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Grace Wishaar described her entry into the New York scenic art world in 1901 when she was interviewed by the Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo News in the article “She is a Scenic Artist” (April 4, 1901, page 3). Wishaar was quoted saying, “I am convinced that I am a curiosity…People catch sight of my skirts both here [New York Theater] and at the Herald Square, where I sometimes work, and they stop rehearsal and bet on what I am and call up to me to find out.” Of her career in scenic art, Wishaar explained to another reporter, “The work is intensely interesting and I sometimes consider it as instructive as what are sometimes erroneously called the ‘higher forms of art.’” She was also a portrait painter.

When Wishaar first arrived in New York, she visited many of the studios to seek out possible employment. She explained that the scenic artists at the Metropolitan Opera House and elsewhere laughed at her for even thinking of entering into the profession. She then systematically went from one scene painter to another, asking to do only one piece. The standard response was “A girl in the flies? Absurd! Why she’d have to wear bloomers!” To each, Wishaar insisted, “a scenic painter was made, not born.”

Within four months time Wishaar was a member of Frank D. Dodge’s staff and working with five men to produce all of the scenery for “The Casino Girl” and “The Prima Donna.” Dodge was the official scenic artist for both the Herald Square Theatre and the New York Theatre. She described that every morning at 5 o’clock she appeared with the other scenic artists where she worked all day on the bridge or on her high solitary platform.

In a 1905 article “A Lady Scene Painter,” Wishaar reported to have been engaged in painting scenery with Dodge or more than four years, explaining that not all of her work was confined to New York City. She would go “at Mr. Dodge’s request, to all parts of the country.” Wishaar also explained the current artistic process: “When we receive an order for an important production, a consultation is held with the author of the play, and if the scenes are laid in another State, either I or Mr. Dodge take a journey to the particular locality and make sketches. If the scene is laid abroad, we have to read up on it, and when the play is English we get many a useful hints from the beautiful production, “Country Life.”

This is exactly what Thomas G. Moses and many other scenic artists were still doing. Although the rise of the studio system confined many scenic artists to a single location where painted scenery was produced and shipped to the appropriate venue, there were still projects that made more sense to complete on site after a series of sketches were made. Moses had been very active in this aspect of his career. What I find fascinating is that as a female, she wasn’t being hidden inside a scenic studio where her work would be examined as part of a group project. She was being sent out on location as an artist representing the studio of Frank D. Dodge.

An article in “Success Magazine” from 1906 featured Wishaar in the segment “Life Sketches of Ambitious Young Men and Women” (page 32). The article started with “What Miss Grace N. Wishaar Has Accomplished in a Field in Which She Seemed Totally Unfitted.” It was followed with “pluck, enthusiasm, and conscientious work have enabled Miss Grace N. Wishaar to become the only woman scenic artist in the United States.” History was rewritten for Wishaar a bit in this article. In it, she politely writes to Frank D. Dodge in New York. After receiving no response, she appears at his studio to make a personal plea. The article continues,

“Mr. Dodge looked at her smilingly. He liked the enthusiasm she displayed, although he felt he had no use for women in his studio. The idea of women painting huge pieces of scenery on a bridge away up under the roof of the theatre struck him as being somewhat amusing.

‘I don’t see what I can do for you,’ he said. ‘Women are not adapted to this work. Besides, my men would certainly go on strike if I should put you among them on a bridge.’

‘I don’t believe they would at all,’ replied Miss Wishaar, ‘and so far as lack of adaptability for the work is concerned, I intend to show that I am adapted for it; I’ll disguise myself as a boy, – if I find that nobody will give me a chance as a woman.’

‘Well,’ he finally said, ‘come back to-morrow, and I’ll take the matter up again.’ The next morning, Miss Wishaar appeared with a satchel in hand holding her artist’s painting dress. She was ready to go to work. “This business-like method strengthened the good impression she had made on Mr. Dodge, and without further delay he put her to work in the model room, and a few days later gave her an opportunity to do real scenic painting on the bridge.” His artists protested, but were told they must give the young woman fair play. Within a week she had won their good will, chiefly because she asked no favors and had shown that as a craftsman she could “hold up her end” with any of them.”

Within a year and a half after her arrival in New York, Wishaar had become the director of scene painting in “an important theatre” that remained unnamed. She must have been quite something to rise that quickly as it took many men years to make the jump from staff painter to director.   A large order for painted scenery for a theatre in Seattle was received by Mr. Dodge. As this was Wishaar’s home city, the idea of returning as “a successful worker in her chosen field” appealed to her. Arrangement was made for Wishaar to go to the Pacific Coast where she began painting scenery in Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco and Oakland.

To be continued…

Grace Norton Wishaar was born October 26, 1876, in Beverly, New Jersey. She died on February 21, 1956 in France. Wishaar’s story goes from being a scenic artist during the 1890s in Seattle to being the Ladies Champion of the Paris Chess Championship in 1944.

She was the daughter of Émile Bernard Weishaar and Marie Ida Smith. The Wishaar family moved around a lot and eventually settled in Seattle, Washington where her mother became a playwright and her father was dramatic editor for a newspaper.  Both Grace and her sister Jennie (b. 1880) were encouraged to develop their talents. Grace studied art, opening a portrait studio, while Jennie McGraw Wishaar, (born 1880) studied music.

On July 7, 1896, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer” reported that Grace Wishaar was “Seattle’s talented young artist” (page 9). The population at the time was approximately 65,000 people. The article commented that with “a few years study [Wishaar] would develop into genius that would enable the young lady to make herself riches and fame” She had just completed a series of painted portraits.

One day, the Seattle Theatre needed an artist to paint a drop. Grace’s father mentioned the prospective project to his daughter and encouraged her to contact the manager, Mr. Russell. Although he laughed at the idea of having any woman paint for his theatre, Russell gave Wishaar the opportunity to prove herself. The drop was such a success that she continued to paint for theaters in the area, including both the Seattle Theatre and the Cordray Theater over the next two years.

Neither of these venues was small and the drop could have easily measured approximately 34 feet wide. Her work at the Seattle Theatre was for a house of 1300 people. Located at the northeast corner of Third and Cherry Street, the building had thirteen dressing rooms, eight properties room, and was lit by electricity. The proscenium measured 33 feet wide by 36 feet high and the stage was 40 feet deep. The height to the rigging loft was 64 feet with two bridges, suggesting that the drops were flown. The official scenic artist for the venue was listed as T. Masis in the 1897 Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide. However, this might have only meant that he created the original scenery for the venue as Thomas G. Moses was listed as the scenic artist for the Tacoma Theatre at the same time that was approximately 35 miles away.

Later newspaper interviews covering Wishaar noted that she also worked for actress Katie Putnam (actress and wife of producer and manager Henry B. Emery), as well as with Sosman & Landis at this time. As I read Sosman & Landis, I got goose bumps; Moses was in the region at the time as it was just before he left the scenic studio to work in New York! Of all the scenic studios and artists that were working in the Pacific Northwest at the time, Wishaar mentioned working with Sosman & Landis! Both she and Moses left for the East coast approximately at the same time too.

In 1900 Thomas G. Moses left Sosman & Landis to start another scenic art partnership with Will Hamilton. Moses & Hamilton produced scenery for opera, Broadway and Coney Island from 1900-1904, when he returned to Chicago. It was after working with Sosman & Landis that Wishaar also decided to head east where she would get training in Boston and then paint scenery in New York. What was the possibility that Moses met Wishaar? It is unclear which Sosman & Landis artists Wishaar worked with, so the question remains unanswered. But someone encouraged Wishaar to leave Seattle and forge ahead.

Wishaar also had an extremely interesting personal life – the kind that is the subject for a great book. In 1897, Wishaar married Whitney Irving Eisler (September 13, 1897). This was at the time that she began painting for theatre in Seattle. In 1898, she had a child. However, that child was named after the man who would be her second husband by 1902, Peeke.

Carroll Earl Beauchamp Peeke (1898–1991) was the son of Oscar Graham Peeke. Lt. Col. Carroll Peeke grew up in Seattle, fought in WWI, and graduated from University California at Berkely. Hejoined the San Francisco Call-Bulletin in 1922 and later worked as city and diplomatic editor at the Times Herald in Washington, D.C.

The year after Wishaar gave birth to Carroll, she left Seattle for New York with a determination to succeed in the world of scenic art, later returning in 1902. There is something about a woman continuing with her career even after giving birth during the 1890s that greatly intrigued me. During the fall of 1899 Wishaar studied at the Chase Art School, only briefly returning to Seattle, before looking for work in New York by January 1901.

Four months later, she was interviewed by the by the Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo News (April 4, 1901, page 3). They published an article, “She is a Scenic Artist,” reporting that Miss Grace Wishaar had recently arrived from Seattle and was working with the scenic artist Frank D. Dodge. Wishaar was described as dressed in a denim apron with “forty kinds of paint” on it. The journalist also commented how pretty this small “slip of a girl” was with her brown hair and dark eyes.

The article also made it clear that Wishaar had no interest going out or being distracted while working in New York. At the end of the interview she simply explained, “I am here to work. I confess I don’t like theaters and the cafes very well, and if I had wanted society, I should have stayed in Seattle for that. I love my work. I love it! There is no place in the world, you know, where it is taught. I have been lucky enough to be born able to do it a little, and I won’t share my time with anything else.” She continued, “They told me at half the theaters in town that a woman couldn’t do it. Any way, I have proved one woman can.”

To be continued…

I tried a new search last week as I was looking for information pertaining to the Milwaukee panorama painters and Amy Tesch Boos. It might sound like a simple thing, but a search in any database has to be carefully calculated. You need to anticipate all of the possible results and create your own filter, otherwise too much or too little will pop up. This is especially pertinent when tracking down female artists.

The results included a series of articles from 1901-1914 with the title “first woman scenic artist.” “Yeah, right,” I thought. What made the journalist declare her the first and why publish it at that particular point in time?

They all included an interview with the same woman – Grace Wishaar. A search on Wishaar resulted in nothing beyond the exact same articles. Why? She had married multiple times and her maiden name was erased from all written record. Wishaar was no longer part of theatre history.

I admire and appreciate many women who paved the road before me. But there is something to be said when you sense a certain spark that is always present with a truly remarkable individual. What I found especially interesting is that many of the articles reported a scenario where Wishaar simply stumbled across the scenic art field. She was called in to help out an artist and found that she had some talent for the profession. Her story is not that simple. She came from a family with some theatrical interests and was encouraged by her parents – especially her father. As a child, both of her parents recognized the innate talent that both she and her sister possessed. There was not only the support of her family, but an inextinguishable spark that would remain clearly visible throughout the remainder of her life. She had quite a life.

I thought back to the 1882 illustration of two actresses helping a scenic artist paint a scene. It was included in the book “Theatrical and Circus Life; or Secrets of the Stage, Green-Room and Sawdust Arena” (1882).

Sure, I might believe two women who were simply helping and artists prime a backdrop, but Wishaar was a different. She wasn’t a part of a theatre company who was helping out. It was almost as if Wisahar’s story was being minimized by the press to become acceptable for public consumption.

I literally dropped everything else that I was working on and decided to venture down this particular rabbit hole. I was intrigued. Earlier this year, I looked at some of the women who were reported to work as professional scenic artists during the 1920s. A wonderful article had mentioned this group as an ever-increasing presence that included Vyvyan Donner, Nellie Leach, Gladys Calthrop, Lillian Gaestner, and Gretl Urban.

There was no way that these women suddenly popped up out of nowhere and decided to enter the field of scenic art. They had gone through extensive art training and proven themselves multiple times.

My research suggested that by the 1920s there was a growing faction of women in the scenic art community and some seeds of discontent among the men. What I found interesting about the female scenic artists form the 1920s, however, is that none of them really worked as part of a team, or in a studio setting. They would each be responsible for the scenery or decorations, but by themselves. These were the women who had excelled with their own name and possibly were perceived as an ever-increasing threat.

Wishaar was different and I don’t believe that she was an anomaly. Wishaar was one of many who came before her, but there was a reason that her story emerged when it did. The next few installments will look at her entry into the field of scenic art, her work in a studio and her life after theatre. She was really quite something and deserves to be recognized and remembered.

To be continued…