Fox Lake – Drypigment.net

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 1192 – Thomas G. Moses and David L. Adam, 1924

In 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Dave Adam’s funeral on June 24th. Rupert and I went in his car. Dave was a fine fellow and was only 40 years of age. He had made quite a hit with his pictures.” Adam specialized in portrait painting and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago.

David L. Adam died on June 20, 1924 and was buried four days later at the Irving Park Blvd. Cemetery. On June 21, 1924, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “David L. Adam, Artist Dies After Operation” (page 8). The obituary notice described, “David L. Adam. 40 years old, former president of the Palette and Chisel club, 1012 North Dearborn street, and widely known as an artist, died at the Columbus hospital yesterday afternoon following an operation. The funeral will be held Tuesday from the undertaking rooms of C. Kraupse, 3905 Lincoln avenue.”

David Livingston Adam was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 8, 1883. He was the son of William Palaue Adam (b. 1846) and Isabella Kilpatrick (b. 1849) Adams. Born in 1884, he was one of four children born to the couple. His brother, William Jr., was born in 1881, his sister Mary in 1882, and his sister Isabella in 1885. The family emigrated from Scotland in 1897, settling in Chicago where William Sr., William Jr. and David all worked as artists. The 1900 census listed their occupation as “copyist and artist.” That year, the family was living at 5926 Ontario Street.

Prior to his arrival in America, David had studied at the Glasgow School of art with Jean Delville and M. Greiffenhagen. In America, Adam continued his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and was active in the Palette & Chisel Club. This was where he became close friends with Moses. He and Moses selected the final site for the club’s summer home at Fox Lake. In Moses’ scrapbook there was an article from the mid-1920s entitled, “The Camp Tradition Draws Members to Fox Lake.” The article noted the selection of the club’s summer location: “The present site was elected by Tom Moses and the late Dave Adam, and their choice was immediately ratified by the erection of a more pretentious camp building that we have ever before.” The club’s summer quarters at Fox Lake were described on Oct. 2, 1921, in the “Chicago Tribune”- “During the summer months the club maintains a place at Fox Lake for outdoor painting. The ‘Summer Camp,’ as it is called, is the property of the club and comprises a clubhouse of sufficient size to accommodate seventy-five persons. It occupies a site adjacent to the lake.”

In 1921, Adam was president of the Palette and Chisel Club. That year, the Palette and Chisel Club was featured in the “Chicago Tribune” when the club became part of the North Side Colony. In 1921 the Palette & Chisel Club also opened its new quarters on 1012 North Dearborn street. For the opening David L. Adam was listed as the master of the ceremonies (Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct 1921, page 18). As his term was ending at the club, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “At a recent meeting of the Palette and Chisel club Glen Scheffer was elected president for the coming year. He takes the office from David L. Adam, under whose presidency the club has made great strides during the last year. It now has a membership of 200, which it is hoped will be increased by 350 in the near future. Sketch classes are held four nights a week” (12 Feb 1922, page 76). On April 3, 1922, he was interviewed by “the Inquiring Reporter” for the “Chicago Tribune.” When Adam was asked, “What is your best cure for the blues?” at the Palette and Chisel Club, he responded, “I so seldom have had the blues that I hardly know whether they are blue or black or what. Prevention is better than any cure, and I have to do that by having so many outside interests.”

At the time of his death, Adam’s occupation was listed as a teacher, specializing in portraiture at the Art Institute. His is just one more tale of a talent that ended too soon.

Over the years, Moses saw so many artists cut down at their prime. This list included Moses’ first mentor, Louis Malmsha of McVicker’s, and his one-time business partner Walter Burridge. There is something tragic about an artist who dies so early in life, just when the sun is starting to shine. You never see them grow old, their artistic styles shift, or them overcome any of life’s later obstacles. They are frozen in time, always full of promise and potential.

*Two painting by David Livingston Adam*.

*Amelia Earhart by David L. Adam, 1919*.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 1060: The Palette & Chisel Club House at Fox Lake, 1920

In 1920 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Early in June I went to Fox Lake to see about tearing down the club houses and moving them to another place… I go up to Fox Lake every Saturday, looking after the house and I hope to complete it on time.”

Moses was back at Sosman & Landis after two tumultuous years of working for New York Studios and Chicago Studios. He was constantly suffering from headaches much of the time and had all but six teeth extracted. Yet he made time to visit and work on the Palette & Chisel Club’s house on Fox Lake. In two years, he would lose interest and begin focusing on the west coast.

In 1904, Moses became a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York, sponsored by R. M. Shurtleff. Moses joined the Palette & Chisel Club when he was 50 years old in 1906.

Founded in 1895, the Palette & Chisel Club was an association of artists and craftsmen for the purpose of work and study. The organization’s members were reported to be “all wage-workers, busy during the week with pencil, brush or chisel, doing work to please other people” (Inland Printer, 1896). But on Sunday mornings, they assembled for five hours to paint for themselves.

In 1905, the members of the Palette and Chisel Club established a seasonal camp at Fox Lake, Illinois.

In 1906 Moses wrote, “I joined the Palette and Chisel Club at the Chicago Society of Artists. I don’t know why, as I had so little time to give to pictures, but I live in hopes of doing something someday, that is what I have lived on for years, Hope, and how little we realize from our dreams of hope. As the years roll by, I think one’s whole life is one continuous dream, unless we are wonderfully gifted and fame drops on us while we sleep.”

The year that Moses joined the Palette and Chisel Club, the group consisted of sixty local painters, illustrators, and sculptors. The Chicago Tribune reported that it was “primarily a working club, being the oldest organization in the west” (Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 1906, page 2). That year, the club’s new enterprise was the maintenance of a permanent exhibition in the clubrooms on the seventh floor of the Athenæum building.

In the beginning it was quite rustic. Of the camping experience, Moses wrote, “June 1^st, I made my first trip to the Palette and Chisel Club camp at Fox Lake, Ill. Helped to put up the tent. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed it. I slept well on a cot. Made a few sketches. A very interesting place. I don’t like the cooking in the tent and there should be a floor in the tent. I saw a great many improvements that could be made in the outfit and I started something very soon.” The Palette and Chisel Club camp drew a variety of artists during the summer months. An artistic community was formed along the shores of Fox Lake, providing a haven far away from the hustle and bustle of work in Chicago. There were many Sosman & Landis employees who also became members of the Palette & Chisel Club, escaping to Fox Lake whenever they could.

By 1909, Moses wrote, “As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up. I gave the camp a portable kitchen and it was some class. I felt sure I would manage to get a camp outfit worth while and the boys all fell in line with me.” Moses enjoyed his scenic retreats to Fox Lake, escaping from the hard grind of the studio whenever he could during the summer. He painted numerous landscapes of Fox Lake and the Palette & Chisel camp house over the years, including on that I own from 1909. “

Painting of Fox Lake by Thomas G. Moses.

Back side. Painting of Fox Lake by Thomas G. Moses.

In 1910, Moses wrote, “Fox Lake appealed to me all summer. I went up as much as possible and made good use of my time. How I wished in vain for time and money to spend all summer sketching. I know I could do something worthwhile.” Regardless of his own opinion, Moses was making progress in the eyes of Palette and Chisel Club members. By 1912 the Palette and Chisel Club honored Thomas G. Moses by giving him a big dinner and a new nickname – “Uncle Tom” of the Club.

By 1913, Moses was still spending time at Fox Lake, writing, “I enjoyed the summer at Fox Lake, as the motorboat kept us busy and I enjoyed the water. I also did quite a number of sketches, a few very good, balance rather doubtful.” That same year, he wrote, “The Palette and Chisel Club boys wanted me to give an exhibit at the club. I always refused, claiming that I am not in the picture game, and paint pictures for pleasure only. September 3^rd, a committee came to the house and insisted on going to the studio, I had over three hundred pictures in the studio; some very good but the other 275 were not as good, but the boys seemed to think I had at least 250 good ones, which was quite flattering.” That year, Moses also commented, “The Palette and Chisel Club were anxious to buy a lot near the lake, but we found it would cost too much.” Yet the search for a new home continued the following year.

In 1914, Moses wrote, “Early in April a number of Palette and Chisel Club boys, including myself, went to Fox Lake to look for a new site. We didn’t find anything worthwhile, so we will remain where we are for another season… Miss Maude Oliver, Art Critic of the Herald, wanted to see the animals fed and housed, so she went to Fox Lake to the camp. She requested that we all act perfectly natural and not put on any frills and do nothing out of the ordinary to entertain her. I never saw a bunch act worse. It was awful. I think she got plenty of local color and artistic atmosphere for her article in the Sunday Herald the next week – convinced me that she had drunk a glass full of camp life…I am not very regular at Fox Lake this year and I miss sketching. I also miss my rocks and running brooks. I have to go some distance for that kind of a motive.”

By 1915, Moses commented about the Palette and Chisel Club’s new site on Fox Lake, “April 17^th a crowd of us went to Fox Lake and took down the old house and moved it to our new site south of the track on a very high hill, overlooking Pistakee Bay. Got the carpenter and lumberyard men together and we arranged for credit and ordered the material for a new house 22 x 50, was soon ready for members. We certainly got great sport in assisting the carpenter. Pretty hard work for an artist, but they all did very well.”

The next few years include only a few sporadic entries in Moses’ memoirs. In 1917, Moses wrote, “I went to Fox Lake on Decoration Day, official opening. I had a new cot sent up and it was certainly and improvement over the old one. I actually rest now and enjoy going up.” In 1918, Moses wrote, “I have not been out to Fox Lake this year, the first I have missed in twelve years. The business is in such an upset condition that I felt I should stick to it.” In 1919, Moses and his son Rupert made several trips to Fox Lake where he made a few sketches. He wrote, “It is very nice to make the trip in a car, as we made it in three hours. The roads were not any too good.”

By 1922, Moses wrote, “I made one trip to Fox Lake Camp. It is not the same, and I am very sorry to say that I have lost interest in it, besides I feel that all the good sketching had been worked to death.” He did not write about Fox Lake again.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 952 – Decoration Day, 1917

In 1917, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I went to Fox Lake on Decoration Day, official opening. I had a new cot sent up and it was certainly an improvement over the old one. I actually rest now and enjoy going up.”

Decoration Day honored the deceased, with soldiers decorating the graves of their fallen comrades; flowers, flags and wreaths ornamented headstones. The day became known as Memorial Day. This also became the official opener for summer, marking travel to summer homes, cabins and resorts.

The Palette & Chisel Club’s summer home was on Fox Lake. Only 55 miles northwest of Chicago, the picturesque area provided artists with a retreat to escape the summer heat in Chicago.

As I was looking at Decoration day events in Chicgao during 1917, I can across a lovely article at Chicagology https://chicagology.com/decorationday/

Here is an excerpt from the post:

“Chicago Tribune May 30, 1900

DECORATION DAY.

The day set apart for commemorating the deeds of the nation’s honored dead loses none of its patriotic significance as the years come and go. While it is becoming less of a day of mourning than in the years when the grief over the losses of the civil war was still fresh, its patriotic scope is widening. Another war has also intervened and left its quota of new graves to be decorated reverently with flowers and hags. Far off, in the Philippines there are rows of mounds that will be draped today with the Stars and Stripes and the day will be observed in Cuba and Porto Rico. By strewing upon the water it is proposed the part played by the navy in fighting the battles of the nation. There is an added impressiveness in the thought that the Memorial day exercises are being observed simultaneously not only from one side of the continent to the other, but also in islands of the sea on opposite sides of the globe.

Chicago has always paid especial attention to Memorial day, and today the usual impressive parade will be seen, with the civil war veterans and their time-honored flags in the place of honor at the van. There is inspiration as well as sadness in the sight of this dwindling band of old soldiers in each city and town as they go forth each year to decorate the graves of the comrades who fell in battle so many years ago. But as their ranks grow thinner there are stronger escorts of the younger generation to take up the old banners and defend the things for which the others fought.

One of the most valuable features of the Memorial day exercises is the part connected with the public schools. Patriotic Speeches, tableaux, and the singing of national anthems in all the Chicago schools yesterday ushered in the present holiday. The impulses of patriotism stirred in eager young minds by these exercises are worth more for securing the future safety and perpetuity of the union than a great standing army. When it is remembered that the same spirit of devotion to the flag now animates the South as well as the North, there is every reason to look forward with high hope and confidence to the great future before the nation. While Memorial day is a time for a backward glance it is also a day for a hopeful and confident outlook upon the future.”

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 926 – Fox Lake, 1916

In 1916, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “A new kitchen and dining room at the camp adds a little more worry and expense to the financial committee, but we are all very happy over the fact that the club really owns the home in the woods.” Moses was referring to the Fox Lake Camp used by members of the Palette & Chisel Club during the hot summer months. The group had started out with large tent in 1906. Moses personally donated a small structure for the land, effectively replacing the tent.

The camp tent at Fox Lake for Palette & Chisel Club members.

The structure that replaced tent camping for Palette & Chisel Club artists at Fox Lake.

There is a point when “roughing it” loses a certain appeal; much has to do with one’s comfort and ability to sleep on the ground. When my husband and I were first married, we went on family canoeing trips to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. We portaged from lake to lake with our canoes and gear, setting up camp in a designated spot and cooking the fish we caught over a fire. During one trip, we joked that my dad had brought along a foam pad to sleep on. As active twenty-something, we didn’t find any discomfort sleeping on the ground, complete with all its branches and rocks. My dad was in his sixties and I look back in amazement that he was willing to sleep on the ground at all, even with a one-inch foam pad; heartier stock, I guess.

Moses had “roughed it” quite a bit in his youth, but in 1916 he was sixty years old, and camping in a tent was less appealing. It’s not that he had never camped outdoors or “roughed it” in the wilderness; he had on multiple sketching trips during his youth. In 1884, Moses and three other scenic artists traveled to the Rocky Mountains with minimal supplies, finding shelter wherever they could on their sketching trip. At the time he was twenty-eight years old and had never seen the mountains; it was all a big adventure. His traveling companions were John H. Young (26 yrs.), Edward A. Morange (19 yrs.), and Hardy C. Maratta (20 yrs.). The four artists travelled to Breckenridge and Moses recalled, “On our return trip we looked like a bunch of tramps, happy and ready for our old work.”

Of the camping near Breckenridge, Moses wrote, “We had the tent pitched very quickly, some pine boughs cut and laid for our spring bed, over which we laid our four army blankets, two over and two under us. The delicate odor from the pine was very refreshing. We must have made a mistake in cutting the boughs and twigs, for they were more like branches and trunks… As I was the fat one in my party I had more grooves in my back and arms, from the so-called pine twigs that composed our springs, than anyone in the party.”

Over two decades later Moses participated in early camping adventures with the Palette & Chisel club at Fox Lake. By 1906 “tent camping” was already losing its appeal. Moses wrote, “June 1^st, I made my first trip to the Palette and Chisel Club camp at Fox Lake, Ill. Helped to put up the tent. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed it. I slept well on a cot. Made a few sketches. A very interesting place. I don’t like the cooking in the tent and there should be a floor in the tent. I saw a great many improvements that could be made in the outfit and I started something very soon.” By 1908, Moses wrote, “I bought the portable house that we built years ago and at that time we received $300.00 for it. I finally got it for $50.00, some bargain. It cost $25.00 to remove it and we will put it up at Fox Lake in the spring. It has been used in Forest Park all summer to show “The Day in the Alps.” The next year Moses wrote, “As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up. I gave the camp a portable kitchen and it was some class. I felt sure I would manage to get a camp outfit worth while and the boys all fell in line with me.”

So by 1916, when Moses wrote, “A new kitchen and dining room at the camp adds a little more worry and expense to the financial committee, but we are all very happy over the fact that the club really owns the home in the woods.” By this time, it was no longer camping; they were staying at a lake home. Understandably so, as Moses was now 60 years old, he had entered the same decade when my dad decided to use a foam pad while camping. I know that at this point in my life I have no intention of sleeping on the ground. Maybe I have become a little soft, too used to the modern luxuries of camping cots, air mattresses, and memory foam.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 903 – Fox Lake, 1915

In 1915, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “April 17^th a crowd of us went to Fox Lake and took down the old house and moved it to our new site south of the track on a very high hill, overlooking Pistakee Bay. Got the carpenter and lumberyard men together and we arranged for credit and ordered the material for a new house 22 x 50, was soon ready for members. We certainly got great sport in assisting the carpenter. Pretty hard work for an artist, but they all did very well.”

The Palette & Chisel Club camp on Fox Lake, pictured in the “Chicago Tribune,” 5 June 1921, page 79.

Fox Lake was the summer home for Palette & Chisel Club members, drawing a variety of artists during the hot months. An artistic community was formed along the shores of Fox Lake, providing a haven far away from the hustle and bustle of work in Chicago. There were many Sosman & Landis employees who also became members of the Palette & Chisel Club, escaping to Fox Lake whenever they could.

An illustration of the same Palette and Chisel Club house on Fox Lake. This clipping was pasted in the scrapbook of Thomas G. Moses.

In 1906 Moses joined the Palette and Chisel Club at the Chicago Society of Artists. Of his membership, he wrote, “I don’t know why, as I had so little time to give to pictures, but I live in hopes of doing something some day, that is what I have lived on for years, Hope, and how little we realize from our dreams of hope. As the years roll by, I think one’s whole life is one continuous dream, unless we are wonderfully gifted and fame drops on us while we sleep.” The year that Moses joined the group, the Palette and Chisel Club consisted of sixty local painters, illustrators, and sculptors. The Chicago Tribune commented that the group was “primarily a working club, being the oldest organization in the west” (Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 1906, page 2).

Founded in 1895, the Palette & Chisel Club was an association of artists and craftsmen for the purpose of both work and study. Members were reported to be “all wage-workers” who were “busy during the week with pencil, brush or chisel” (“Inland Printer,” 1896). On Sunday mornings they gathered, spending five hours to paint just for themselves.

By 1905 the members of the Palette and Chisel Club established a seasonal camp at Fox Lake, Illinois. At first it was quite rustic with a communal tent. Of the camping experience at Fox Lake Moses wrote, “June 1^st, I made my first trip to the Palette and Chisel Club camp at Fox Lake, Ill. Helped to put up the tent. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed it. I slept well on a cot. Made a few sketches. A very interesting place. I don’t like the cooking in the tent and there should be a floor in the tent. I saw a great many improvements that could be made in the outfit and I started something very soon.”

In 1908, Moses wrote, “I bought the portable house that we built years ago and at that time we received $300.00 for it. I finally got it for $50.00, some bargain. It cost $25.00 to remove it and we will put it up at Fox Lake in the Spring. It has been used in Forest Park all summer to show ‘The Day in the Alps.’ Moses was 52 years old that year. The next summer Moses added, “As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up. I gave the camp a portable kitchen and it was some class. I felt sure I would manage to get a camp outfit worth while and the boys all fell in line with me.”

Painting of Fox Lake by Thomas G. Moses, 1909.

It was this portable house that Moses mentioned moving during the summer of 1915.

In his scrapbook, Moses pasted a small clipping about the Palette & Chisel Clubhouse – “Coals To Newcastle.” Here it is:

“One of our neophytes recently called at the S & L scenic studios on business which had to be taken up with a gentleman of such genial and artistic manner as to make him obviously desirable for a club member. So the neophyte, fired with the traditional ardor of the new broom, strongly urged the S & L man to put in an application for membership.

‘I, a member of the Palette and Chisel Club!’ was the rejoinder of the astonished prospect, ‘why I own the club.’

His name turned out to be Tom Moses.”

The article is likely published in the Palette & Chisel newsletter and the use of “S & L man” says a lot. Over the years, there were many Sosman & Landis men who joined the Palette and Chisel Club. I even discovered a map to Fox Lake on the back of a 1909 drop delivered to Winona, Minnesota. S & L men were friends both in an out of the shop, always sharing their love of art and nature.

A map depicting Fox Lake drawn on the back of a scene delivered to Winona, Minnesota, in 1909.

To e continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 888 – Maude I. G. Oliver and the Palette & Chisel Club, 1914

In 1914, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Early in April a number of Palette and Chisel Club boys, including myself, went to Fox Lake to look for a new site. We didn’t find anything worthwhile, so we will remain where we are for another season… I am not very regular at Fox Lake this year and I miss sketching. I also miss my rocks and running brooks. I have to go some distance for that kind of a motive… Miss Maude Oliver, Art Critic of the Herald, wanted to see the animals fed and housed, so she went to Fox Lake to the camp. She requested that we all act perfectly natural and not put on any frills and do nothing out of the ordinary to entertain her. I never saw a bunch act worse. It was awful. I think she got plenty of local color and artistic atmosphere for her article in the Sunday Herald the next week – convinced me that she had drunk a glass full of camp life.”

The Palette & Chisel club made the news on multiple fronts during 1914. In January, John B. Woodruff was elected the Club’s new president (Inter Ocean, 9 Jan. 1914, page 3). In March, Club members and Sosman & Landis artist, Victor Higgins, received the gold medal in the annual exhibit. Higgins had recently returned from studying abroad in Paris (Chicago Tribune, 27 March 914, page 10). In July, the son of a past Club president, poster artist Walter Colonel Foerster, eloped with well-known heiress Marietta Hawthorne (Oakland Tribune, 3 July 1914, page 5). Club members were active and in the news across the country.

Of the art critic at Fox Lake, Moses was referring to Maude Isabella G. Oliver. Oliver was an artist, art critic and author. Born on May 10, 1872, in Rock Island, Illinois, she was the daughter of commercial salesman Garrett H. Oliver and teacher Katie A. Spear. The couple was married a few months after Maude’s birth, tying the knot on August 8, 1872. The newly married couple and their new born lived with their extended family in the beginning. But the marriage did not last and the couple soon divorced, with Garrett remarrying and starting a second family. Until the age of 9 years old, Maude enjoyed the comfort of mother’s family in Davenport, Iowa. Mother and daughter moved to Chicago where the two would continue to live together until her mother’s passing in 1922.

Oliver worked as an art critic for the “Chicago Herald” and as an editor of the “Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago.” She resigned from the Art Institute’s publication in 1918 to enter war work and later became a correspondent for the “Studio,” of London. She was also a member of the Illinois Women’s Press Association, even becoming the treasurer of the organization.

1920 publication by art critic and artist, Maude I. G. Oliver.

Oliver both illustrated and wrote books. Her “First Steps in the Enjoyment of Pictures” was a publication utilized for children’s art instruction in schools across the country. It was published by Henry Holy and Company in 1920, here is a link to the book: http://emilcarlsen.org/portfolio/first-steps-in-the-enjoyment-of-pictures-by-maude-i-g-oliver-h-holt-and-company-new-york-ny-1920-page-65-131-illustrated-bw-on-page-131/ Oliver was also a dress designer and did portrait work as a silhouette cutter. It was her silhouette work that appeared in her illustrations for Lily Lee Dootson’s “Which Am I?” book.

Maude I. G. Oliver was one of two illustrators for the 1936 book, “Which Am I?”

Art critic and artist, Maude I. G. Oliver was one of two illustrators for the 1936 book, “Which Am I?” Oliver was well known for her portraiture of children’s silhouettes.

Oliver remained single her entire life, passing away in a nursing home on February 17, 1958. She was survived only by two cousins Thilo G. Knappe of Davenport and Mrs. Eunice Eddy Rickman of Homewood, Illinois (Quad City Times, 19 Feb. 1958, page 5).

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 825 – Thomas G. Moses, “Uncle Tom” of the Palette & Chisel Club, 1912

In 1912, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “The Palette and Chisel Club honored me by giving me a big dinner and named me ‘Uncle Tom’ of the Club.” I have explored Moses’ Palette & Chisel Club activities in the past, but will recap today. The next few posts will examine club events and some members.

In 1906, Thomas G. Moses joined the Palette and Chisel Club in Chicago. Moses wrote, “I don’t know why, as I had so little time to give to pictures, but I live in hopes of doing something some day, that is what I have lived on for years, Hope, and how little we realize from our dreams of hope.” That same year, the Palette & Chisel Club sponsored “Bohemian Night” in honor of Alphonse Mucha, as Mucha was in town teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago that fall. The group was a tightknit community of strong personalities boasting incredible artistic talents.

In 1905, members of the Palette and Chisel Club established a primitive camp at Fox Lake, Illinois. The Palette and Chisel Club camp drew a variety of artists during the summer months, including Moses by 1906. This scenic retreat was formed along the shores of Fox Lake, providing a haven far away from the bustle of studio work in Chicago. There were many Sosman & Landis employees who also became members of the Palette & Chisel Club, strengthening the bonds of friendship during off hours.

In the beginning, the camp was quite rustic. Of the primitive camping experience, Moses wrote, “June 1^st, I made my first trip to the Palette and Chisel Club camp at Fox Lake, Ill. Helped to put up the tent. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed it. I slept well on a cot. Made a few sketches. A very interesting place. I don’t like the cooking in the tent and there should be a floor in the tent. I saw a great many improvements that could be made in the outfit and I started something very soon.” Moses soon fixed most of these issues, donating a “portable house” to the camp two years later. In 1908, Moses wrote, “I bought the portable house that we built years ago and at that time we received $300.00 for it. I finally got it for $50.00, some bargain. It cost $25.00 to remove it and we will put it up at Fox Lake in the spring. It has been used in Forest Park all summer to show ‘The Day in the Alps.’ The next year Moses wrote, “As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up. I gave the camp a portable kitchen and it was some class. I felt sure I would manage to get a camp outfit worth while and the boys all fell in line with me.”

His statement, “…and the boys all fell in line with me” is something to note. It was a common occurrence both in and out of the paint studio for Moses to lead the pack. His charisma, charm and personality facilitated not only business dealings, but also other social activities, Fox Lake being one of the instances where Moses took charge of an artistic group. In 1910, Moses wrote, “Fox Lake appealed to me all summer. I went up as much as possible and made good use of my time. How I wished in vain for time and money to spend all summer sketching. I know I could do something worthwhile.” Regardless of his own opinion, Moses continued to make progress in the eyes of Palette & Chisel Club members.

Although late to the game, he was their beloved leader. Therefore, I have to consider Moses’ earning the designation of “Uncle Tom” in the Palette & Chisel Club in 1912. Was it intended as a compliment or a slight? Was it simply an endearing term given by a bunch of white men who didn’t really understand what “Uncle Tom” signified? Were they simply thinking of Moses as the self-sacrificing figure who put others before himself? By 1913, Moses wrote, “The Palette and Chisel Club boys wanted me to give an exhibit at the club. I always refused, claiming that I am not in the picture game, and paint pictures for pleasure only. September 3^rd, a committee came to the house and insisted on going to the studio, I had over three hundred pictures in the studio; some very good but the other 275 were not as good, but the boys seemed to think I had at least 250 good ones, which was quite flattering.” He was in good company, with many members becoming nationally recognized artists over the years. These successful artists maintained close ties, suggesting that they admired and respected him.

Now in regard to the title of “Uncle Tom” for Moses…

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was still playing theaters throughout the United States in 1912. On April 26, 1912, there was such great interest in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s work and the subsequent theatrical interpretations that the “Quad City Times” included an article entitled, “The Writing of Uncle Tom,” going into depth about the author (page 4). On October 9, 1912, the “Muncie Evening Press” interviewed the “Educated Drug Clerk” about the play (page 8). This individual seems to have offered his view on various topics of the day. The article quoted the Educated Drug Clerk as saying, “It wouldn’t seem right for a theatrical season to go around without one or two ‘Uncle Tom’ shows visiting every town in the circuit…I suppose it is too early yet to say whether or not ‘Uncle Tom’ is to become a classic. The era of slavery has gone and seems far away to some of us. Yet there are thousands of people who remember the dark days. Another century, perhaps, will determine Uncle Tom’s real place in literature. Now I gather from critics that the true work is shown when it has the faculty of living and playing on emotions of men long after the period which produced it has passed. In other words, the classic does not owe its power to the thought of any particular epoch, but must be filled with teachings of real truth which will not change as the centuries roll on.” Of the novel’s characters, the article noted that Uncle Tom was “representative of down trodden humanity.” This again made me ponder the Palette & Chisel Club’s designation of Moses as their “Uncle Tom.”

I cannot read Moses’ entry about his new title without cringing. To look at the group of artists using the term makes it offensive. I cannot think of a single artist in the Palette & Chisel Club at the time that wasn’t white. I cannot think of a single scenic artist mentioned by Moses in his memoirs who wasn’t white, all of which causes me great unease; the same that I felt when I first saw an image of white people in black face makeup. My relatives arrived on the shores of America long after the Civil War ended, yet some of them were racist; some of them still are – and that is a horrifying truth to admit. It was a controversial topic that we discussed in my youth, one that was addressed after many family gatherings. I did not fully understand the extent of racism in my family until during and after the 2016 election. My parents had disagreed with many of the extended family’s views regarding people of color and fought back in various ways over the decades. I was taught that all people are equal. Period. No discussion. I greatly admire my parent s for that, especially my mother, the history teacher, who was very clear about America’s history with slavery and Jim Crowe laws.

Regardless, I am the product of white privilege in the United States and am horrified to witness the current, continued and blatant racial discrimination by our president and some leaders. I am ashamed to realize how many of my family, in-laws, friends, and colleagues continue to discriminate against others based on the color of their skin.

In regard to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1851 novel, which humanized the suffering of slavery, a cruel master beat Tom to death because he refused to betray the whereabouts of other escaped slaves. The novel and subsequent stage productions have been repeatedly analyzed over the decades, with varying nuances in each interpretation. However, I have to wonder how the title was intended when gifted to Thomas G. Moses in 1912. Today, Wikipedia notes, “the term ‘Uncle Tom’ was also used as a derogatory epithet for an exceedingly subservient person, particularly when that person is aware of their own lower-class status based on race. The use of the epithet is the result of later works derived from the original novel.”

Was the title “Uncle Tom” intended as a compliment or slight for Tom Moses in 1912? We will never know.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 756 – Ralph Terwilliger, 1910

In 1910, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Fox Lake appealed to me all summer. I went up as much as possible and made good use of my time. How I wished in vain for time and money to spend all summer sketching. I know I could do something worthwhile.” The Palette & Chisel Club kept an artists retreat at Fox Lake. Numerous Sosman & Landis artists travelled to the camp during their time off each summer, including Moses.

Palette and Chisel clubhouse at Fox Lake, donated by Thomas G. Moses

Moses continued, “Mr. Ralph Terwilliger was at Fox Lake – I hardly knew him. He was President of a city bank. He was with Burridge, Moses and Louderback as a paint boy for $4.00 per week. He had prospered. With his wife and two daughters he enjoys a cottage near our camp.”

R. J. Terwilliger, from the “Liberal News,” 27 April 1911, page 11

Moses pasted a picture of R. J. Terwilliger in his scrapbook years later. It noted that Terwillger was the founder and first president of the North-West Side Commercial Association. On the clipping, Moses wrote, “Paint boy for Burridge, Moses and Louderbeck during the years of 1887 and 1888.”

Clipping pasted in The scrapbook fo Thoms G. Moses.

Burridge, Moses & Louderback only laster from 1887 to 1888. The company’s offices were located at 22 Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, Illinois, on the corner of Clark and Division Streets. Burridge, Moses & Louderback used the paint frames at the Columbia Theatre. Located at the corner of Dearborn and Projects completed by Burridge, Moses & Louderback included “Gypsy Baron” for the Conried and Hermann Opera Company, 2 panoramas for Joe Murphy’s “Donah,” and 2 complete productions of “Kerry Gow.” The firm painted the scenery for the Duff Co.’s production of “Dorothea” at the Standard Theatre in New York, as well as Steele MacKaye’s “A Noble Rogue” at the Chicago Grand Opera. During these two busy years, Burridge, Moses & Louderback stocked six theatres with all of the necessary scenery, including the Grand Opera House in Columbus, Ohio, and Foster’s Opera House in Des Moines, Iowa.

Burridge, Mosess & Louderback letter, from the Waszut-Barrett collection.

Moses and Burridge were two successful and well-known artists when they partnered in 1887. Advertisements listed Louderback as the firm’s business manager. He was and established and well-respected owner of an auction house and fine art galleries. In November of 1888, Burridge pulled out of the studio because he and Louderback couldn’t agree on the running of the business. Louderback came from a “managing art” background while Burridge came from a “creating art” background.

Burridge, Moses, and Louderback’s paint boy Terwilliger eventually left the theatre profession, finding success in the banking industry after moving to Kansas. The year after Moses reunited with Terwilliger in Fox Lake, the “Liberal News” pictured R. J. Terwilliger as president of T-W Land and Mortgage Co. (April 27, 1911, the (page 11). The article noted the firm was “one of the oldest and one of the most active real estate concerns of the city of Liberal.” T-W Land and Mortgage Co., was described as “the first and last [business] encountered from the Rock Island depot on South Kansas Avenue.” Terwilliger was President, while C. M. Cole was Vice-President and M. F. Eidson, Secretary and Treasurer; Eidson was his son-in-law. The article continued, “The firm is the oldest and largest concern of its kind in Liberal. They do a general real estate business in farm, ranch and city property, and handle real estate loans of all kinds. Every member is a substantial business man of the town and all are well and favorably known to its citizens as men who are reliable in every way.”

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 722 – The Palette & Chisel Club Camp at Fox Lake, 1909

Part 722: The Palette & Chisel Club Camp at Fox Lake, 1909

Like theatrical managers, scenic artists also sought to escape the tranquility of the country, escaping the hard work of the studio and the noise of the city. Thomas G. Moses wrote of summer sketching trips to Fox Lake, Illinois, throughout the early twentieth century, especially in 1909.

In 1905 the Palette & Chisel Club at the Chicago Society of Artists formed an artistic community along in Fox Lake. The club was founded in 1895 and consisted of a variety of artists and craftsmen for the purpose of work and study. The members were “all wage-workers, busy during the week with pencil, brush or chisel, doing work to please other people” (Inland Printer, 1896). On Sunday mornings, they gathered for five hours to paint just for themselves.

Fox Lake provided haven far away from the hustle and bustle of Chicago. Many Sosman & Landis artists journeyed to Fox Lake whenever they could escape the studio for a few days, including Moses. In the beginning, the site was quite rustic with tents and cots. In 1906, one year after the group formed the camp, Moses joined the Palette and Chisel Club. At the time, the group consisted of approximately sixty local painters, illustrators, and sculptors. Of Moses’s first trip to their seasonal camp, he wrote, “June 1^st, I made my first trip to the Palette and Chisel Club camp at Fox Lake, Ill. Helped to put up the tent. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed it. I slept well on a cot. Made a few sketches. A very interesting place. I don’t like the cooking in the tent and there should be a floor in the tent. I saw a great many improvements that could be made in the outfit and I started something very soon.”

The Palette & Chisel Club camp tent at Fox Lake. Photograph taken by Stuart Fullerton.

The portable house purchased by Thomas G. Moses for the Palette & Chisel Club camp.

By 1908, Moses wrote, “I bought the portable house that we built years ago and at that time we received $300.00 for it. I finally got it for $50.00, some bargain. It cost $25.00 to remove it and we will put it up at Fox Lake in the Spring.” The house had been used in Forest Park that summer to show the attraction, “The Day in the Alps.”

The next summer, Moses wrote, “As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up. I gave the camp a portable kitchen and it was some class. I felt sure I would manage to get a camp outfit worth while and the boys all fell in line with me.” In 1909, he also wrote, “I also enjoyed sketching at the Lake. That is one thing I don’t think I could ever get enough of. But our business has to be taken care of before too much pleasure.”

There were two significant events over the course of the last five years that placed Fox Lake in more of a personal context for me. The first occurred in Minnesota, and the second occurred in Maui. In 2014, I discovered a map to Fox Lake drawn on the backside of a Scottish Rite drop destined for Winona, Minnesota, in 1909. This was the same year that Moses wrote, ““As we had put up the portable house in Fox Lake, I was better contented to go up.” Located near the top batten on the stage right side, I discovered the pencil sketch while placing the Winona scenery collection into temporary storage for the City of Winona. The backdrop was later sold in an online auction with many others from the scenery collection. It is now somewhere in storage at the Des Moines Scottish Rite, likely not to be seen for years.

Map on the back of Fox Lake drawn in the back of a scene painted for the Scottish Rite in Winona, Minnesota, 1909

The second event occurred in 2017. That fall, three very small paintings by Thomas G. Moses came into my possession from Moses. One of his great grandchildren sold these and a few others to me. Our friendship began, after he responded to a 1996 letter that I sent out in 2016. Three of the paintings from his collection were of the same size and vintage, with one titled “Fox Lake, 1909.” The other two depicted a distant lake and the Palette & Chisel Club’s portable house at Fox Lake. These three scenes painted on hardboard had remained with the family for decades; they meant something special to Moses.

Painting of the Fox Lake cabin of the Palette & Chisel Club camp by Thomas G. Moses, 1909

A view of Fix Lake painted by Thomas G. Moses, 1909

It was Moses’ view of Fox Lake that prompted my entire journey to the Hawaiian Islands.

They each remain a lovely reminder to me – take time for yourself. We all need to enjoy some form of scenic retreat, a respite from the daily grind. That is one of the reasons that I decided to start offering Scenic Art Retreats last year, hosted by Historic Stage Services. They are held at a stagecoach stop along a picturesque river in central Minnesota. Here is the link: http://www.historicstageservices.com/training.html

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 516 – Palette and Chisel Club, the Camp Tradition Draws Members to Fox Lake

Part 516: Palette and Chisel Club, the Camp Tradition Draws Members to Fox Lake

Palette and Chisel club house in Fox Lake, Illinois

The Palette and Chisel camp at Fox Lake, Illinois, was a scenic retreat for members of to escape the daily grind of Chicago. The town was incorporated on Dec. 15, 1906, and certified by the state on April 3, 1907. Located on the south shore of Pistakee Lake, Nippersink Lake, and Fox Lake, the three connected water bodies formed the Chain O’Lakes system. Early in the 20^th century, there were only a few hundred inhabitants who were residents of Fox Lake and lived in the area year round. However, during the summer months the population could reach thousands, as area hotels and cottages filled to their capacity.

Thomas G. Moses first visiting Fox Lake camp in 1907. I discovered an undated copy of a newspaper article about the camp at the Harry Ransom Center; this was during my research visit in 2016. The article was simply titled “The Camp Tradition Draws Members to Fox Lake,” and describes the appeal of the location so well. Here is the article in its entirety

“When the green gits in the trees” and the birds begin their annual house-planning campaign, Palette and Chisel Club members naturally experience sundry tugs and nudges which they ascribe to the lure of the camp. That time is now and we bow to its influence.

Andy why has the Club Camp such a hold on the affections of our members? Not, surely, because there are no other places for out door sketching. It is equally convenient for most members to visit the hundreds of other small lakes within easy distance of this city, or the Desplaines and Fox rivers of the Dune Country of northern Indiana. The Forest Preserves, the Chicago river and harbor, our older streets and buildings are even closer at hand.

No, it is not the convenience nor the suitability of the Club Camp that gives it a hold on us. It is the tradition it embodies and makes real.

For three decades a camp in the vicinity of Fox Lake has been a recognized Club institution. The actual location has changed several times. Sometimes it has been close to the water, sometimes near the top of the low hills which surround the lake. The present site was elected by Tom Moses and the late Dave Adam, and their choice was immediately ratified by the erection of a more pretentious camp building that we have ever before aspired to own.

At the time there were no other buildings in the neighborhood. In every direction one could gaze without interference upon nature undefiled. Now, to be sure, many resort cottages more or less adorn the surrounding hills, but they are neither numerous nor close enough to interpret work or pleasure at the Camp.

Those, however, who no longer feel contented to paint on the camp grounds can still make the Camp their headquarters while sketching in the vicinity. There are many desirable scenes within ease walking distance, and no one will deny that it is more inspiring to seek them out in company with fellow workers that to wander alone from some commercial beanery where there is no feeling of companionship or similarity of aims and tastes.

It is, in fact, this very companionship which constitutes the lure of the Camp. It is the companionship which keeps alive the Camp tradition. It stands high among the things which make our Club worth while. Let us all join hands in fostering and profiting by it.

C.H.C.”

To be continued…