On July 14, 1911, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I went to
Chattanooga, Tenn., to make some sketches from Missionary Ridge, and took a run
up Mt. Lookout – believe me it is my last.
I don’t care for the sensation of the incline. I got some good photos and had Mr. Reif’s car
and chauffeur to take me anywhere. I
went the limit and saw everything, and made three pencil sketches. Closed another contract on the strength of my
sketches – $1,800.00.”
View from Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Moses was referring to Charles Reif, president of the Chattanooga
Brewing Company. Reif was the son of Brewery founder George Reif who
established the business in 1890. A George immigrant, Reif came to America in
1861, settling in Cincinnati where he worked at a meat packing plant. George
invested in beer, becoming a major shareholder in Jung Brewing Co until it was
sold in 1889. By 1890, the Reif family moved to Chattanooga, where George became
one of the principle men who bought the brewing business of Conrad Geise &
Co. The business was soon incorporated, as the Chattanooga Brewing Co. George
remained the president the company until his passing in 1899, when control of
the company was passed to his son, Charles, born in 1865.
Advertisement with George Reif listed as President and Manager. Son, Charles Reif is listed as the Secretary and Treasurer.
By 1911, the Chattanooga Brewing Co. was quite large,
distributing approximately 150,000 barrels of beer annually. Chicago hosted an
International Brewers’ Congress during October 1911 that was devoted to showing
visitors various beer exhibits. The Chattanooga Brewing Co. was one of many companies
who contracted Sosman & Landis to create their exhibit for the Brewer’s Show,
held at the Chicago Coliseum. Of the Chattanooga Brewery Co. project, Moses
wrote, “Our Chattanooga picture came out best of all. It was a perfect representation of the city
and the surrounding country.”
Chattanooga Brewing
In the spring of 1911 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Early in April
I started on the designs for the Brewers’ Show, in which they wanted to
demonstrate that beer is a food and not a beverage.” Other exhibitors with
exhibits by Sosman & Landis included the Schoenhoffen Brewing Company and
the Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company.
“Our Beers are Pure Liquid Food” “Chattanooga Brewing Co. advertisement.Advertisement from the “Jackson Daily News,” 10 Aug 1910, page 6 (2)
As the work for Brewer’s exhibits commenced, Moses wrote,
“We started Brewer’s work at the 20th Street studio, with an extra
number of men…The Brewer’s Show opened October 12th with enormous
crowds. Had a lot of trouble getting our
work into the building….Sosman was well pleased, as there was a good profit in
the work. Some of the brewers thought I
had overcharged them.” In the end, the Brewery Show of 1911 was a success. By
October 23, over 94,000 patrons attended the exposition and consumed over
500,000 glasses of beer (Statesman Journal, 24 Oct, 1911, page 9). Sosman &
Landis secured $25,350.00 in contracts for the event, today’s equivalent
purchasing power of $683,361.28 – a sizable amount of work. For the opening of
the show, the “Chicago Tribune” quoted Henry E. O. Heinemann, secretary of the
exposition, “Thousands of dollars have been spent for the foundations alone, so
tons of brewing machinery must be properly set. An army of painters,
decorators, scene builders, and machinists was busy all day and far into the
night getting everything ready for the opening” (12 October 1911, page 7).
The success of the Brewer’s Show did not last long, however,
as change was in the air. The Chattanooga Brewing Co. only operated until 1915,
when Prohibition forced them to close their doors. The brand lay dormant for
decades until recently. In 2010 the company was resurrected at 1804 Chestnut
St. In Chattanooga, Tennessee. Here is the new website if you are thirsty and in
the area: https://www.chattabrew.com/
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.”
Portrait of Russell Smith by James R. Lambdin and included in “Russell Smith, Romantic Realist” by Virginia Lewis (1956).
Russell Smith (1812-1896) took pride in his nature sketches. Tromping out into the wilderness with stool, paint box and easel was a time-honored tradition for many nineteenth century scenic artists. Sketching trips provided an opportunity to gather source material for future compositions, whether placed in an art gallery or on the stage. These plein air paintings, or portions thereof, were incorporated into many settings for the stage. Twentieth century scenic artists continued this practice, long after printed sources became readily avaialble, as it was a way to hone their artistic skills. Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) wrote of his sketching trips with fellow artists during the 1880s. His traveling companions included Henry C, Tryon, Walter Burridge, Edward Morange, John H. Young, Hardesty Marratta and many others, publishing his recollections of the outings years later. They all had ties to Russell Smith.
Scenic artists who were associated with the Düsseldorf School, such as Sosman & Landis artists David Austin Strong (1830-1911), also supported plein air painting, leaving the four walls of their studios to work from nature as it was integral to the artistic process. Strong was a contemporary of Smith who also sought training in Europe and became a prolific scenic artist in his own right. He was one of the original scenic artists for “The Black Crook” at Niblo’s garden in 1866 and later settled in Chicago, working at the Sosman & Landis studio. Strong’s work was well known throughout the United States in hundreds of theaters from New York, Boston, and Philadelphia to Chicago, Kansas and California.
I think back to Moses’ records describing the numerous sketching trips where he peacefully sat and captured the pristine beauty of mountain valleys, sunlit meadows, and babbling brooks. Their trips to the Catskills, Rocky Mountains, Canadian Rockies, New Mexico, California, and many other picturesque locations were immediately incorporated into both small-scale and large-scale projects, ranging from art exhibitions to scenic spectacles. The expansion of America’s railway system opened up possibilities for ambitious artists.
19th century sketching box sold on eBay
Detail of 19th century sketching box sold on eBay
Smith discussed in detail the need for nature studies throughout his journals. Virginia Lewis included many of these remarks in her 1956 book “Russell Smith, Romantic Realist.” Of note, Smith acknowledged that some artists replicated specific engravings or paintings, while he used his own materials. Of mentioning the need for nature studies, one director responded, “Oh what’s the difference so its pretty, you’ll spend much money and time making sketching tours when you could buy something just as good or better by Calame or Harding for fifty cents.” The manager was referring to the many lithographs available at the time by Alexandre Calame (1810-1864) and James Duffield Harding (1798-1863).
Calame was a lithographer and a popular artist associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting, as Strong had been. A Swiss landscape painter, Calame’s work was featured in numerous series of lithographs depicting picturesque mountain regions. Similarly, Harding’s work was readily available in print form for scenic artists to replicate. Harding was an English landscape painter, lithographer and author of drawing manuals. Harding’s “Lessons on Art,” “Guide and Companion to Lessons on Art,” “The Principles and Practice of Art,” and “Elementary Art, or the use of the chalk and lead pencil advocated and explained,” were widely sought after.
Much more could be said of both Calame and Harding, but the main issue at hand is Smith’s identification of artists whom opted for printed sources in lieu of sketching trips. Nature studies provide training for the artistic eye, something a printed work cannot do. Although the blue in a lithograph can be replicated, it is not the same as capturing the brilliancy of a clear blue sky. There is a depth of color that is lost in translation in print form.
The difference between the artists who easily purchased prints for reference instead of creating their own can be identifiable in their painting, taking on a flat and lifeless characteristic that accentuates any overall lack of skill. Sitting outside and observing nature, trying to replicate the color of atmospheric landscapes yields different results than those who dutifully copy a print. Smith continued to describe the artists who “captured the truth.”
Near the end of his life, Smith wrote, “What I am going to say of some scene painters I knew in early life I hope may not be attributed to the general tendency of the old to praise the past at the expense of the present. There were forty or fifty years ago, some, in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, that were true artists; men who could make a fine original drawing from nature, and paint a scene possessing much truth as well as beauty; and were not content to work from print only. Robert Jones, a pupil of Stanfield’s was one of these, but seemed to aim more in the style of Turner. Then there was James and William Coyle, both of whom had painted with Marinari in Drury Lane Theatre, were excellent in Gothic and Picturesque architecture. Whilst Harry Wilkins, a pupil of Naysmith’s, the Edinburgh landscape painter, was admirable in landscape, trees and rocks. Hugh Reinagle, a brother of the Royal Academician Reinagle, was also a very fine architectural painter. So was Mr. Hilliard, well known in New York. I have preserved specimens of the work of all these painters and any good artist can see the truth of what I say. Now there is such a glut of design, in fine woodcuts, engravings, chromes, photographs, and even paintings that a young man who can copy and desires to paint scenes, can for a little money, supply himself with a collection that will enable him to furnish a scene of any subject, or a view of any remarkable place; and like all easily acquired knowledge, is very shallow. As a consequence there are a very few scene painters now who could rank as an artist-studying and bringing from Nature their skill. Many believe that the same may be said of actors in general; but of that I cannot pretend to judge.”
Smith passed away in 1896. His work remains part of the American scenic art legacy, artists who saw value and benefit in gathering source material from nature. These were also artists who worked in both small scale and large scale, each requiring a unique skill set and distinct understanding of contrast, color, and detail for each. Many artists can produce small artworks, easily transported and hung on both private and public walls. Not all are able to successfully transition their ideas to a large-scale format that is best viewed from a distance. Tightly painted and detailed artworks become fuzzy from the back of an auditorium. The stage demands the separation of color and an increased contrast that allows the audience’s eye to work and see the illusion. Smith could do it all.
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 1st, 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
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
In 1909, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “July 10th, Mama, Mary and myself started for Ellenville, N.Y. where we met all the family, except Rupert. We had a fine vacation, which I have written in detail in my “Ellenville sketching trip of 1909.” Unfortunately, Moses’ travelogues have yet to be located for reference.
1879 map of Ellenville, New York
The first time that Moses mentioned Ellenville in his typed memoirs, however, was during 1903. At the time he wrote, “I also found time to take the family to Ellenville, N.Y. I made quite a number of sketches.” In many cases, family outings for the Moses family coincided with prime sketching locations. This often provided Moses with an opportunity to capture local scenes and gather resource material for future painting projects in the studio.
Scene near Ellenville, New York
Scene near Ellenville, New York
The region surrounding Ellenville had been drawing artists for quite a while when Moses first ventured to the picturesque area. Ellenville is located about 90 miles northwest of New York City and about ninety miles southwest of Albany. One of the oldest public roads in the United States also runs through Ellenville, “sanctioned” by the King and Queen of Holland. It was originally used by the Leni-Lenape Indians who traveled between the Hudson and Delaware valleys, later becoming known as the Minisink Road, the Old Mine Road and Kings Hoghway. It has since lost any historical character and is now known as simply Route 209.
Postcard of Ellenville, New York
Ellenville is located in the Rondout Valley, at the eastern base of the Catskill Mountains and the western base of the Shawanguk Ridge. Sandburg Creek and Beer Kill intersect in Ellenville to form the Rondout Creek, that then flows north to join the Hudson River near Kingston. The area is currently within the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Center.
In examining pictures of the area and the history of the town, I uncovered a few interesting tidbits about the area, the most interesting in how the village received its name. When the village constructed its first post office in 1823, it was known as Fairchild City. Named after a prominent landowner, it was during a meeting to discuss potential names for the village that Ellen Snyder queried, “Why not name if after me?” After prolonged discussions and the inability to select any other name, the residents decided to use the proposed name of Ellenville.
Another fun fact about the area is that on August 21, 1931, Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his run for presidency in Ellenville. His keynote speech began, “my friends and neighbors of Ellenville.” Roosevelt then touched upon his family’s connection with Ulster County, the significance of state parks, the beauty of the Catskills, and the challenges of progress. For more information about this beautiful area and its history, visit: https://findellenville.com/find-yourself-in-ellenville-ny/ellenvilles-historical-facts-and-figures/
Part 568: Chicago Industrial Exhibit at Brook’s Casino, 1907
In 1907, Thomas G. Moses recorded that one of his projects was “Brook’s Casino Exhibit of the sanitary and unsanitary workrooms in Chicago,” noting that it was “ some stunt.” He wrote, “I had to go among some awful places to get some sketches for the work and not far from the studio.” He was talking about the Chicago Industrial Exhibit held at Brooke’s Casino from March 11-17 in 1907.
In 1905, the Chicago Woman’s Club held a conference on Women in Modern Industry. Two years later they sponsored the Chicago Industrial Exhibit. This event was held to depict current industrial conditions, representing the labor that fed and clothed the “modern” world. There were many displays that contrasted sanitary shops with insanitary shops and unacceptable conditions. Moses helped create displays that revealed the hard and material side of life that occurred in factories and workshops. One of the objects of the overall exhibit was to influence legislation to investigate of the conditions of working women and children at the time.
There were “Process Exhibits in Modern Industry” that showed groups of young men and girls working in their trades, depicting shop conditions, the hours of work, how workers are paid by the piece and not the hour, the speed, the skill and the overall youth. There were booths that depicted, “A Night Scene in a Glass Factory in Pennsylvania,” “The Coal-breakers,” “Boy miners three miles from daylight,” “Stogie-making in Pittsburg,” “Rag-stripping,” “The Custom Tailor Shop,” and “Cash Girls and Delivery Boys.” Other areas depicted boot and shoe making, glove making, printing/bookbinding, candy wrapping, bakeshops, woodworking factories, laundry facilities, and much more.
Here is the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907. It included many photographs of the displays. Here is the link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89058507294%3Bview%3D1up%3Bseq%3D9
There was a handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit including many photographs of the displays. Here is the link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89058507294;view=1up;seq=9 It is a very insightful publication that depicted the “sweated industries” of the time, women in industry, protected machinery and occupational diseases.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
Photograph from the handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit in 1907.
During the conference, presentations discussions “The Child in Industry,” “Risks in Industry,” “The Power of the Consumer Over Industrial Conditions,” “The Immigrant in Industry,” “Women’s Fitness For Industrial Life,” “Women in Industry – Special Problems,” “Industrial Education,” “Women in Industry – Remedies,” and “Demonstrations in the Evolution of Textile Processes.”
In the “Sweated Industries” area a group of typical Chicago tenement houses were constructed so that the contents of several rooms were clearly seen from without. The purpose of the exhibit was to promote remedial legislation covering sweating in food and clothes products, and to improve conditions tending to lower the health and morals of the workers in the sweated trades, by attracting the attention of the public to the conditions as they existed.
There was also an exhibit of an “Insanitary Tenement Sweatshop- old-fashioned foot-power shop.” The handbook noted, “In a room such as this a child with scarlet fever was recently found sleeping in a pile of sweatshop clothing. Several members of the family were finishing pants in this room when discovered. In this particular case the place was closed by a Factory Inspector, and the clothing disinfected by the Health Department. How largely the recent epidemic of scarlet fever in Chicago was due to the fact that the clothing is manufactured in tenement houses under such conditions as these is a matter of conjecture. This shop is shown in opposition to the sanitary clothing shop with mechanical power.”
In this brochure there were some interesting statistics that provides a little peak into the history of working women:
-Of married women, 5.6% were gainfully employed
-Of gainfully employed women, 14.5% were married.
-There was a noted lack of occupation opportunity for women. In 1840, there were 140 employments open to women. By 1907, women were employed in 295 occupations, but over 86% were found in only 18 of these occupations.
The handbook stated, “Men seem to be crowding women out.”
Similarly, we remember why child labor laws were instituted. In 1907, the National Child Labor Committee called attention to the fact that there were no less than 450,000 children under 16 years of age at work in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits in the United States. This number did not include the thousands of children under ten years of age who sold newspapers and merchandise in the streets, nor the children classed as agricultural workers. The handbook included the statement, “The vast army of children, deprived of educational opportunities, stunted in growth, subjected too often to immoral influences, is a constantly increasing menace to our civilization.” In the history of the United States, that is really not that long ago.
After visiting the Jamestown Exposition in 1907, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We finished the trip by going to West Virginia on a sketching trip.” His first sketching trip to West Virginia was in 1885 with fellow scenic artists Henry C. Tryon and John H. Young. The three men had drifted from place to place, capturing picturesque scenes of the region. Finding lodging for three itinerant artists was far easier than a middle-aged married couple.
In 1907, Tom and Ella encountered a problem securing lodging in the area. Moses wrote that they visited “first Schell, no hotel, then to Blaire, W. Virginia, no hotel, then Kitzmillerville, Md. Across the river from Blaine, no hotel. Only a coal miner’s boarding house. Finally got the landlady to keep us overnight. Some come-down after our fine hotel at Norfolk.”
Map of Kitzmiller and Blaine, the area where Thomas G. Moses stayed with Ella Moses on a sketching trip during 1907.
The North Branch of the Potomoc River near Kitzmiller, Maryland
The river that Moses referred to is the North Branch of the Potomac River. Located on the wide and winding river was the Kitzmillerville. In 1907, the town derived its economic livelihood from the mining and transport of coal; it was the single most important industry in the town for 75 years. The town now has a Coal Mining Museum, celebrating its heritage and a designated historic district. The historic district is composed of approximately 175 buildings within the town of Kitzmillerville, a coal and lumber town. The town is now known as Kitzmiller.
Kitzmiller, Maryland
Landscape near Kitzmiller, Maryland
The area supported a variety of industries. In 1853 Ebeneezer Kitzmiller established a woolen mill and shirt factory. The first trains of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railroad arrived in the early 1880s, ushering in a new era of cutting and shipping lumber. By the late 1890s, coal companies made an appearance in the area. Among these were the Blaine Coal Co., the Garrett County Coal Co., the Potomac Valley Coal Co. and the Hamill Coal and Coke Company. Unlike may mining towns, Kitzmillerville was not a company town, the majority of houses owned by residents instead of coal or railway companies. The town prospered during the early twentieth century, reaching a peak population of 1500 during the late 1920s and supporting a range of business and entertainment, including an opera house. A series of unfortunate events contributed to Kitzmillerville’s decline, including repeated floods, the first significant one in 1924. In terms of economic devastation, strikes, the Depression, and a decrease in coal demand added to the shrinking of the town. Today, many of Kitzmillerville’s homes stand empty. The bustling town once visited by Tom and Ella Moses has been reduced to a population of 321. There are now only 126 households at the time.
Abandoned home in Kitzmiller, Maryland.
Picture of Kitzmiller home submitted with eligibility form for the Maryland Historical Trust. Here is the ink: https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Garrett/G-IV-C-176.pdf
Picture of Kitzmiller home submitted with eligibility form for the Maryland Historical Trust. Here is the ink: https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Garrett/G-IV-C-176.pdf
Picture of building in Kitzmiller submitted with eligibility form for the Maryland Historical Trust. Here is the ink: https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Garrett/G-IV-C-176.pdf
Across the river form Kitzmillerville is the small settlement of Blaine. Blaine remains a small unincorporated community in Mineral County, West Virginia. It is located near the intersection of West Virginia Route 42 and the North Branch of the Potomac River. Like Kitzmillerville, the community was named after businessman, James G. Blaine. Kitzmillerville.
Map showing Kitzmiller and Blaine, the area visited by Thomas G. Moses in 1907
Where Kitzmiller is located in relation to other eastern cities
Of their stay in the area during 1907, Moses wrote, “Got some good sketches and had a fine time. We remained at the boarding house. I have written this trip in detail.” Unfortunately, I have not located Moses’ travelogues about any of his sketching trips beyond what was published in the Palette & Chisel Club newsletter.
Part 564: Thomas G. Moses at the Jamestown Exposition, 1907
Postcard of the Jamestown Exposition, 1907
Map of the Jamestown Exposition grounds, 1907
1907 was a busy year for Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis studio. However, he managed to get away for short trip with his wife Ella. They traveled east to visit the word fair in Norfolk and stayed for a few while so that Moses to do some sketching in West Virginia. Their travels included New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Washington and Norfolk. They visited the Jamestown Exposition on September 27; it ran from April 26 to November 30 that year.
The Jamestown Exposition, 1907
The Jamestown Exposition commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony on May 13, 1607. It was held at Sewell’s Point on Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia, and celebrated the first permanent English settlement in America. The 367-acre site featured a port that hosted the rendezvous of more than 50 warships from around the world. Fourteen Nations were represented at the International Military & Naval Celebration. Sixteen warships from President Theodore Roosevelt’s newly modernized fleet were also in the harbor. On June 28, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson bought 474 acres for the base, including 367 acres of the exposition grounds. The site of the Jamestown exposition became part of the Hampton Roads Navy Base after World War I.
Ships at the Jamestown Exposition, 1907
Final attendance numbers were recorded as 2,758,692 for total attendance, with 1,401,409 paying for entry. Admission prices were fifty cents for adults and twenty-five cents for children. Newspapers reported that actual attendance numbers did not meet anticipated projections. There were both logistical and financial problems, as with many world fairs in America; the fair did not generate the expected revenue and a government loan was required to finish the preparations. Toward the end, there was a bustle of activity, and as the opening deadline approached construction materials became scarce. This necessitated the erection of a sawmill on site. Unlike previous world fair delays where the opening was pushed back a few days, the arrival of the ships in the harbor meant there was no option for any postponement.
Jamestown Exposition, 1907
Jamestown Exposition, 1907
Jamestown Exposition, 1907
Jamestown Exposition, 1907
On the fairgrounds there was an amusement area was known as the “Warpath,” with the tag line “Meet us on the warpath!” Attractions included a wild west show, cycloramas of Gettysburg and Manassas, the “Temple of Mirth,” the “Beautiful Orient,” “Streets of Cairo,” Ferrari’s Wild Animal Show, “Destruction of San Francisco,” Baby Incubator, Deep Sea Diving, the “Klondike Gold Mine,” Princess Trixie and Paul Revere’s Ride, the Old Mill, “Fair Japan,” Colonial Virginia, the Ostrich Farm, American Monorail Exhibit, plus an Intra-Mural and Miniature railway concession. In 1975, twenty of the remaining exposition buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an entire historic district.
Of their visit to the Jamestown Exposition, Moses wrote, “Took the boat from Washington to Norfolk and had a delightful trip immensely, excepting that we found no art gallery in the exposition.” By this time, Moses was a member of both the Salmagundi Club in New York and the Palette & Chisel Club in Chicago, continuing with his fine art work. Previously on the trip, Tom and Ella visited the Carnegie Art Gallery, This was Moses’ first time to the Carnegie Art Gallery and he was delighted with the various artworks.
Part 545: Thomas G. Moses’ Annual Colorado Sketching Trip, 1906
In 1906, “The Oak Park Leaves” reported, “Thomas G. Moses, the artist, with his wife and daughter Lillian starts next week for Colorado, where he will do a month’s sketching. He will make colored sketches in the Garden of the Gods, Ute Pass, Ruxton’s creek, Cripple Creek, Silver Plume and Georgetown, and expects to get some brilliant studies, as the color in Colorado is said to be as strong as Arizona and New Mexico” (7 July 1906, page 20).
Scene from Garden of the Gods, west of Colorado Springs, Colorado
Scene from Garden of the Gods, west of Colorado Springs
For those unfamiliar with this region of the United States, Garden of the Gods is located in Colorado at the foot of Pike’s Peak, west of Colorado Springs. The area is known for its massive rock formations; they appear to be bursting through the earth’s surface. It is magical to see brilliant orange-red rock against a bright blue sky. My husband and I first drove through the area with our infant daughter Isabelle during the spring of 1998. We even celebrated her first birthday in Colorado Springs. While returning from our trip to USITT in Long Beach, California, we dawdled to Colorado Springs, veering off on unpaved roads to sightsee at every opportunity. Clouds of red dust rise up when the wind sweeps through an area, enhancing the foreign appearance of the rocky outcrops. Garden of the Gods is a sacred place for many people, and has inspired artists for generations. It is the color, the light and the contrast that people want to capture. Driving along the dusty roads, we had to replace the air filter in our car by the time we reached the town with an automotive store, as the small red particles clog everything.
Scene from Garden of the Gods, west of Colorado Springs
After Moses sketched Garden of the Gods, he continued along Ute Pass, Ruxton’s creek near Manitou, Cripple Creek, Silver Plume and Georgetown. The Ute’s name for the pass was “El Puerto del Sierra Almagre,” which means “Doorway to the Red Earth Mountains.” The buffalo trail along through the pass was initially used to transport salt from Bayou Salade, the salt valley of South Park, to trade in Santa Fe and Taos. By the 1860s, Ute trail became a wagon road to transport people and goods to mining towns, such as Leadville.
A section of the Ute Pass trail still being used during 1912
A view from Ute Pass Trail
Abandoned railroad tracks that were once used to transport goods and people to mining towns in Colorado
The pass skirts along the north side of Pikes Peak through Fountain Creek canyon. West of Manitou Springs, the pass climbs 3,000 feet to its summit in Divide, reaching 9,165 feet. Starting in 1888, the Colorado Midland Railway ran tracks through Ute Pass to reach the mining communities in Leadville, Aspen, and Cripple Creek. As Moses and his family toured the area, they stopped at Ruxon’s Creek, Cripple Creek, Silver Plume and Georgetown.
Locomotives once brought goods and people to distant mining towns throughout Colorado
The Midland Colorado Railroad near Elevenmile Canyon in Colorado. Photo by Wm Henry Jackson
Cripple Creek, Colorado
Cripple Creek, Colorado, with Pike’s Peak in the distance
Georgetown, Colorado
Silver Plume, Colorado
Silver Plume, Colorado, when it was a bustling mining community
Silver Plume, Colorado
Of the trip, Moses wrote, “I got my annual sketching trip to Colorado with my big sketching trunk, made especially for this work, and it is very successful. Ella, Lillian and Miss Adair went with me. All details will be found in “Colorado Trip of 1906” which proved to be a fine trip.” I have been unable to locate any of Moses’ travelogues, only those published in Palete & Chisel club newsletters and Oak Park newspapers.
Moses’s first sketching trip to Colorado was in 1884 (see past installments #192-197). He published his adventure in the Palette & Chisel newsletter during 1928. His articles were called “Tom Moses’ Trips” with the first one about his trip to Breckenridge, Colorado, in 1884. That year, Moses accepted quite a bit of “night work” to fund the trip. He 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 every day 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.”
At the time he was twenty-eight years old and had never visited the mountains before. The ages of his traveling companions were Young (26 yrs.), Morange (19 yrs.), and Maratta (20 yrs.).
View of Pike’s peak that reminded me of Thomas G. Moses’ quote that compared it to a dish of strawberry ice cream
Moses wrote of their first glimpse of the Rockies, “We were all up and dressed before six o’clock. We discovered a bright golden and pink object on the horizon away to the northwest. The porter informed us with a hearty laugh at our ignorance, that that was the snowcapped Pike’s Peak, one hundred and twenty-five miles away. We thought he was joking; it was simply wonderful and resembled a dish of strawberry ice-cream. The day was bright and hot, but we kept our eyes on that ice-cream… As we drew nearer to the foothills the outlook became more interesting; the ice-cream cone was becoming more blue, and the richer blues and purples were creeping in between the great opalescent distance and the golden brown of our foreground, framing a picture that was far beyond our wildest dreams of what was in store for us. We sat at the window or stood on the platform every moment we could, afraid that we would miss some of it.” As the group headed to Royal Gorge, Moses recorded, “The wonderful rock formation was beyond our wildest imagination. While we had seen many photos and magazine cuts of this exact spot, we were very much surprised by the color.” For the remainder of his life, the mountains would beckon to Moses and he would continue to paint them whenever he could.
Part 527: Thomas G. Moses’ Sketching Trip to Ogunquit, Maine, in 1905
I return to the life of Thomas G. Moses during 1905. In 1904, Moses joined the Salmagundi club while living in New York and in 1906 he joined the Palette & Chisel Club after returning to Chicago. The year in between Moses wrote, “I am getting the picture bug again, and I will have to do something in that line. My little success in New York had a good effect on me, but was not detrimental to my regular commercial activities. I will always keep them lively – that will always be my regular stand-by.”
Moses recorded that on “June 18th, after several months of intense hustling, Ella and I broke away for the east, going to Ogunquit for a sketching trip, all of which I have written in full in my ‘Ogunquit Trip.’” I have not located any of Moses’ travelogues to date, only the articles that he published in the Palette & Chisel club newsletter; the Ogunquit trip is missing. In 1905, the “Oak Park Leaves” reported, “Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Moses of Euclid avenue have gone to Ogunquit, Maine, where Mr. Moses will study and sketch the rock-bound coast” (24 June 1905, page 17).
Painting by Thomas G. Moses, Low Tide, Ogunquit, 1905. This 16″ x 20″ painting sold at auction.
Ogunquit was a small shipbuilding community in Maine located on the coast near the southern border of the state. The Abenaki people, native to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine used the word “ogunquit” to describe the region. “Ogunquit” in the Alnombak language means “beautiful place by the sea.” After the arrival of the European colonists, many of the Abenaki tribes moved north into Canada. Today, the 2000 Abenakis live on two reservations near Quebec. There are 10,000 Abenaki descendants scattered throughout the New England region too.
Postcard of Bald Head Cliff, Ogunquit, Maine
Postcard of Bald Head Cliff, Ogunquit, Maine
Postcard of the Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
Postcard of the Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine
The Ogunquit community fostered two schools of art: one by Charles Woodbury and the other by Hamilton Easter Field, a student’s of Woodbury’s.
Portrait of Charles Woodbury by his friend John Singer Sargent.
Charles Herbert Woodbury (1864-1940) was born in Lynn, Massachusetts and studied art in Boston, becoming the youngest honoree of the Boston Art Club at the age of 17. In 1886, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He taught art while attending MIT, and opened his first art studio by 1887. He married one of his former students, Marcia Oakes and they travel together to Europe.
His artistic studies from January to June 1891 included attending the Académie Julian in Paris. He then explored the techniques of the modern Dutch painters in Holland before returning to the United States. Woodbury’s American winters were spent painting in Boston, while summers were occupied with painting scenes of the New England coast and Nova Scotia.
Woodbury eventually spent his summers in one particular location – Ogunquit, Maine. There he founded the Ogunquit Summer School of Drawing and Painting. He first visit to Ogunquit was in 1888. That summer, he rented a room at Captain Charles Littlefield’s “Ogunquit House” on Shore Road where he painted his first scenes of the Ogunquit River and wharves. At the time, the area was nothing more than a cluster of fishermen’s homes, yet Woodbury immediately recognized the potential for artists.
Woodbury’s Studio in Ogunquit, Maine
Charles Woodbury in Ogunquit, Maine
By 1896 Woodbury established his own studio in Perkins Cove, a picturesque inlet with colorful fishing boats. In 1898 he opened his “Ogunquit Summer School of Drawing and Painting.” It was later re-named “The Art of Seeing – Woodbury Course in Observation” by 1923. Woodbury taught at Ogonquit for thirty-six summers, enrolling between sixty and one hundred students in a six-week course of “painting and drawing from nature.” The course was divided into three parts, with a drawing course held in Boston, just prior to his summer move to Ogunquit every summer. The Ogunquit art school ran from approximately mid-July to mid-August and remained in continuous operation from 1898 until his death in 1940. The only exception was between 1917 and 1924 when Woodbury closed the school to work for the US government.
Painting by Charles Woodbury
Painting by Charles Woodbury
Woodbury and his students rendered realistic depictions of local life and the sea, rejecting the modernist innovations that were popular at the time. He taught his “art of seeing,” which emphasized subjectivity in art. In other words, he promoted how things seemed, rather than how they appeared – just like many theatrical settings during the nineteenth century. Woodbury believed that every student, no matter the degree of talent, could benefit from his drawing and painting courses. His schools attracted both professional and amateur artists alike.
Fundamental to Woodbury’s teaching methodology was his emphasis on the powers of observation and memory. He emphasized the importance of including motion into each composition. Woodbury also introduced the use of motion pictures as a teaching device by 1928. This was to facilitate his students comprehension of things and people in motion; creating quick and accurate sketches utilizing basic artistic principles. Seeing and understanding movement was fundamental to his artistic approach. He was known to say, “Paint in verbs, not nouns.” In Chicago, Moses commented on his own artistic approach in 1905, writing, “I will always keep them lively.”
Woodbury’s approach to marine painting shifted the traditional viewpoint, placing the composition midway over the waves. He was considered by some to be the greatest marine painter after Winslow Homer. Woodbury also published three books that defined his art education philosophy: Painting and the Personal Equation (1919); Observation: Visual Training Through Drawing: (1922); and The Art of Seeing (1925)
In addition to teaching at his own school in Ogunquit, Woodbury taught in Boston and at the Wellesley College. He was a visiting art professor at both Dartmouth College and the Art Institute of Chicago. It was in Chicago where he met Thomas Moses, prompted Moses to travel east for a sketching trip. Woodbury’s students came from as far away as California to study in Ogunquit, setting up their easels for plein-air painting. Moses had always been a plein-air painter, traveling throughout the United States since the 1880s to gather information for both his fine art works and painted settings for the stage.
Woodbury’s approach to seeing meshed with that of scenic artists who created stage settings. Whether creating a large-scale or small-scale compositions, each method was based on the art of seeing. As a “Chicago Sunday Tribune” article noted in 1892, scenic art of high grade was “only different from other studio art in its breadth – a mere question of scale” (Chicago Sunday Tribune, Dec, 18, 1892, page 41).
The same year that Moses passed away, Woodbury’s art school brochure noted, “If the few who create and the many who appreciate have a common basis of training in the value of things seen, felt and heard, the gap between life and the arts will be filled and the gain be as great to the general education as to the artist.” He desperately hoped to establish “a universal graphic language,” where art was an essential part of everyone’s life.
