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Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 851 – The Thomas G. Moses Art Exhibition of 1913

In 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… November 3^rd, I got all my framed pictures; oil, watercolor, pen and ink and lead pencil. While we were hanging the show, Father McCann dropped in a bought one canvas for $200.00 and another for $100.00, starting the sale in good shape.

Thomas G. Moses in his Oak Park studio, located on the attic level of his home.

An announcement in the “Oak Park Leaves” on Nov. 8, 1913, appeared under the heading, “Palette and Chisel Club Exhibits Sixty Paintings of Oak Park Man.” The article reported, “There is an exhibition of pictures by Thomas G. Moses, of 233 Euclid South, now on view at the Palette and Chisel club, 59 East Van Buren Street, Chicago. The opening-reception, which inaugurated the exhibition, was held Wednesday evening and the pictures may be seen until November 22. On weekdays the exhibition will be open from 10 to 7 o’clock, and on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings until 9 o’clock.” The article cited an excerpt from “The Cow Bell,” the Palette and Chisel club newsletter: “November 4 should is a great day for the club, as it does the Tom Moses exhibition. Uncle Tom, as he always will be to the camp contingent, has to be rooted out of his Oak Park residence like a poor retired badger, before Mac-Combs could get at the spoils. Tom has shied consistently at one-man shows and Mr. Moses had to put on blinders before Mac hitched him up for November 4. Mac says the painting Tom has done while jogging around these United Railways of America passes belief and also promises some rare treats to those who know him only as a painter of scenery to the crowned heads of Thespia.”

Painting by Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934).

The formal exhibition announcement stated, ‘There is not one of our members of whom we are more proud. There is probably not another painter in Chicago who has sought out and painted so many of the beauty spots of our own country. From a thousand sketches and paintings sixty have been selected, and are hung in our club to give our members and their friends an opportunity of seeing a representative collection of the works of Thomas G. Moses” (page 5).

Of the fall art exhibition, Moses wrote, “I sold 20 pictures; some very cheap to artist members. The whole sale netted only $675.00 which was not so bad for a scene painter.” Keep in mind that $675.00 in 1913 is approximately $17,546.32 today.

Moses’ continued, “A great many of the members didn’t expect to see so many or as good pictures as I had the pleasure of showing there. The amount of the sale went far ahead of what I thought it would. It was pretty good for me, and up to this date it was the most ever sold at the one show. I had 77 pictures on the walls, oil, water, temper, pen and ink, and pencil. Maine to California. That made it quite interesting. I received some very flattering newspaper notices. Mama and Rupert were responsible for the show, as I would have never gotten it up myself. We opened with a reception, which was well attended.” Rupert was Moses’ youngest son, and the one who would follow him in theatre work.

A few months later, Moses was mentioned again in the “Oak Park Leaves.” An article reported, “Mr. Moses presented this—a delightful little September landscape, painted in the neighborhood of Fox Lake, to the parochial guild, and the men folk at once showed their appreciation of his compliment by clubbing together and purchasing it for the new rector, Rev. F. R. Godolphin. A very handsome sum will be realized by the organization” (Saturday, December 06, 1913, page 38).

To conclude 1913, Moses wrote, “Pitt and the family were with us again this Christmas and we always enjoy them as the years fly along, and I think at the close of each that during the next, I will certainly make some progress in pictures and get nearer the goal for which I have been striving for so many years. But the everlasting grind and hustling for the mighty dollar has just about knocked all the ambition out of me and side tracked my picture game. My show this year has given me a lot of encouragement. I hope to make another some day. The [Palette & Chisel] boys want me to do one each year, but that is impossible. I should like to do a whole year’s sketching and I know at the end I would have something. The few weeks I get in a year don’t really mean much. I can hardly get started before I have to go. No vacation this year, and I regret it very much, as I think we are entitled to one each year.”

Thomas G. Moses painting on the Oakland docks in California.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 827 – Little Wayoff, 1913

A year after Thomas G. Moses was invited to a stage party hosted by the Palette & Chisel Club, his son Rupert was invited to an informal stag. In 1913, Rupert Moses received an invitation to an informal stag party, sponsored by the Pallet & Chisel Club. The letter was sent to Moses at the Sosman & Landis main studio address on 417 Clinton Street in Chicago. I encountered the invitation in the John H. Rothgeb papers at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin. It was part of the contents in an unlabeled file in an unprocessed collection.

Informal stag invitation addressed to Rupert Moses, 1913

The informal stag invitation announced, “Your presence is requested at the debut of Little Wayoff Saturday Eve, December Six Nineteen Thirteen” from “Gita Wayoff and husband.” The invitation included a ticket to admit “R. Moses” to “Little Wayoff” Palette & Chisel Club, 59 East Van Buren Street, Saturday, Dec. 6, 8:15 P.M.

“Little Wayoff” was billed as “an Eugenic Prodigy with Futuristic Tendencies,” sponsored by Gordon St. Clair. The production was “dressed by Gustave Baumann & William Watkins” with “orchestra muffled by Carl Krafft, Properties and plumbing by R. McClure and reception by Theodore Gladhand Lely.”

The cast for the production included:

Hesa Wayoff – an husband – Glen Scheffer

Gita Wayoff – his wife interested in the vote – Alex Kleboa

Little Wayoff – their only child aged six – A. J. Anderson

An Ice Bandidt – Mr. Wayoff’s half brother – R. V. Brown

The Art Wife – R. J. Davieson

Promise Wood Shavings – R. McClure

Prof. Glow-Worm – Art Instructor – R. V. Brown

Young Lady Sketcherines – Violet (John E. Phillips), Fay (De Alton Valentine), Gladys (R. J. Davison), Pearl (J. Jeffrey Grant), and Maude (D. Gut Biggs).

Hanging Committee – Hi Kroma (John E. Phillips), Siam Blooey (J. J. Grant), Harrison Wredo (D. Guy Biggs), Strontian Pale (Glen Scheffer), Paris Green (D. Valentine) and Hugh Newtral (R. J. Davison).

Lem – a janitor – W. C. Yoemans and Genevieve.

The “s’nopsis” for the first picture was Mrs. Wayoff’s husband’s kitchen not far from the Palette Chisel Club shortly after the great suffrage parade in the spring of 1913. The second picture was the sketch pasture of Prof. Glow-Worm’s class near the club’s summer camp at Fox Lake. The third picture was the hanging committee at play.

In 1908, newspapers reported that Ibsen’s Little Eyolf was sometimes referred to as “Little Way-off” (Star Tribune 26 Jan. 1908, page 19). However, “Little Wayoff” was also a parody of Ibsen’s work, included in “The Vassar Miscellany” (Vol. 24, 1894, page 227). Noted as “Life’s admirable paraody, wickedly entitled ‘Little Wayoff’ the book review commented the criticism was unjust. On June 17, 1895, the Baltimore Sun” mentioned “Little Wayoff” in the book review “Criticism – With Sugar” (page 8). The article reported, “ ‘Suppressed Chapter and Other Bookishness.” By Robert Bridges, author of ‘Overheard in Arcady.’ New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, Cushing & Co. It is not necessary to be dull to be wise, nor is long wind one of the requirements of a critic. A glance is pleasant if the eye sparkles, and a touch and away may leave an impress, while a heavier stroke would induce the wearied reader to exercise that wise discretion which is known as skipping. Those who have read ‘Drock’ in ‘Overheard in Arcady’ will need no introduction to the ‘Suppressed Chapters,’ from the ‘Dolly Dialogues,’ will appreciate the belated ‘Trilby’s criticism of Trilby,” and the absurd parody on Ibsen, of “Little Wayoff,” or the happiness of title and contents of ‘Literary Partition of Scotland.” On March 28, 1896, the “Courier-Journal” mentioned “Little Way-Off, a variation of Little Eyolf, is a clever addition to the work of the Norwegian Dramatist” (Louisville, Kentucky, page 9).

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 826 – The Palette & Chisel Club’s Stage Party – “The Shredded Vast,” 1912

Stage party invitation to Thomas G. Moses 1912.

Stag party invitation to Thomas G. Moses, 1912.

In 1912, Thomas G. Moses received an invitation to a stag party, sponsored by the Pallet & Chisel Club. I encountered the bright orange envelope in the John H. Rothgeb papers at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin. It was part of the contents in an unlabeled file in an unprocessed collection.

The back of Moses’ invitation noted, “Informal Stage. 8 p.m. This card admitting one only, must be present at the door.” It was a party hosted by the Palette & Chisel Club of Chicago. By 1911, the Palette & Chisel Club had one hundred members; we have no idea how many were invited to the party.

The Palette & Chisel Club was known for its remarkable parties. On June 5, 1921, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Some of the original entertainments of the club, given during the past years, are amusing to recall. “Il Janitore,” by George Ade, afterward became known as “The Sultan of Sulu.” At the time when newspapers were bringing influence to bear upon the Illinois Central to get them to electrify the roads into Chicago, the club produced a burlesque, ‘The Hog in Chicago’s Front Yard.” It might well be given again now. The electrification of the road is as much needed today as ever. ‘Carmine,” a take-off of the opera ‘Carmen,” was a marvelous production. ‘The Shredded Vast” was a huge comedy success. “Le Cabaret du Howard Pourii’ was another famous bit of humor and sarcasm” (page 79).

In 1906, the Palette & Chisel Club hosted Bohemian Night for Alphonse Mucha on the seventh floor of the Athenaeum Building Athenaeum Building. Before moving to their later quarters at 1012 N. Dearborn Ave., the club rented studio space in the Anthenaeum building on Van Buren between Michigan and Wabash Ave.

The May 18, 1912 event was at the new location – 59 E. Van Buren St. “The Shredded Vast” was designated “an operatic neoteric.” Musical selections by Offenbach, Bizet, Gounod, Donizetti, Planquette and Flowtow accompanied the book by Gordon St. Clair. The “Palette & Chisel Club Augmented Symphony Orchestra” included Emil Biorn, director, and Martin Baer, F. Tollakson, Max Gundlach, R. F. Ingerle, Max Boldt, Watkins Williams, Willie Marsh, W. J. McBride, and W. C. Kintz.

Scenery for the production was designed by Gus Baumann and executed by Watkins Williams, Gus Baumann and E. R. Burggraf. The costumes were designed by Baumann and “executed by wives & sweethearts.” Production notes included “Shoes by McBride. Beer by the gallon.”

The Synopsis of Scenes described “Scene 1 – sunset in wood in kingdom of Glum-Glum,” “Scene 2 – Twilight in studio of Artneo Teric. Elapse of one month,” and “Scene 3 – Throne-room of King Rum- Dum. Next day.”

The cast of characters included:

Rum-Dum [King of Glum-Glum] – R. F. Ingerle

Princess Palala [his daughter] – Holger W. Jensen

Artneo Teric [a futurist painter] – Ernest P. Thurn

Lord Beno [Vice reformer to the king] – Theo Lely

Chorus [woodsmen, soldiers, ballet, lords and ladies of the Court] – J. E. Phillips, George Ruckstaetter, B. A. Kleboe, Theo Lely, J. J. Grant

A final note stated, “Post-Ursine Vibrations by Fred S. Bersch and Glen C. Sheffer.”

Recognizing many of the artists, when I look at the list of names I am astounded at the room full of talent.

To be continued…