Women Scenic Artists – Page 2

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 922 – Little Theresa Sparks, Scenic Artist

As an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, I created an index for Thomas G. Moses’ diary and scrapbook. It was part of an independent study course with Prof. Lance Brockman. I spent countless hours trying to track down sources for the newspaper clippings in Moses’ scrapbook, paging through crumbling theatre journals and scrolling through reels of microfilm.

Fast-forward three decades. I am sitting on the floor of my basement office, organizing my scenic art files. A small slip of paper falls to the floor; it’s almost illegible because the font is so small and I have no idea where I last set my reading glasses. I take a picture with my phone to enlarge the print and quickly scan the article; one name pops out – Little Theresa Sparks.

Her is the article: “Little Theresa Sparks is another scenic artist who may be expected to reach the top. Miss Sparks is now employed with Bodine-Spanger Studio, Chicago. Two years ago she was given her first opportunity to demonstrate her ability when then manager of the Halsizer Display Background Studio, Des Moines, Iowa, gave her employment.”

I was immediately transported back to Wilson Library’s basement, complete with hard chairs, microfilm machines, and an endless stream of quarters. It was in the basement of Wilson library that I carefully transcribed each line of the text from Moses’ newspaper clippings. I didn’t own a computer at the time and would later type up these notes. In hindsight, my handwritten transcriptions were the best thing I could have done, as much of the information etched itself in my memory.

“Little Theresa Sparks” was the earliest mention of an historic female scenic artist for me. I realized there could be a hidden treasure trove of documents that mentioned women scenic artists. There would be one – newpapers.com. So much history about women technicians has been left out of theatre history books.

Theresa “Tressa” M. Sparks was born in Jasper, Iowa on May 29, 1894. The 1895 Iowa State Census lists the actual residence as Lynngrove in Jasper.” She was the only daughter of William P. Sparks and Rosa “Rosy” Matheny. Both William and Rosy were also from Iowa, with her paternal grandparents from Kentucky and Indiana, and her maternal grandparents from Iowa and Virginia. William was a piano salesman and Rosy, a seamstress. In 1905, the family was living at 1216 Third Avenue in Grinnell, Iowa.

Theresa Sparks, called “Tessa Sparks,” pictured in her 1913 high school yearbook.

Unbelievably, I found a picture of Tressa. She was listed in the 1913 issue of “Grinnellian,” Grinnell’s High School Year book. Active in debate, orchestra and the glee club, she even make it the debate preliminaries that year. At Grinnell High School, the drawing and penmanship instructor was Miss Bessie Wallace. Wallace’s education was from the Iowa State Teachers College (1907) and Chicago School of Art. This would have been Tressa’s initial Chicago art connection. Tressa completed college, but was back as Grinnell High School as an instructor of zoology, chemistry, and the Nature Study Club. This seems to have been her first job.

Theresa Sparks, called “Tessa Sparks,” pictured as a high school instructor in 1917.

By 1919, Sparks was living in Des Moines, Iowa, and was listed in the City Directory as an artist rooming at the Hotel Pershing.

This is likely where the article that I located fits in: “Little Theresa Sparks is another scenic artist who may be expected to reach the top. Miss Sparks is now employed with Bodine-Spanger Studio, Chicago. Two years ago she was given her first opportunity to demonstrate her ability when then manager of the Halsizer Display Background Studio, Des Moines, Iowa, gave her employment.” Note that there is no big deal made about her gender.

The Bodine-Spanger Co. advertised as “Designers and Manufacturers of Decorative Backgrounds for Show Windows,” with their show rooms and studio in Chicago. They placed advertisements during 1918 in the “Merchants Record and Show Window” (Vol. 42 and Vol. 43). Located at 116 Chatham Court, Chicago, George A. Smith was listed as the Eastern Representative with offices in 1777 Broadway, New York. In 1918, the firm partnered with the Koester School to give instruction in the Decorative Painting that “made his studio famous in the Window Display Field.” Mr. Bodine was credited as being the “originator of this style of decoration” and would teach students how to mix paints, what paints to use, how to get all the color combinations, how to make mottled effects, blending of colors, stencil designs and how to do decorative landscape painting “in the modern treatment by the Bodine method.” The company was initially called j. C. Bodine, and later the Bodine-Spanger-Janes Co.

From “Merchants Record and Show Window.”

The 1920 US Federal Census lists provides a little more information about Sparks as she was recorded in both Des Moines and Chicago. In both instances she was, 25 yrs. old, single, and listed as an “artist” working in the “studio” industry. In Chicago, she was boarding in

at 1423 LaSalle St (Chicago’s Ward 21). She was also listed as living with her parents in Des Moines. That year William P. Sparks was still working as a piano salesman, going house to house.

Something happened by 1930, however, as Sparks returns to Grinnell with her parents. It was likely the market crash of 1929. The US Census lists the family living as living at 195 Third Ave. That year, Theresa submitted “none” for occupation, whereas her father was now listed as a musical instrument salesman and her mother as a seamstress.

The 1940 census still lists Sparks as still living at home with her parents, now ages 72 and 70 respectively. She listed no occupation after her return to the small town of Grinnell, Iowa, in Poweshiek County. It appears as if she was taking care of aging parents while living at 1216 Third Street, Grinnell, Iowa.

Sparks passed away on June 15, 1970 and is buried next to her mother Rosa.

Theresa “Tessa” Sparks is buried next to her mother in Grinnell, Iowa.

Over the past 3 ½ years, I have explored the lives of at least two-dozen women scenic artists, with careers that spanned from the early nineteenth century to early twentieth century; one even ran a studio. These are individuals whose name actually made it into print, meaning that they were but a small percentage of women actually working as scenic artists for theater. I think of all those unmentioned souls, the one’s whose mere presence may have been a liability to a scenic studio at that time.

As with other scenic artists of the day, the women painted for a variety of venues and were well skilled in many subjects. When you factor in the incredible social pressures for women to give up any career upon marriage and focus on raising children, it is amazing that a few dozen were still mentioned in the newspapers.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 921 – Katherine Maxey, 1916

While exploring the Triangle Club’s 1916 show “Safety First,” I came across the name of a female scenic artist – Katherine Maxey. I was fascinated that women did not perform in the play, yet one provided a stylized drop curtain for the prologue.

Of the scenery for the production, “The Brooklyn Citizen” described, “One innovation is in scenery. Instead of one set for the play there are three distinct scenes, with a special drop curtain for the prologue” (3 Dec, 1916, page 10). The design for the show was attributed to Bakst and the drop curtain Maxey painted in the “Bakst style.”

Thomas G. Moses’ commented the scenery was “very odd.” Moses was on site to supervise the scenery installation, suggesting that Sosman & Landis delivered much of the scenery for the production. A few newspaper reviews suggested the Princeton students produced the entire show, yet Maxey was specifically named and not a student at Princeton.

Katherine U. Maxey was born on September 13, 1887, meaning she was 28 years old when she painted the drop curtain.

The 1910 United States Federal Census lists Maxey as living in Wheaton Ward 3, DuPage County, Illinois. Her occupation is listed as an “illustrator,” working in the art industry. One of six children, she was the eldest of four still living at home in 1910. Maxey’s father was Francis J. Maxey, listed as a meat packer, and her mother Anna C. Regan, listed as a homemaker. At the time, Katherine was 22 years old and her younger siblings were ages 16 (Dorothy), 14 (George R.), 10 (Roberta), and 3 (Paul).

I was surprised to discover that at the age of 19, Maxey was working as an illustrator in Chicago. On Feb. 17, 1907, the “Times Dispatch” reported Katherine Maxey was the artist for the March issue of “The Technical World Magazine” (page 34). She designed the cover art.

Katherine Maxey’s cover art fot the March 1907 issue of “The Technical World Magazine.”

By 1913 Maxey applied for a consular registration certificate to travel to Madrid, Spain. The purpose of her travel was listed as study without any elaboration. As an artist and illustrator, I suspect it was for artistic study.

In 1918, Katherine married Alfred Ray Patton (October 6, 1886-1926) in Evanston, Illinois. Their marriage was announced in “The Paxton Record” on January 31, 1918 (page 4):

“Announce Marriage of Daughter.

The Record received Tuesday morning a card from Mr. and Mrs. Francis Joseph Maxey of Evanston, Ill., announcing the marriage of their daughter, Miss Katherine Wisula, to Mr. Alfred Ray Patton of Clarence, on Saturday, January 20, 1918. They will be at home to their friends after the 15^th of April at their apartments in Wheaton, Ill. The groom, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. LaFayette Patton of South Button, is well known in Paxton, having attended school here. The bride is a lady of unusual attractions and is in the front rank of society in Wheaton. As an artist she ranks high and has taken many premiums in this country and Europe in mural decorations and designs. Her work adorns many art institutes in Madrid and other cities in Spain. It is with pleasure that the Record unites with their friends in extending congratulations.”

She now signed her art Katherine M. Patton, going by Katherine Maxey Patton.

The next year, Maxey exhibited at the Thirty-First Annual Exhibition of Water Colors, Pastels and Miniatures by American Artists at the Art Institute of Chicago from May 15 to June 15, 1919. Her painting was “The Watertank.” At the time, Maxey’s address 718 Southwest Street, Wheaton, Illinois. The couple soon moved to California.

Her husband was only a year older and seemed to lead a fairly average life. Born in Clarence, Illinois, his WWI Draft Registration Cards lists that he was employed as an attorney with Chicago Title Trust. Described as tall and slender, Patton had grey eyes and light hair. Sadly, the marriage last less than a decade. On Nov. 30, 1926, Patton passed away in Pasadena, California. No cause of death was listed. His obituary noted: “Alfred Ray Patton, husband of Katherine Maxey Patton of Wheaton, Ill. Passed away Tuesday, Nov. 30 at Pasadena, California. Son of Mrs. Ella Patton; brother of Ruth and Harry Patton. Burial from Patton home at Paxton, Ill., early Sunday afternoon, December 5^th” (Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 3, 1926, page 37).

By 1930, Maxey divided her time between Pasadena and Chicago, still working as an artist and interior decorator. From May 24 – April 15, 1931, “Katherine Maxey Patton” exhibited at the “Festival of Religious Art: Religious Art by Artists of Chicago and Environs.” That same year, she was also mentioned in an article about the American Association of University Women. On August 18, 1931, the “Kenosha News” reported, “Two very interesting programs have been scheduled to end the year’s work. The first will feature the appearance of Mrs. Katherine M. Patton, National Academy of Art, Chicago, who will speak on ‘Old and New Masters,’ April 19.”

There is little published during the remainder of the decade about Maxey or her work. In 1937 she traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, a trip that inspired a series of watercolor paintings. One of these paintings has survived and was recently up for sale at auction.

Painting by Katherine Maxey Patton sold in at auction.

By 1940, Maxey had permanently moved to Pasadena, California, listing her occupation as an interior decorator. She still continued to paint murals, watercolors and oil paintings. Her name appeared in the “Decatur Daily” on March 11, 1956, in an article about the décor in Harry Malone’s Bookmead home in Decatur, Alabama. The “Japanese type handcrafter wall paper done by Katherine M. Patton” was a feature of the dining room. Very little else is published about Maxey as she grew older. However, in 1966, Katherine Maxey Patton, along with Dorothy and Jean Maxey were listed as contributing funds for the Pasadena Playhouse, to “Save the Pasadena Playhouse from fiscal ruin” (“Pasadena Independent,” 10 Aug. 1966, page 64).

From the “Decatur Daily” (Decatur, Alabama) March 11, 1956, page 16.

In 1972 the “Star-News” reported, “Our society editor, Ruth Billheimer, advises that a subscriber phoned to report that artist Katherine Maxey Patton, who lives on Rio Grande and is a sister of the late actor, Paul Maxey, heard crows in her pine tree carrying on and making a great ado. Assuming it was a cat in the tree that was behind the raucous, she got out her binoculars. Suddenly, reported the informant, there came a great crashing sound from among the branches – and out flew and EAGLE. (Or condor, fugitive from the Ojai fire?)” (Pasadena, August 28, 1972).

Maxey passed away in Los Angeles in 1984.

Painting attributed to Katherine Maxey Patton posted at Askart.com

To be continued…

Travels of a Scenic Artists and Scholar: Mr. Smith was Assisted by His Daughter

In 1907, the “Boston Sun” published an article about hanging a drop curtain painted by Russell Smith in 1872. The curtain was a replica of an earlier version painted in 1856-1857. The article noted, “In the painting of the curtain Mr. Smith was assisted by his daughter who executed the drapery effects, which were her specialty.”

Illustration of the drop with curtains by Mary Smith for the Academy of Music.

Russell Smith, his wife and two children all painted. Smith married Mary Priscilla Wilson, in 1838; she was a talented artist in her own right. Two were born to the couple, a boy and a girl. Xanthus Russell was born in 1839, and his sister Mary in 1842. Russell encouraged his children’s interests in art. This is not unusual as many artists who have children are eager to share the joy of sharing their trade and the fulfillment of art. Russell even traveled to Europe with the entire family to experience historically significant and artistic landmarks together from 1851 to 1852.

Of their talents, Xanthus was recorded as specializing in landscape and marine subjects, while Mary was recognized for her paintings of animals. It is not unusual that the children also helped their father with his theatre projects, hence Mary specializing in painting draperies for drop curtains. The two certainly worked together on many projects. In 1876, both Russell and his daughter exhibited their artworks independently at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Her early passing only two years later had a profound effect on Smith and he continued to talk about his daughter until the end of his life.

In 1894, Russell Smith spoke of his career in an interview with “The Times” of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (20 May 1894, page 16). The interview was two years before his death, and Smith’s recollections convey the profound sense of loss for not only a child, but also a kindred spirit; a fellow artist’s flame who was snuffed out much too early. Even the illustration of Smith accompanying the article conveys exhaustion, an emptiness that has worn down his features.

Here is what the article noted about Smith’s daughter:

“Naturally, the sweetest memories of the veteran painter linger about his dead daughter, Mary. Both of his children, Mary and Xanthus, naturally inherited the talent of their parents, for Russell Smith’s wife was also a water-colorist of ability. His son, Xanthus, who lives at the castle with his father, served during the was under Admiral Dupont, and his knowledge of the war has been repeatedly utilized in illustration work.

“Mary Smith, who died seventeen years ago, was best known as a successful painter of animals, and during her short life painted not less than 300 pictures. The old scene painter touches tenderly a little book of drawings made by Mary when traveling in Europe with her parents. At that time she was only 9 years old. Among the drawings are representations of a gaily-dressed lady at a piano, a procession of Swiss peasants entering a church, Welsh women in blue coats driving pigs to market.

“Like all tender-hearted women, Mary Smith loved flowers and animals. She delighted in her garden and raised large families of poultry. Chickens she loved especially and at all seasons of the year had a basket of chicks hanging on her easel.

In the parlor of the castle hangs a portrait of a gallant rooster, about which the artist tells this story: ‘Not content with the days labor Mary would rig up a large lamp on winter nights and make careful life sized studies from an old hen or lordly rooster. It required no little perseverance or determined will with occasionally a rap with a maulstick to make them even tolerable sitters, but the result was always a successful interpretation of chicken character. On one occasion when the sitter was shown his portrait he at once made a determined assault upon I t and the study still shows the gashes about the head made with his pugnacious bill.’

“It was Mary Smith’s desire that at her death a portion of her earnings should be invested in such a manner as to yield an annual income of $100, this to be awarded by each years’ exhibition committee of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for the best picture in oil or watercolors painted and exhibited by a resident woman artist in Philadelphia. The Mary Smith prize has regularly been awarded since 1879, and among the women who have received the honor are Cecilia Beaux, Alice Barber Stephens. Emily Sartain and Lucy D. Holme.”

Mary may be the first publicly recognized female scenic artist in America, and her specialty was draperies.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 586 – Women employed at the Olympic Music Hall in 1908

Part 586: Women employed at the Olympic Music Hall in 1908

Thomas G. Moses worked on scenery for the Olympic Music Hall in Chicago during 1908. An interesting article was published that year about the women who managed the venue (Inter Ocean, 15 Nov. 1908, page 32). Considering the continued struggles of women in the United States and recent legislative setbacks nationwide, this article was a breath of fresh air for me. Lottie B. Akass, Nellie Revell, Minnie Sleeper were credited for their knowledge and skill 110 years ago; this still at a time when women could note vote. Here is a little background on the individuals mentioned in the article below.

Article about the women managing the Olympic Music Hall in 1908, from the” Inter Ocean,” 8 Nov 1908, page 30

John J. Murdock, was listed as the general manager of the Olympic Music Hall in 1908. L. B. Akass was listed as the assistant manager. Murdock was previously the theatrical manager of the Masonic Temple Theatre in Chicago, married performer Grace Akass, a singer from Indianapolis. Murdock was head of the Western Vaudeville Manager’s Association, and later a large stockholder in the organization headed by Keith, Fox, Warner, Metro-Goldwyn.

Grace Akass was from Indianapolis and entered into vaudeville with a unique singing act.

By 1903, she was performing the “The Girl With the Auburn Hair” (Indianapolis Journal, 16 March 1903, page 3). Akass began her professional career in approximately 1899. Her sister, Lottie Akass, also toured with the production. Lottie performed as the onstage organist, playing a portable organ that accompanied all of the sacred scenes sung in the production’s church scene. Lottie was also a distinguished singer and performer.

Minnie Akaas (left) and Lottie Akaas (right)

While the two sisters were on tour, they made snapshots of the people and places they visited, creating pictorial travelogues. They had several cameras and a trunk that held all of the necessary supplies to create a dark room for developing the results of their “daily work abroad” (The Indianapolis News, 18 March 1903, page 5). At the time, newspapers noted that the sisters possessed one of the finest collection of Kodak photographs in the country. Grace and Lottie were also known for their extensive study of music and literature. The two also drove automobiles, contributing to their independence.

Another Akaas sister, Minnie Belle, was quite talented and well-known for her artistic skills. Of the three, Minnie Belle was the artist, a member of the Chicago Academy. She also moved from Indianapolis to Chicago were she exhibited her paintings, winning many awards. Her painting of Grace, “Girl in the Red Kimono” took first prize in Indianapolis. The same painting also received second prize at a Chicago Academy exhibit. Minnie married William Bancroft Sleeper in 1904 (Inter Ocean, 3 Jan. 1904, page 44). Sleeper was a Wyoming ranchman and member of the legislature (Indianapolis Journal, 17 July 1903, page 12). He also managed a number of mining and oil enterprises along the way. Among Sleeper’s personal friends were President Roosevelt and William F. Cody. Minnie and William had a daughter who became the film star, Martha Sleeper.

Article about Minnie Akaas and William B. Sleeper, from the Tennessean 23 Aug 1903, page 8

Back to the article about the Olympic Music Hall being managed by three women in 1908. John J. Murdock renovated the Olympic theatre to really showcase the women in his life; Grace was on stage, Lottie managed the venue, and Minnie did much of the painted décor throughout the building.

Here is the article from the “Inter Ocean” that highlighted the women who worked at the Olympic Music Hall (15 Nov. 1908, page 32):

“Here you have the marvel of the place. The new music hall is the only place of the sort in the world managed by women. There is only one place of importance on the staff of employees and managers that is not filled by a woman. He is in the box office. The only reason there is a “he” there instead of a “she” is that Mr. Murdock who financed the scheme, and who is one of the most experienced vaudeville managers, feared that certain people who are as yet unable to realize the full value of women’s actual services, might misconstrue the presence in the box office of a woman and fancy that it was not a nice place to take his wife or his sweetheart or his sister, which, of course, would be exactly contrary to the real purpose. To give the public confidence he put his own name on the program as manager, but just under it in big type is the name of a woman, “Miss Lottie Marie Akass.”

And Miss Akass is the manager. She is his sister-in-law, and he briefly states his reason for building a theatre for her.

“I wanted to give her a chance to attain something,” he said, “She is and ambitious girl, and there is a small outlet for the ambitions of a clever woman. So I fixed this theatre for her.” He looked out over the rows of flowers that were in baskets and vases and wreaths and embankments. “Not to boast,” he said. “Do you know there are almost $3,000 worth of flowers there? [the 2018 equivalent is over $82,000] They came from everywhere in the United States. See that basket of red roses? The Hengler sisters sent it from San Francisco. And that immense bunch of American beauty roses? That is from George Cohan. There is the Heath and McIntrye offering. There are hundreds of them. I tell you they mean a lot to me, for with every one is a card of good wishes. And the telegrams – there were over 1,400.

Then he smiled. Too, with his sweet faced sister-in-law, who stood beside him. He is delicate of frame and fine featured as to face, but worn looking from the tension of preparation.

“For two weeks before the opening I could not sleep,” he said. “You see, I want the girls to succeed. Miss Akass isn’t the only one. There is Miss Nellie Revell [1873-1958], who is the press agent and serves us valiantly.”

Nellie Revell, Press Agent for the Olympic Music Hall in 1908

The music of the orchestra drifted out through the doorways faintly and sweetly. The big divan was very, very comfortable. I wanted to see the next turn on the stage, but I lingered among the flowers and talked with the woman press agent. An oddly straightforward creature she is too, with honest hazel eyes and many direct qualities in her speech.

“Come over to the ladies’ room,” she said. “Let me tell you a secret – you may wash your face here, or your hands. You may powder your nose and polish your nails. If you are ill the matron will take care of you, and you may lie down on this beautiful couch. You wash your hands with a bit of soap that is all your own. You powder your face with a cloth that you throw away.” She held the box of white celluloid with a perforated top toward my nose. “Isn’t is fragrant?” she asked. It was-and woefully expensive, I am sure. We strolled back to the foyer. Another dark-eyed, soft voiced woman stood beside Manager Miss Akass.

“Look” said Press Agent Miss Revell. “Did you ever see so beautiful a rose tint on a wall?” I confessed that I had not.

“Mr. Murdock and Mrs. Sleeper showed the painters how to mix it,” she said. “They were days and days getting the right tint. After it was on, Mrs. Sleeper painted every one of those roses in the decorative design.”

My incredulity must have been plain.

“Ceilings and all?” I asked.

Press agent Miss Revell nodded her head. “Ceilings and all,” she said. “She is sister to Miss Akass and she is an artist. It was hard work, but she could do it better than anybody who was just hired. She loved it, you see.”

Mr. Murdock had the last word. “I believe in women,” he said. “I have a secretary who receives $100 a week [2018 equivalent of approximately $2750.00]. Over in the Majestic theater offices, we have a woman who has eighteen stenographers under her. I pay very little attention to my correspondence because my secretary knows the business details of forty or fifty theaters as well as I do. The moment we feel that it will not be misunderstood by the public, we shall probably have a woman in the box office.

The three women who control the destinies of the rose tinted theater stood there – Manager Miss L. M. Akass, Press Agent Miss Revell, and Decorator Mrs. Minnie Akass Sleeeper…They were three women, and in theirs are the fortunes of the house. Sometimes fortune is a trustworthy lady – most trustworthy.

The orchestra music still drifted through the flowers, as I came away. It was sweet and faint, but the time was a rollicking lilt of promise.”

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 523 – Ada Clifford Smith Murphy, otherwise known as Mrs. J. Francis Murphy

Part 523: Ada Clifford Smith Murphy, otherwise known as Mrs. J. Francis Murphy

J. Francis Murphy’s wife, Adah Clifford Smith Murphy (1859-1949), was a landscape artist, a portrait artist, and miniature painter. She deserves special mention about her contributions to the art world apart from the post that I did on her husband. Born in Saratoga, New York, during 1859, she was a student at the Female Art School of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Also referred to as the Cooper Union Art School, she was a pupil of Douglas Volk and an active artist before meeting her husband.

In November 1883 Adah Clifford Smith married the artist John Francis Murphy at the age of 24; John was six years her senior. The couple met at a skating party while she was a student at Cooper Union Art School. Her husband had moved to the East Coast in 1875, after working as a scenic artist in Chicago.

In 1886, the couple traveled to Europe, first staying in London and then France. While staying in Montigny, she recorded that they sketched local scenes from June until October, when they departed for Amsterdam. During their travels, they enjoyed seeing many paintings that they had previously only known through photographs. Adah’s works were exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York beginning in 1886. She remained prominent in eastern art circles from that time until 1933.

The Murphy’s established a studio in the Hotel Chelsea, but after a visit to Arkville, New York, they decided tomove to the Catskill Mountains. In Akville, the couple found accommodations at an establishment owned by Peter Hoffman. They convinced Hoffman to build a hotel. The Hoffman Hotel was constructed in 1886, and included 17 buildings, many of them shingle-style cottages that are occupied to this day. The Hoffman Hotel, later the Pakatakan Hotel, served as the gathering center of the Pakatakan Artist Colony, named after an old Lenape Native American village on the same location.

In 1887 the Murphys built a home and studio in this small town of Arkville, and named their studio “Weedwild.” They painted the surrounding landscape, occasionally venturing off to capture scenes of the western Catskills. The Murphy’s presence in this area, prompted many of their artist to visit, including, Alexander H. Wyant, Parker Mann, E. Loyal Field, Frank Russell Green, H.D. Kruseman Van Elten, George Smillie, Walter Clark, Arthur Parton, Ernest C. Rost, and J. Woodhull Adams. Initially staying at the hotel, many visiting artists later purchased property and built their own studios, naming each studio as the Murphys. The Pakatakan Artists Colony contained the summer cottages and studios of 13 artists. It is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, located off New York State Route 28, just west of Dry Brook Road.

The Pakatakan Hotel and Arts Colony on the hill in Arkville, NY

The Pakatakan Hotel in Arkville, New York

In 1887, the “Menorah: A Monthly Magazine for the Jewish Home” reported that Ada C. Murphy exhibited paintings at the Academy of Design. The article’s author noted that Murphy’s “little studies” were “strongly impressed with the influence of her husband, who is doubtless her master, in an artistic sense, but full of evidence of native talent and feeling” (Volume 2, page 268). Nothing like having your success ultimately attributed to a male – your artistic master.

In 1888, the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported that “Recent achievements of Women Painters, Drawings in Pastels at Wunderlich’s – Strong and Commendable Work” (13 May 1888, page 10). The article commented, “The woman artist is almost a new product of our civilization, but she exhibits a talent and sometimes a genius that entitle her to high consideration…oddly enough the women painters succeed best in themes that are bold and strong. In flowers, birds and fashion plates they never seem to lift the subject out of tediousness, but in things that demand force of execution and largeness of method they are often surprising. It is said that woman was originally the superior of the man in every sense. Perhaps she has entered on a struggle for prestige.”

In 1893, Ada C. Murphy was mentioned as a contributor to the fifth annual exhibition of water-colors by American artists at Messrs. Frederick Keppel & Co. (The Art Collector: A Journal Devoted to the Arts and the Crafts, Volumes 5-6, page 38). Forty-three artists exhibited eighty watercolors; six were women. In addition to her husband, this group included well-known scenic artists, such as H. G. Maratta, W. C. Fitler, Jules Guerin, and H. C. Rehn.

During 1896, “The St. Joseph Herald” featured Murphy in the article “A Clever American Artist” (17 Nov. 1896, page 4). The article reported, “A union of kindred tastes was made when Mrs. J. Francis Murphy and her husband were married. He is one of the best of American landscape painters and his wife has done work that is almost as good as his. She is a very clever flower painter, and in her landscapes there is much of the sentiment and tenderness that appears in the work of her husband. She is a bright and charming woman, and has many friends who have delighted in her success.” In 1894, Mrs. J. Francis Murphy received the same Hallgarten prize as her husband had previously received in the 1880s (The Buffalo Enquirer, 5 April, 1894, page 4). “Her art education was largely obtained as the Cooper Institute, and she is also a pupil of her husband. She has exhibited at the Academy [National Academy of Design] since 1886, and at the Walter Color Society since 1885.” The “St. Paul Daily Globe” added that Mrs. J. Francis Murphy “derived much advantage from her summer’s study of the art galleries of Europe. She spends her summers in the Catskill Mountains. While she and her husband live amiably in a cosey cottage, they have two separate studios. Mrs. Murphy is a hard worker, and paints equally well in water colors or oils.” Mrs. Murphy’s studio was located at 222 West 23^rd St. (The World, 27 Feb. 1898. Page 25). Her husband’s studio in New York was located at the corner of Tenth Street and Broadway (26 Jan. 1880, page 9).

The “Soldier Clipper” noted, “Another clever illustrator and brush-woman is Mrs. J. Francis Murphy, who holds her own in the world of art with her talented husband. Mrs. Murphy is as happy in oil as in crayon work and ranks high as an illustrator. Her fancy is for old ruins, soft moonlight and fantastic shadows. Nothing could be more suggestive of sentiment and poetry than one of her moonlight paintings, where shadows are deep and lights are strong” (Soldier, Kansas, 27 June 1895, page 7).

Her work was included in the annual exhibitions of the Art Institute of Chicago (1889, 1896); the Boston Art Club (1893-1897); the American Water Color Society (1898); the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901); the annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1912), and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (1915). Murphy was a member of the National Association of Women Artists by 1914, and also a member of the National Arts Club. Up through 1918 she exhibited in 25 annual exhibitions.

She outlived her husband, John Francis Murphy (Dec. 11, 1853 – Jan. 30, 1921), by almost three decades, passing away at the age of ninety years old in 1949.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 290 – The Final Game – Grace Wishaar, Chess, and Alexander Alekhine

Grace Wishaar’s interest in chess as a recreation after a day spent scene painting is first mentioned in 1904. The San Francisco Call reported, “To complete the versatility of this remarkable young woman, she is an excellent musician and a clever chess player. When her eyes grow weary of color and the brush becomes a heavy weight she turns to chess for recreation” (October 13, 1904, page 6). Four decades later, Wishaar would become the Ladies Champion of the World Chess exhibition in Paris. She was sixty-eight years old, the same age as Thomas G. Moses when he painted the entire Fort Scott scenery collection.

Wishaar’s sixth husband was chess champion- Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946). Sixteen years her junior, Alekhine was born in Moscow. He grew up in an aristocratic and very wealthy family, learning to play chess at the age of six. He first encountered simultaneous blindfold chess games when he was nine years old and became enthralled with a visiting champion who competed in twenty-two games. Alekhine would eventually become one of the greatest blindfold players in history. He joined the Moscow Chess Club and won the All-Russian Amateur Tournament by 1909.In 1914 he emerged on the worldwide state, being one of the top five.

That same year, Alekhine was retained in Germany with ten other Russian chess players when war erupted. Fortunately, he escaped and returned to Russia. After the war, he began to travel again and compete all over the world, landing on US soil during 1923-1924. While in the states he participated in 24 exhibitions, even competing in one blindfold simultaneous game against twenty-one other players. Ten years later, he met Grace Wishaar in Tokyo.

Wishaar was also competing in a chess tournament. During the event, she played against Alexander Alekhine in a simultaneous exhibition. For her participation, she received one of Alekhine’s books and asked him to autograph her copy. Although sixteen years older than Alekhine, he was captivated with Wishaar and they married the following year. On March 26, 1934, their wedding ceremony took place at Villefranche-sur-Mer in France. This is about 6 miles southwest of Monaco. They lived in a magnificent chateau (La Chatellenie Saint-Aubin-le-Cauf was near Normandy), Wishaar maintained her art studio in Paris, and they traveled extensively for chess championships around the world.

Alexander Alekhine playing against Capablanca.

Both competed at the Hastings International Chess Congress in 1936/37 where Alekhine won the Premier. He won this same tournament in previous years (1922, 1925/6, 1933/4). Wishaar won 3rd prize in the 3rd Class Morning A class competition. By 1938, a civic reception was held in their honor at the Golden Jubilee Chess Congress in Plymouth.

Life wasn’t without challenges or struggles, however, as reports continued to depict Alekhine’s excessive drinking during competitions. Yet he continued to win, game after game, and excelled in blindfold simultaneous chess challenges.

During World War II, the Nazis took over their chateau and looted its contents. Alekhine was allowed to freely travel under Nazi occupation, but no exit visa was allowed for Wishaar. After the war, Wishaar sold the chateau and spent the last five years of her life in her Paris studio. She passed away on February 21, 1956 and is buried next to Alexander in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.

Grave of Alexander Alekhine and Grace N. Wishaar

Unbelievably, after the numerous years of solely receiving recognition under her maiden name, it is actually misspelled on her grave. The majority of information about Wishaar is linked to life with her sixth and last husband.

For more information about Alexander Alekhine, see Pablo Moran’s book, “A. Alekhine, Agony of a Chess Genius.” The book examines the tragic last years of world chess champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946), 45 of his match and tournament games in Spain and Portugal from 1943 to 1946, and 100 other late exhibition games are covered. Here is the link if you are interested in purchasing it (I did): https://www.amazon.com/A-Alekhine-Agony-Chess-…/…/0786459816. There is also a blog on his life and chess tactics by M. Silman. For those interested in Alekhine’s strategies and rise as a world champion, there is an amazing blog. It covers his life and techniques in seven parts. Here is the link to part 1: https://www.chess.com/…/alexander-alekhine-pt-1-and-the-gam…

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 289 – Grace N. Wishaar and Marian Smith Oliver

In 1909 Grace N. Wishaar collapsed from overwork and exhaustion. Her house had recently burned to the ground, taking her entire art collection with it. Her doctor advised a “rest trip” for treatment.

Grace N. Wishaar’s Piedmont home and art collection were destroyed by fire in 1909.

This meant travel to escape all of life’s demands and worries. I am sure that there are many of us who would appreciate this type of medical treatment right now. I would, especially if it meant leaving on a world tour to sketch. Fortunately, Wishaar had a traveling companion who had also been prescribed travel for health reasons. Her friend was quite wealthy and could fund their entire trip.

Under the advice of a physician, Wishaar’s friend Marian Smith Oliver had already left for Australia during August 1909. She was not gone for long after learning of Wishaar’s series of unfortunate events. Oliver returned to California and planned an extended trip around the world with Wishaar. In 1910, Wishaar and Oliver journeyed to the South Sea Islands, New Zealand, Australia, the Orient, Mediterranean countries, and elsewhere. They ended up in Paris.

Mrs. Roland Oliver (Marian Smith Oliver), travel companion of Grace N. Wishaar.

Marian Smith Oliver married Roland Oliver in 1907. Oliver was the manager of the Leona chemical company, one of F. M. Smith’s properties. Marian was a former ward of F. M. Smith, a multimillionaire known as the Borax King. Oliver started as a miner without and funds or prospects when he stumbled upon the wealth of chemicals in Death Valley. There he staked out the wonderful borax deposits that paved the way for his immense fortune. In Oakland he developed the scheme Realty Syndicate, a plan that issued certificates carrying guaranteed interest against the enormous realty holdings the syndicate acquired with high finance. Out of borax was a future in Oakland real estate and a series of big investments. But of the most importance, the Realty Syndicate building housed Ye Liberty Playhouse where Wishaar painted scenery.

Mrs. F. M. Smith raised and educated several wards as her own children. Marian was one of her wards who received $250,000 worth of jewels and a few articles of her costly and famous wardrobe. When Marian married Roland Oliver, F. M. Smith also gave her an independent fortune in securities and realty holdings. The Smiths ensured Marian’s financial independence from her husband. It was this financial independence that funded her world trip with Wishaar, as no one could demand her return but cutting off her funding. There must have been a reason for the Smiths to provide financial independence for Marian. Maybe they knew he was a creep.

The San Francisco Call on October 16, 1910, reported “Wife’s Long Stay Abroad Gives Rise to Gossip” (page 31).

Gossip resulted from the extended absence of Marian Smith Oliver and Grace N. Wishaar on their world tour.

The gossip was that Oliver would stay abroad indefinitely to study music and performance. By 1911, Oliver was studying music in Paris while Wishaar set up an art studio. Newspaper articles began to report that Oliver’s health had greatly improved and that she was enjoying life upon the stage. By April 6, 1911 the Oakland Tribune noted that Mrs. Roland Oliver “has taken a career before the footlights” (page 1). The article also reported, “Her fascination for the stage led her to spend time among theatrical folk, and it was partly in this way that her friendship with Miss Grace Wishaar, the long time the scenic artist at Ye Liberty theatre formed.”

Grace N. Wishaar was the scenic artist at Ye Liberty Theatre in Oakland, California from 1904-1909. In 1910 Wishaar departed on a world tour with Marian Smith Oliver.

During August 1911, Oliver returned to the United States and was living in the home of F. M. Smith at Shelter Island.

The trip never really ended for Wishaar. By 1914, she was still living abroad and painting portraits in Paris. The April 5, 1914, issue of the Oakland Tribune mentioned Wishaar’s extended absence under the heading, “Oakland Artist Gains Triumph” (page 29). The Tribune reported that Wishaar was exhibiting three portraits at the Salon des Beaux Arts in the Grand Palais, beginning on April 12, 1914. Two of her portraits featured Giralamo Savonarola and Countess Walewska.

The article explained that exhibiting at Salon des Beaux Arts was an honor all artists look forward to, “a goal for which they strive.” It reported, “Miss Wishaar may be considered in every sense to have definitely arrived.” Her arrival at the Salon also meant her departure from the world of scenic art and painting on a bridge high above the stage. Fourteen years later, she would again be featured in the Salon, along with fifty-three other artists during May 1928.

Wishaar was lucky in many things, but certainly not in marriage. She soon married Archibald C. Freeman in Ceylon. This was her fourth marriage. Freeman was a dual British-American citizen who committed suicide in Bandarawella in the March 1931. It was her marriage to Freeman that granted her British citizenship, something she retained throughout the remainder of her life. After Freeman, Wishaar married and divorced Henry James Bromley. Not much is known of this relationship, other than it was disclosed on her sixth marriage certificate to Alexander Alekhine, the world chess champion.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 288 – Grace N. Wishaar at Ye Liberty Playhouse

Grace N. Wishaar was listed as the scenic artist at Harry W. Bishop’s Ye Liberty Playhouse in Oakland when it opened to the public in 1904. That was ten years after her scenic art career began and forty years before she would win the Ladies World Championship for chess.

Ye Liberty Playhouse was located at 1424 Broadway in a portion of the Realty Syndicate Building. Twin arched entrances at the front led to the Syndicate Realty offices (left) and the theatre (right).

Entrance to Harry W. Bishop’s Ye Liberty Playhouse in Oakland, California.

“Henry’s Official Western Theatre Guide” (1907-1908) listed the seating capacity for the venue as 1,980.

1905 seating map for Ye Liberty Playhouse in Oakland, California.

It was a sizable house for Oakland and the space was illuminated with both gas and electric lights. The proscenium opening measured 36’ wide by 36’ high. The depth of the stage was 80’ with a 75’ revolve conceived by Harry W. Bishop. The height to the gridiron was 65’-0.” Ye Liberty was also considered to also possess an extremely fine stock company and present remarkable productions.

Harry W. Bishop’s Ye Liberty Playhouse, 1910. This is where Grace N. Wishaar was the scenic artist from 1904-1909.

Ye Liberty later became a movie theatre in 1917 and was renamed the Hippodrome. At this time, the venue advertised “High-Class Vaudeville Feature Photo Plays and Animated Weeklys.” Then the venue became known as the MacArthur Theatre before briefly reverting to its original name. By 1930 the space was renamed – again – the Century Theatre, and then finally became the Central Theatre. Sadly, the section of the Syndicate Realty Building that held Ye Liberty Playhouse was torn down and rebuilt into a retail space during 1961. A southern entrance to a Footlocker Store now marks the original site.

Some of Wishaar’s 1904 productions at Ye Liberty included “Frou Frou,” “Hamlet,” “A Gentleman of France,” “Merchant of Venice,” “Pudd’nhead Wilson” and “Held the Enemy.” Newspaper articles mentioned the combined efforts of the scenic artist Miss Grace Wishaar and Ye Liberty’s stage carpenter Walter Woener (Woerner). Woerner was also in charge of the mechanical department and later worked at the Fulton Theatre.

In 1905, Wishaar painted scenery at Ye Liberty for “Juanita of San Juan” and “The Light Eternal.” Grace Wishaar’s sets for “Juanita of San Juan” (Oakland Tribune, Oct 17, 1935) were held up with high acclaim. This same year, she was featured across the country in the article “Clever Woman Invades Scene Painting Field” (Albuquerque Citizen, 21 July 1905, page 3). The article reported “A woman sitting on a bridge at a dizzying height in the rear of the stage in an Oakland theatre, painting in with bold strokes skies and trees and castles, proves the ability of her sex to keep pace with the masculine gender in the following of any profession.”

1905 article about Grace N. Wishaar, scenic artist.

The article continued, “While Miss Wishaar has gained fame and a good living from her scene painting, she is devoting herself to a branch of art that no doubt in time will bring her fame of the highest type. Her miniature painting shows the most exquisite appreciation of the value of colors. A rare skill in catching her subjects likeness, combined with a most subtle blending of tones make her miniature work worthy of the praise of the most critical of critics.” Wishaar’s miniature portraits included the young daughters of author Jack London (1876-1916). London was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. He is considered to be a pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction and became quite a celebrity.

Grace N. Wishaar painted miniatures of Jack London’s daughters.

Wishaar’s relationship with London and other California socialites would provide a variety of future opportunities. As in New York, she remained a curiosity to many who met her, captivating people with both her talent and intelligence. Wishaar also exhibited and won awards many art exhibitions, chairing a variety of artistic clubs.

Illustration of Grace Wishaar in the 1906 Oakland Tribune.

By 1906, Wishaar was again featured in the Oakland Tribune with a lovely illustration of her straddling a beam and painting scenery in bloomers – attire that she did not paint in. By 1907, Wishaar painted the elaborate scenery for “Cleopatra” at Ye Liberty and “The Toy Maker” at the Idora Park Opera House, resulting in rave reviews. For “Cleopatra,” an article described her stage settings in detail: “The play opened with the meeting of the beautiful queen of Egypt and the Roman conqueror at Tarsus. This scene was gorgeously set. Cleopatra entered in her brilliantly decorated barge seated beneath a canopy of gold. But this first scene was no more splendid than the other five that followed” (San Francisco Call, 31 December 1907, page 4). Wishaar’s career continued to soar in California, recognizing her artistic achievements on both the stage and in fine art galleries. Three failed marriages were behind her and Wishaar’s future looked bright. It was at this point that tragedy struck the Wishaar home, but once again life would provide new opportunities.

The San Francisco Call (3 July 1909, page 12) reported that Miss Grace Wishaar “narrowly escaped death” when her home at Piedmont Heights was burned to the ground. This was the same area where Harry W. Bishop also lived in his famous home. Wishaar’s home at Folkers and Lake Shore Avenue was burned to the ground. Piedmont had no fire protection, so the Oakland fire department was called to battle the blaze. However, the Oakland fire department was already responding to a small fire at the Empire foundry on Third and Broadway.

Wishaar’s fire was attributed to a defective grate, but she lost everything; her home valued at $5,000, all of her furniture and prized collection of paintings. Inhabitants of the Wishaar home were listed as Grace’s mother Mrs. M. I. Wishaar, her brother Louis Wishaar, and her son Carroll Peeke.

Despite the tragedy, Wishaar persisted with work for a variety of venues. On Oct. 10, 1909, she created a float “Where Rail and Water Meet” to represent Oakland in the grand Portola pageant in San Francisco. The float was 27 feet long by 14 feet wide and 9 feet tall, drawn by six dapple-gray horses in white harnesses.

But the fire, debts from her third failed marriage and loss of her home proved to take its toll on the young scenic artist. That following month, the “San Francisco Call” (6 Nov. 1909, page 9) reported that Wishaar “collapsed from overwork.” The article noted that she was compelled to take a “rest cure.” Enter the California socialite and ward of the “Borax King” who was also battling ill health and prescribed a “rest cure.” Ahhhh. To have permission to escape everything. With a doctor’s orders for rest and a wealthy friend to foot the bill, extended travel plans were in Wishaar’s future. This is when the already interesting life of Grace N. Wishaar becomes REALLY interesting.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 287 – Grace Wishaar and Harry W. Bishop

Grace N. Wishaar painted scenery for a variety of venues along the west coast after leaving New York 1902. In Seattle, she was photographed painting with Sheridan Jenkins, the scenic artist for the Third Street Theatre. The following year, she began working in California. Even though she married for a third time in 1906, she continued to paint under her maiden name. Her first two husbands were Whitney Irving Eisler (1897) and Oscar Graham Peeke (1902).

On August 14, 1906, Wishaar married her third husband, John Bruce Adams. However, the marriage was short lived and in 1907 the Oakland Tribune reported, “Mrs. Grace Wishaar Adams is in Matrimonial Trouble” (July 17, 1907). Adams deserted Wishaar and left a lot of debts in her name. At the time her marriage with Adams ended, she was painting all of the scenery at Ye Liberty Playhouse and Idora Park.

In California, she also worked at San Francisco’s Majestic Theatre and few other performance venues in San José. One of her greatest supporters was Harry W. Bishop (1872-1928), considered to be one of “the pioneers of California theatredom” (Oakland Tribune, 15 June 1928, page 33).

Harry W. Bishop’s obituary photo from 1928. Bishop employed Grace N. Wishaar as his scenic artist at Ye Liberty Playhouse in 1904.

Bishop was the adopted son of Walter M “Bishop” (1849-1901), otherwise known as Walter Morosco, the proprietor of Morosco’s Royal Russian Circus.

Harry W. Bishop’s obituary reported that he “began his career as a showman in San Francisco and ended it brokenhearted and poor as a sometime real estate operator.” But the story couldn’t be that simple. Oliver Morosco adopted Walter and Leslie Mitchell, orphaned sons of Sir John Mitchell and Dora Esmea Montrose of Utah. Some sources reported that Walter ran away from home at the age of 17 to join the circus as an acrobat.

After Walter left his circus career, he took over the Howard Street Theatre in San Francisco and started his new venture as a producer and manager. He later took over the Burbank Theatre in Oakland, as well as the Union Hall and the Grand Opera House in San Francisco. It was at the opera house that Harry W. Bishop began his career and Oliver Morosco was the treasurer. Fire destroyed the historic opera house in 1906, two years after he constructed another theatre – Ye Liberty Playhouse.

Harry W. Bishop’s Ye Liberty Playhouse (Oakland, California) where Grace N. Wishaar was the scenic artist (1904-1909).

Harry W. Bishop opened Ye Liberty Playhouse in 1904, boasting the first revolving stage in the western United States. By 1905, Bishop managed the San Francisco’s Majestic Theatre, Central Theatre, the American Theatre and Bell Theatre. In Oakland, he managed Ye Liberty Playhouse, where Wishaar began as his scenic artist. Bishop would later build what became known as the Fulton Theatre too. His obituary reported that “he won a reputation as a star-maker and while his productions, both dramatic and stock, concert and musical were famous, he was not in the commercial way. Throughout his career he remained a dreamer and his sole use for money was to return it to the theatre in the way of more lavish productions and finer casts until the profit was reduced to a minimum.”

Bishop was ahead of his time, not only offering Wishaar the opportunity to paint at his theaters, but also offering other women positions as ushers and ticket takers. There was another aspect to Bishop that I find fascinating as it would have greatly affected the venue where Wishaar worked. Bishop was an inventor, filing for patents relating to theatre design and stage construction.

In 1908 Bishop filed for a patent. His invention was “to provide a theater structurally arranged to permit the elevating or lowering of the main stage; to provide a vertically movable stage, horizontally ‘revoluble,’ and means for accomplishing this action; to afford a stage adapted to be bodily raised or lowered and simultaneously revolved if so desired, or lowered, and have a portion of its area revolving in one direction while another portion is rotating reversely.” Bishop stated that it was also “desirable to raise or lower certain scenes, suspended from or secured to the rigging-loft.” It goes onto describe that the principal advantages of his invention was in “the possibility of setting up all the scenes each completely, on the surface of the stage, the area of which may be divided into scenes as desired, and of suspending all the drops, hanging pieces, ceiling borders, ceiling pieces and border and other overhead lights that may be used, for all the scenes each completely, from the gridiron or rigging-loft, and of then revolving the stage and the rigging loft in a horizontal plane so that each scene is, in its proper sequence, aligned proximate to the proscenium.” He proposed that there was incentive “to devise a theatrical structure that will admit of building or setting scenes of as nearly normal and natural effect as is possible to attain, by elevating or lowering all of the visible matter within the proscenium.

Here is the link: https://www.google.com/patents/US1136860?dq=ininventor:%22Harry+W+Bishop%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1772s46fYAhWM5YMKHXT_Du8Q6wEIMTAB

In 1914, Bishop also engineered a new and improved proscenium opening and structure. The ultimate purpose of his invention was “to produce upon the mind an impression of the picturesque, unmechanical production and to eliminate the rigidness given by architectural ornamentation common to arch work and prosceniums.” This was enhanced by “providing a curtain movable just behind the rear edge of the frame and which may be decorated with a scene harmonious and introductory to the arrangement of property on the stage so that when the curtain rises the transition is a continuation of the introductory scene on the curtain.” Lights were placed in a concavo-convex contour at such a depth that it projects somewhat in front and behind the wall.”

Here is the link: https://www.google.com/patents/US1008886?dq=ininventor:%22Harry+W+Bishop%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwievLW83afYAhWe8oMKHYRTC0gQ6wEIODAC

In 1918, Harry W. Bishop lost the majority of his fortune including his home in the exclusive Piedmont residential district. Wishaar had also lived in Piedmont with her family. A decade later Bishop passed away, leaving his widow Florence and five children: Mrs. George Stimmel, Lester K., Walter K., Dalton, and Beverly Bishop. By 1928, Wishaar was still in Europe and continuing on with her own adventure that had begun in 1914. California remained far behind her.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 286 – Grace Wishaar and Lee Lash

Image of Grace N. Wishaar published with an article in 1903 that appeared in numerous papers throughout the country.

The rise of Grace Wishaar as a scenic artist has many fascinating twists and turns that brings her from coast to coast and back again. However, her career as an artist began at the San José Art School. Interestingly, her first drawing instructor there would later rise to fame as a scenic artist in New York – Lee Lash (1864-1935). The Lee Lash Studio was founded in 1891 and continued operations until approximately the mid-1940s.

Lee Lash Studio Advertisement in Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guid in 1902-1903.

Thomas G. Moses working at the Lee Lash Studio (holding lining stick). Clipping from his scrapbook at the Harry Ransom Center, UT Austin.

When the Wishaar family left California for Washington, she continued with her artistic studies. In 1894 she completed her first scene painting project. The Washington Standard heralded her success, reporting, “Seattle has a young lady scenic painter, in Miss Grace Wishaar. A new drop curtain, at Cordray’s which is universally admired, is from her brush” (30 Nov. 1894, page 2). Wishaar was eighteen years old when she painted the Cordray drop curtain.

Five years later, she ventured east to continue her artistic training at the William M. Chase School of Art and continue her scenic art career in New York. One of the first individuals that she sought out was her first instructor – Lee Lash. However, Lash he was not supportive of his former pupil entering the field of scenic art. A 1903 interview with Wishaar reported that he “coolly turned her down” and said that “scene painting was no work for a woman; that her sex would make her unwelcome among the workmen, and that women were too ‘finicky’ for work that demands broad effects” (San Francisco Call, October 13, 1904, page 6).

Painting with signature by Lee Lash, nd.

It was after the rejection of Lash and many other scenic artists that Frank D. Dodge gave her a chance.

I cannot imagine what Wishaar was subjected to as she went from shop to shop, looking for work. I read her story and start to feel slightly nauseous as I wonder when the glass ceiling will break and at what point women will achieve equality. Here we are 118 years later and many of us are still encountering horrific prejudice because of our gender. A 1903 newspaper article written by Marilla Weaver provides a small glimpse into the extreme hardships encountered by Wishaar while searching for work in New York. Weaver reported, “There was success for her, but not till after a struggle so hard and bitter that it ought to make American men bow their heads and a dull red flush of shame dye their cheeks when they remember the mothers that gave them life. It was the old struggle against sex prejudice. Here was this slender, gifted, graceful girl, a skillful scenic artist, a stranger, away from her parents, seeking honorable employment at work she could do as well as the best. Men who should have welcomed her turned from her with ominous muttering and black scowls. Sex jealousy!”

Scenic artists active in New York at the turn of the century included Ernest Albert (1857-1946), Charles Basing (1865-1933), Wilfred Buckland (1866-1946), Joseph Clare, Homer F. Emens (1862-1930), Frank E. Gates, George Gros (1859-1930), J.M. and T.M. Hewlett, Lee Lash, H. Robert Law (1880-1925), St. John Lewis, W.H. Lippincott, John Mazzonovich, P. J. MacDonold. L. A. Morange (1865-1955), Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934), Joseph Physioc (1866-1951), Hugh Logan Reid, Edward G. Unitt, Charles G. Witham, Joseph Wickes, and John H. Young (1858-1944). Fortunately, Wishaar’s drive and talent caused her to excel in a world primarily dominated by men. Wishaar became so successful that she soon went into business for herself. I do wonder if she left the studio because of her male co-workers. It could have been that it was far easier to work alone than suffer the animosity and daily heckles of your male colleagues.

What I find the most fascinating is Wishaar’s versatility, painting both miniatures and scenery. She spanned the entire artistic spectrum!

An article in 1904 reported “Miss Wishaar’s talent sweeps over a wide range. Not only is she adept with a broad brush and tricky “distemper” of the scene painter, but she is even more skillful with the tiny “camel’s hair” and oil of the miniature artist.” In the article, Wishaar was quoted saying, “I love my work. It is progressive, there is room for originality, and results are quick. I do wish you would say something about the medium I use. People generally think that scenery is painted with a whitewash brush and that some kind of wash is used. But the distemper with which I work is an opaque watercolor. It is delightfully effective, but plays some tricks sometimes on those unfamiliar with its vagaries. The first trick it played on me was with a garden drop. I fairly reveled in the delicious greens that paled and deepened under my brush, but when it dried! I wish you could have seen it.” Wishaar was noted as laughing heartily when she remembered the “dull picture” into which her work had faded.

In an earlier article, she commented, “Distemper is a really beautiful medium. You can produce such fine effects with it! But it’s very tricky unless you know just how to handle it.” This article appeared throughout the country: the Topeka State Journal (May 25, 1903, page 8), the Racine Journal-Times (Wisconsin, 27 July 1903, page 7), the Wilkes-Barre Record (Pennsylvania, 7 May 1903, page 2), the Wichita Daily Eagle (Kansas, 3 May 1903, page 22), the Richmond Item (Indiana, 2 May 1903, page 10), the Marion Star (Ohio, 2 May 1903, page 10), the Decatur Herald (Illinois, 14 June 1903, page 19), the Lincoln Star (Nebraska, 5 May 1903, page 9), and many others publications that are not digitally available to date.

Wishaar was able to overcome many gender barriers and still rise to the top of her profession in a relatively short period of time during the early twentieth century. But wait, there’s more!

Image of Grace N. Wishaar painting scenery in 1904.

To be continued…