. Carpenters were busy at work until late in the night fitting up opera chairs in the dress circle. Mr. W. C. Corey, of Chicago, who represents the firm of Sosman & Landis, the most extensive scenic firm in the United States, is busy getting up the finest set of scenes in the western country. When the house is completed it will be one of the neatest in the state. The gas company have just completed a table on the stage that gives the operator control of the gas in all parts of the house. The large looking glass light that hangs in the center of the house spreads its light in brilliant rays to almost every nook of the house. Mrs. Morse deserves much credit for the completeness of the lighting facilities of the house” (page 5).

The “Fort Scott Monitor” article was the last newspaper article that I have located for Corey prior to his passing two years later. Corey passed away in 1888 with very little fanfare or recognition of his stage contributions.

Here is what I have discovered bout this evasive master mechanic:

Charles William Corey was born in Long Island New York, in 1830. He was the son of Charles F. Corey (1810-1869) and Hannah S. Jackson.  There is precious little out there about his early life, or how he was introduced to the theatre. Corey did marry by the age of twenty, soon heading west. On  October 13, 1850, he married Cynthia “Anna” Leeds (1833-1899) in New London, Connecticut. At the time Anna was seventeen years old and the daughter of a hotel keeper. The 1850 Census lists that her father was running a hotel in New London, and the Leeds household was composed of parents Cary and Mary Leeds and siblings: Janetta (15 yrs.), Albert (11 yrs.), Adelaide (8 yrs.), Lodovick (5 yrs.), and Alonzo (2 yrs.).

After Charles and Anna married, they soon left Connecticut and headed west, celebrating the birth of three children: Mary H. Corey Beldon (1852-1927), Joseph Leslie Corey (1858-1913) and Addie (1860-?). The Coreys had moved to Arlington Heights, Wisconsin, by 1858; that is where their son was born. They moved to Illinois and were living in Chicago by the time their youngest daughter Addie was born. “Little Addie Corey” became an actress and toured with Lemuel L. Graham in Lord’s Dramatic Company as a child.

By 1862, Charles W. Corey was listed in the “Chicago City Directory,” working as a carpenter and living at 33 Prairie St. Soon after the start of the Civil War, Corey enlisted in the Union Army on August 5, 1862. By August 25, 1862, he mustered out as a private in Company K of the 89^th Illinois Infantry. Corey was captured at Chickamauga, Georgia, and imprisoned on Sept. 19, 1863. Two years later he was paroled and mustered out in Nashville, Tennessee.  Military records indicate Corey’s physical appearance as 5’-10” with brown hair, blue eyes and a sandy complexion. After returning to his family in Chicago, Corey resumed work as a carpenter. A decade later he was still working in this capacity, now living with his family at 491 S. Halsted St. By 1875 the Coreys were living at 623 S. Canal Street.

1880 Federal Census included Charles and Anna living at 88 S. Green Street with two of their three adult children: J. L. (22 yrs. old) and Addie (20 yrs. old).  Interestingly, they lived on the same block with sign writers, mechanics, carpenters and other tradesmen. It was not until 1882 that Charles W. Corey was listed as a stage carpenter in the city directory. This does not mean that he started working as a stage carpenter in the 1880s, it simply indicates that some listings became more descriptive as formats changed.  In 1882, the Coreys was living at 813 W. Madison. Over the course of the next three years, C. W. Corey was repeatedly mentioned in newspaper articles as a stage carpenter, stage architect and master mechanic.

On Dec. 4, 1888, Corey died at his residence on 520 W. Harrison St. (19^th Ward) Chicago. He was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, only 58 years old at the time of his death. Corey’s obituary was published in the “Chicago Tribune” on Dec. 5, 1888 (page 8). It simply stated:

“COREY – Dec. 4. Charles W. Corey. Service in Company K, Eighty-ninth Illinois Infantry; member of Gen. George A. Custer Post, No. 40 G.A.R. Funeral from late residence, No. 520 West Harrison St., at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, 6^th inst., to Wells-st. Depot, thence by 1 p.m. train to Rosehille. Members of G. A. R. invited.”

After her husband’s passing, Anna Corey moved to Boone, Iowa, where she lived with her son and his family. Anna remained in Boone for the rest of her life and is buried near her son. Upon her passing in 1900, her obituary stated, “Mrs. Anna C. Corey, mother of J.L. Corey died at the home of her son, 1612 Marshall street, Monday afternoon at 4 o’clock. The deceased was 67 years of age has been an invalid for a number of years. She was born in New London Conn., and has resided in the state ten years. One son and two daughters survive. The funeral was held Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the late residence, Rev. L.B. Wickersham officiating and the remains interred in Linwood. Buried in Boone Park Cemetery in Boone, Iowa.”

To be continued…

Examples of historic scenic art 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