Category: Opera Company

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

There were two events held the 1880s that drew scenic artists together in America – the Cincinnati Opera Festival (1881) and the Scenic Artists Show (1885). Henry E. Burcky participated in both events.

In 1880, Henry E. Burcky was a scenic artist Hooley’s Opera House in Chicago. At the time, he was working with Charles E. Petford. The two were credited with the scenery for “The Hearts of Oak.” A review in the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Hooley’s scenic artists -Petford and Burcky- have spared no pains to present the drama properly. It affords fine opportunity for the painter, and in six elaborate sets we find that the opportunity has been improved. The first act, representing sunset on the coast of Marblehead, shows a cleverly-executed piece of work, and the storm, the sighing of the wind and the sound of the waves beating on the rocks, the wreck, the rescue, the rocket, and the rainstorm fill in a very realistic and effective picture. The mill scene in the second act shows great attention to detail, and the third set represents a charming painted interior of a cottage” (Chicago Tribune, 16 March 1880, page 3).

In 1881, Burcky became associated with another Chicago Theatre; Sprague’s Olympic Theatre on Clark Street, opposite of the Sherman House, featured Burcky’s work. The Inter Ocean reported that “Muldoon’s Trip To Boston” was produced “with entire new scenery by H. E. Burcky, Esq.” (4 April 1881, page 8). At this same time, Burcky’s future partner, Henry C. Tryon, was working at McVicker’s Theatre with C. Louis Malmsha. Both would travel from Chicago to Cincinnati for work on the great festival in 1881. That year, Charles Fox, the distinguished scenic artist of Her Majesty’s Theater, London, superintended the painting of the Great Opera festival (Cincinnati Enquirer, 18 Feb. 1881, page 4). After traveling to New York to procure some artists’ materials for finishing the scenery that could not be found in Cincinnati, the newspaper reported, “He returned yesterday and found that two young artists from Chicago, Messrs. Burcky and Tryon, and Messrs. Rettig and Waugh, of our city, had been progressing rapidly with their work. To-day and to-morrow will see all the scenery painted and in its place. To give an idea of the immensity of the work that has been accomplished by these artists, it is only necessary to state that for one opera alone, Lohengrin, eleven large scenes have been painted, and fully that number, if not more, have been painted for each of the other six operas.”

The annual festival in Cincinnati drew theatre artists and crowds from across the country. On April 22, 1883, Chicago’s “Inter Ocean” described the scope of the event, reporting, “Outside of Cincinnati, from lakes to gulf and from ocean to ocean, the whole country seems to be at fever heat in anticipation of this event – that is, if application form the press for courtesies and of excursion parties for hotel accommodations are trustworthy criterions, and they certainly are. All the great papers of the country will be represented by members of the home staff. Hotels are all but overwhelmed with application for rooms, and the railroads will do an immense excursion business during that week. The daily press here has written the matter up industriously, and this week’s Harper’s Weekly has commence picturing it – a work which it has done admirably, as far as it has gone, but which it will supplement next week with some of the principal scenery” (page 5).

A detailed description of the scenic art scene, shows the working environment that encompassed Burcky at this time.  The “Inter Ocean” reported, “There are twelve artists working in scene painting alone, with each at least one helper. Not less than fifty carpenters are busy preparing flats and sets and putting up the proscenium and on the properties about thirty men, boys, and girls are employed. All these, with the painters and common laborers, will make a working force of something near one hundred and twenty-five people, working day and night getting ready. What a workshop they have. Horticultural Hall, 75 feet high, 100 feet broad, and with its appendages, 300 feet long, to say nothing of its corridors and its upper stories, all of which are used by the scene painters and property men. The spectacle of all these busy men, visible at one glance from some points of view in Horticultural Hall, makes an impression not to be forgotten. Here at the west end are a throng of busy carpenters huddled together as compactly as consistent with comfort, framing flats and working out furniture. Next beyond them under the glass roof of Horticultural Hall, in a light which on a clear day artists call wild, are the scene painters on their picturesque aerial bridges, painting away for dear life three scenes side by side; and such scenes for size – just think of it – sixty-six feet long and forty-five feet high; The frame work which supports these scenic artists’ swinging stages looks strong enough and complicated enough to serve for railway bridges…some of the best artists of the country are engaged upon them. Dewitt C. Waugh, Thomas R. Weston, Gaspard Maeder, Charles Murray, Joseph Piggot, and Harley Merry are of the number. They enter into the work with enthusiasm and are doing their level best.”

This was the event that really connected Burcky with Tryon, soon both were headed west and associated with the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver, Colorado. In 1884 “H. E. Burcky” was identified as “the artist of the Tabor Grand (Memphis Daily Appeal, 19 Nov. 1884, page 2). This is Henry E. Burcky, sometimes spelled Burckey (Feb 1852 – 21 Feb. 1908), whose career spanned from approximately 1875-1908.

During the 1880s Burcky worked as an itinerant artist, yet primarily advertised in Chicago.  Burcky bounced back and for the between Denver and Chicago. Burcky filled dual roles at both the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver and the Olympic Theatre in Chicago.

In 1885, Burcky was involved with the renovation of Chicago’s Olympic Theatre and several upcoming shows at the venue. On August 16, 1885, the “Inter Ocean” published,

“With the conclusion of the engagement of the Wymans this week at the Olympic Theater the house will be closed until Sept. 7, when it will be reopened as the “New Olympic” by the present lessees and managers, and they state that such extensive and important changes in the place will be made as to entitle it to its name. The lobby will be changed to permit the addition of a foyer, with heavy velvet curtains shutting the body of the theatre from the foyer and lobby. In the theater and foyer will be hung twelve crayon pictures 4×7 feet with gaslight effects, arranged by Bressan, the artist. Other pictures and statuary will be added. The floors will be newly carpeted, walls repapered, entire woodwork repainted, and the roof and exits repaired and changed. H. E. Burcky is painting new scenery and a drop curtain, and there will not be a scene, border, or wing used that is not entirely new” (16 Aug. 1885, page 13).

At the Olympic Theatre, Burcky painted scenery for Mortimer & Weaver’s Dramatic Co. production of “The Colleen Bawn” at the Olympic Theatre. Chicago’s “Inter Ocean” reported, “New sets of scenery, showing the Lakes of Killarney, the cave by the seas, and other beautiful bits of scenery incidental to the play have been painted for the occasion by H. E. Burckey, the scenic artist” (9 Aug 1885, page 13). Burckey painted scenery for another Olympic Theatre production that year, Alfred Trumball’s “Custer,” starring William J. Fleming. The production included a series of scenic effects that ranged from shimmering waters to brilliantly lit skies. The “Chicago Tribune” advertised the show as including “realistic  stage effects and the great battle scene by H. E. Burcky” (26 July 1885, page 6).

1885 was another significant milestone for Burcky, as well as and many other scenic artists. An event was planned to exhibit and sell distemper works by scenic artists.  On August 1 , 1885, the “Inter Ocean” reported, “The scenic artists of this city held a meeting this week at Parker Galleries and determined to hold an exhibition and sale of works in distemper at those galleries early inn September. Among the artists present were: Ernest Albert, John Mazzanovich, Walter Burridge, David A. Strong, John Howard Rogers, Henry Tryon, George Dayton, Thomas Moses, John Howell Wilson, H. C. Burcky, Charles Ritter, and others” (page 4).  

On October 12, 1885, there was the first exhibition of Water Colors by American scenic artists from all over the country. John Moran wrote an article about the Scene Painter’s Show for the “Art Union, a Monthly Magazine of Art” (Vol. 2, No. 4, 1885, p. 85):

“The Scene Painters’ Show. Chicago, October 12th, 1885

The first Exhibition of Water Colors by American Scenic Artists has been open free to the public for some weeks past, in this city, and the eighty-four examples hung on the walls of Messrs. Louderback & Co.’s galleries include some praiseworthy and valuable works. Such a collection proves that the broad pictorial treatment requisite for adequate stage effect does not incapacitate a man for the finer and more delicate manipulation essential to good aquarelles, and shows, moreover, a healthy progressive spirit among scenic artists. The name of Matt Morgan has long been gratefully familiar to us, and he is represented by diverse and facile contributions. “Alone in the Forest Shade” (1), shows lumbermen with their load descending a wild ravine flanked on either side by towering pines. The feeling of solitude and gloom is forcibly conveyed and the tree forms and foliage broadly yet carefully handled. “The Lost Comrade” (27), and “Waiting for Death” (14), are strong and weird aspects of prairies life, the former representing a horseman, lasso in hand, who has come upon the skeletons of a horse and rider among the pampas grass, and the latter a bull calf standing over the moribund body of a cow, striving with futile bellow to keep advancing wolves at bay. A nude figure, “The New Slave” (71), standing expectantly against a rich low-toned drapery, is exquisite in drawing and color and charmingly beautiful in suggestion. Mr. Walter Burridge runs the gamut of landscape figure and decoration and is good in all! His “Spring” (9), “Autumn Leaves” (39), and “Old Mill” (49), are deftly washed-in landscapes, true to nature and aerial in quality, while “My Assistant” (16), a study of behind the scenes life, and a “Ninety Minute Sketch” (83), of his friend Mr. Ernest Albert, show character and a nice sense of texture. Mr. Ernest Albert’s “Winter Twilight” (12), is full of sentiment of the season and excellent in composition, and his “October Morning” (31), “moonrise” (40), “Sunset” (79), and “Autumn” (80), are severally individual as transcripts and prove his mastery over the vehicle he uses. “A Decorative Flower Piece” (84), by the same artist, groups of roses, pansies and forget-me-nots in a most artistic and harmonious manner. “Nobody’s Claim, Col.” (65) and “Near Racine, Wis.” (76) By Mr. Thomas G. Moses, are among his best examples and are freely treated and with fidelity to locale character and sky effects. Mr. Albert Operti gives us some reminiscences of his Lapland tour in 1884, which are realistic and worthy, and Mr. J. Hendricks Young, “A Busy Day on Chicago River” (38), which together with the local bits by Mr. Moses, Mr. C. E. Petford and Mr. Burridge, is of historical value as it is skillfully painted. “Rats, you Terrier” (59), by the same hand, is a “snappy” and bright treatment of a dog’s head and fully catches the spirit of the English. Mr. Henry C. Tryon’s “Source of the Au Sable” (34), powerfully conveys a sense of somberness and grandeur, and though ample in detail loses nothing of the vastness and breadth, which such a landscape motion calls for. Other works deserving of notice are Messrs. George Dayton, Sr., George Dayton, Jr., the late L. Malmsha, C. Boettger, Chas. Ritter, H. Buhler and John Howell Wilson, whose “Country Road” (76” is especially fresh, verdurous and bright. It is to be hoped that this is only the forerunner of many like exhibitions and it marks a decided growth in the national art spirit.”

To be continued…