Women Scenic Artists – Page 3

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 285 – Grace Wishaar and D. Frank Dodge in New York

Grace Wishaar described her entry into the New York scenic art world in 1901 when she was interviewed by the Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo News in the article “She is a Scenic Artist” (April 4, 1901, page 3). Wishaar was quoted saying, “I am convinced that I am a curiosity…People catch sight of my skirts both here [New York Theater] and at the Herald Square, where I sometimes work, and they stop rehearsal and bet on what I am and call up to me to find out.” Of her career in scenic art, Wishaar explained to another reporter, “The work is intensely interesting and I sometimes consider it as instructive as what are sometimes erroneously called the ‘higher forms of art.’” She was also a portrait painter.

Grace N. Wishaar in 1901. Here is a link to her image: http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sayre/id/11725/rec/1 University of Washington Libraries. Photographer was Brass, 1901 in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs (JWS22863).

When Wishaar first arrived in New York, she visited many of the studios to seek out possible employment. She explained that the scenic artists at the Metropolitan Opera House and elsewhere laughed at her for even thinking of entering into the profession. She then systematically went from one scene painter to another, asking to do only one piece. The standard response was “A girl in the flies? Absurd! Why she’d have to wear bloomers!” To each, Wishaar insisted, “a scenic painter was made, not born.”

Within four months time Wishaar was a member of Frank D. Dodge’s staff and working with five men to produce all of the scenery for “The Casino Girl” and “The Prima Donna.” Dodge was the official scenic artist for both the Herald Square Theatre and the New York Theatre. She described that every morning at 5 o’clock she appeared with the other scenic artists where she worked all day on the bridge or on her high solitary platform.

Sheridan Jenkins and Grace Wishaar in May 1902, Seattle. Jenkins was the artist at the Third Street Theatre in Seattle. From the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs (JWS24539): http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sayre/id/13233/rec/2 University of Washington Libraries.

In a 1905 article “A Lady Scene Painter,” Wishaar reported to have been engaged in painting scenery with Dodge or more than four years, explaining that not all of her work was confined to New York City. She would go “at Mr. Dodge’s request, to all parts of the country.” Wishaar also explained the current artistic process: “When we receive an order for an important production, a consultation is held with the author of the play, and if the scenes are laid in another State, either I or Mr. Dodge take a journey to the particular locality and make sketches. If the scene is laid abroad, we have to read up on it, and when the play is English we get many a useful hints from the beautiful production, “Country Life.”

This is exactly what Thomas G. Moses and many other scenic artists were still doing. Although the rise of the studio system confined many scenic artists to a single location where painted scenery was produced and shipped to the appropriate venue, there were still projects that made more sense to complete on site after a series of sketches were made. Moses had been very active in this aspect of his career. What I find fascinating is that as a female, she wasn’t being hidden inside a scenic studio where her work would be examined as part of a group project. She was being sent out on location as an artist representing the studio of Frank D. Dodge.

Illustration of Grace N. Wishaar in the 1906 publication of “Success Magazine.”

An article in “Success Magazine” from 1906 featured Wishaar in the segment “Life Sketches of Ambitious Young Men and Women” (page 32). The article started with “What Miss Grace N. Wishaar Has Accomplished in a Field in Which She Seemed Totally Unfitted.” It was followed with “pluck, enthusiasm, and conscientious work have enabled Miss Grace N. Wishaar to become the only woman scenic artist in the United States.” History was rewritten for Wishaar a bit in this article. In it, she politely writes to Frank D. Dodge in New York. After receiving no response, she appears at his studio to make a personal plea. The article continues,

“Mr. Dodge looked at her smilingly. He liked the enthusiasm she displayed, although he felt he had no use for women in his studio. The idea of women painting huge pieces of scenery on a bridge away up under the roof of the theatre struck him as being somewhat amusing.

‘I don’t see what I can do for you,’ he said. ‘Women are not adapted to this work. Besides, my men would certainly go on strike if I should put you among them on a bridge.’

‘I don’t believe they would at all,’ replied Miss Wishaar, ‘and so far as lack of adaptability for the work is concerned, I intend to show that I am adapted for it; I’ll disguise myself as a boy, – if I find that nobody will give me a chance as a woman.’

‘Well,’ he finally said, ‘come back to-morrow, and I’ll take the matter up again.’ The next morning, Miss Wishaar appeared with a satchel in hand holding her artist’s painting dress. She was ready to go to work. “This business-like method strengthened the good impression she had made on Mr. Dodge, and without further delay he put her to work in the model room, and a few days later gave her an opportunity to do real scenic painting on the bridge.” His artists protested, but were told they must give the young woman fair play. Within a week she had won their good will, chiefly because she asked no favors and had shown that as a craftsman she could “hold up her end” with any of them.”

Within a year and a half after her arrival in New York, Wishaar had become the director of scene painting in “an important theatre” that remained unnamed. She must have been quite something to rise that quickly as it took many men years to make the jump from staff painter to director. A large order for painted scenery for a theatre in Seattle was received by Mr. Dodge. As this was Wishaar’s home city, the idea of returning as “a successful worker in her chosen field” appealed to her. Arrangement was made for Wishaar to go to the Pacific Coast where she began painting scenery in Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco and Oakland.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 284 – Grace Wishaar, Scenic Art in Seattle

Grace Norton Wishaar (1876-1956), scenic artist who began her career in Seattle, Washington.

Grace Norton Wishaar was born October 26, 1876, in Beverly, New Jersey. She died on February 21, 1956 in France. Wishaar’s story goes from being a scenic artist during the 1890s in Seattle to being the Ladies Champion of the Paris Chess Championship in 1944.

She was the daughter of Émile Bernard Weishaar and Marie Ida Smith. The Wishaar family moved around a lot and eventually settled in Seattle, Washington where her mother became a playwright and her father was dramatic editor for a newspaper. Both Grace and her sister Jennie (b. 1880) were encouraged to develop their talents. Grace studied art, opening a portrait studio, while Jennie McGraw Wishaar, (born 1880) studied music.

On July 7, 1896, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer” reported that Grace Wishaar was “Seattle’s talented young artist” (page 9). The population at the time was approximately 65,000 people. The article commented that with “a few years study [Wishaar] would develop into genius that would enable the young lady to make herself riches and fame” She had just completed a series of painted portraits.

One day, the Seattle Theatre needed an artist to paint a drop. Grace’s father mentioned the prospective project to his daughter and encouraged her to contact the manager, Mr. Russell. Although he laughed at the idea of having any woman paint for his theatre, Russell gave Wishaar the opportunity to prove herself. The drop was such a success that she continued to paint for theaters in the area, including both the Seattle Theatre and the Cordray Theater over the next two years.

The Cordray Theatre in Seattle, Washington, where Grace Wishaar painted scenery.

Neither of these venues was small and the drop could have easily measured approximately 34 feet wide. Her work at the Seattle Theatre was for a house of 1300 people. Located at the northeast corner of Third and Cherry Street, the building had thirteen dressing rooms, eight properties room, and was lit by electricity. The proscenium measured 33 feet wide by 36 feet high and the stage was 40 feet deep. The height to the rigging loft was 64 feet with two bridges, suggesting that the drops were flown. The official scenic artist for the venue was listed as T. Masis in the 1897 Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide. However, this might have only meant that he created the original scenery for the venue as Thomas G. Moses was listed as the scenic artist for the Tacoma Theatre at the same time that was approximately 35 miles away.

Later newspaper interviews covering Wishaar noted that she also worked for actress Katie Putnam (actress and wife of producer and manager Henry B. Emery), as well as with Sosman & Landis at this time. As I read Sosman & Landis, I got goose bumps; Moses was in the region at the time as it was just before he left the scenic studio to work in New York! Of all the scenic studios and artists that were working in the Pacific Northwest at the time, Wishaar mentioned working with Sosman & Landis! Both she and Moses left for the East coast approximately at the same time too.

In 1900 Thomas G. Moses left Sosman & Landis to start another scenic art partnership with Will Hamilton. Moses & Hamilton produced scenery for opera, Broadway and Coney Island from 1900-1904, when he returned to Chicago. It was after working with Sosman & Landis that Wishaar also decided to head east where she would get training in Boston and then paint scenery in New York. What was the possibility that Moses met Wishaar? It is unclear which Sosman & Landis artists Wishaar worked with, so the question remains unanswered. But someone encouraged Wishaar to leave Seattle and forge ahead.

Wishaar also had an extremely interesting personal life – the kind that is the subject for a great book. In 1897, Wishaar married Whitney Irving Eisler (September 13, 1897). This was at the time that she began painting for theatre in Seattle. In 1898, she had a child. However, that child was named after the man who would be her second husband by 1902, Peeke.

1917 photograph of Carroll Earl Beauchamp Peeke (1898–1991), son of Grace Wishaar.

Carroll Earl Beauchamp Peeke (1898–1991) was the son of Oscar Graham Peeke. Lt. Col. Carroll Peeke grew up in Seattle, fought in WWI, and graduated from University California at Berkely. Hejoined the San Francisco Call-Bulletin in 1922 and later worked as city and diplomatic editor at the Times Herald in Washington, D.C.

Carroll E.B. Peeke (center) in photograph with other members of the press and Charles Lindbergh (second from left). This was taken during Charles Lindbergh’s visit to Monterey, California. [California Heritage Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley]. Here is the link: http://www.coltautos.com/cagotm201406.htm

The year after Wishaar gave birth to Carroll, she left Seattle for New York with a determination to succeed in the world of scenic art, later returning in 1902. There is something about a woman continuing with her career even after giving birth during the 1890s that greatly intrigued me. During the fall of 1899 Wishaar studied at the Chase Art School, only briefly returning to Seattle, before looking for work in New York by January 1901.

Four months later, she was interviewed by the by the Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo News (April 4, 1901, page 3). They published an article, “She is a Scenic Artist,” reporting that Miss Grace Wishaar had recently arrived from Seattle and was working with the scenic artist Frank D. Dodge. Wishaar was described as dressed in a denim apron with “forty kinds of paint” on it. The journalist also commented how pretty this small “slip of a girl” was with her brown hair and dark eyes.

The article also made it clear that Wishaar had no interest going out or being distracted while working in New York. At the end of the interview she simply explained, “I am here to work. I confess I don’t like theaters and the cafes very well, and if I had wanted society, I should have stayed in Seattle for that. I love my work. I love it! There is no place in the world, you know, where it is taught. I have been lucky enough to be born able to do it a little, and I won’t share my time with anything else.” She continued, “They told me at half the theaters in town that a woman couldn’t do it. Any way, I have proved one woman can.”

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 283 – The “First Woman Scenic Artist,” Grace Wishaar

I tried a new search last week as I was looking for information pertaining to the Milwaukee panorama painters and Amy Tesch Boos. It might sound like a simple thing, but a search in any database has to be carefully calculated. You need to anticipate all of the possible results and create your own filter, otherwise too much or too little will pop up. This is especially pertinent when tracking down female artists.

The results included a series of articles from 1901-1914 with the title “first woman scenic artist.” “Yeah, right,” I thought. What made the journalist declare her the first and why publish it at that particular point in time?

They all included an interview with the same woman – Grace Wishaar. A search on Wishaar resulted in nothing beyond the exact same articles. Why? She had married multiple times and her maiden name was erased from all written record. Wishaar was no longer part of theatre history.

Illustration of Grace Wishaar as the “First Woman Scenic Artist.”

I admire and appreciate many women who paved the road before me. But there is something to be said when you sense a certain spark that is always present with a truly remarkable individual. What I found especially interesting is that many of the articles reported a scenario where Wishaar simply stumbled across the scenic art field. She was called in to help out an artist and found that she had some talent for the profession. Her story is not that simple. She came from a family with some theatrical interests and was encouraged by her parents – especially her father. As a child, both of her parents recognized the innate talent that both she and her sister possessed. There was not only the support of her family, but an inextinguishable spark that would remain clearly visible throughout the remainder of her life. She had quite a life.

I thought back to the 1882 illustration of two actresses helping a scenic artist paint a scene. It was included in the book “Theatrical and Circus Life; or Secrets of the Stage, Green-Room and Sawdust Arena” (1882).

“Helping the Scene Painter” illustration in “Theatrical and Circus Life; or Secrets of the Stage, Green-Room and Sawdust Arena” (1882). The painter shows an uncanny resemblance to Patrick Toomey of Toomey and Volland Scenic Studio (St. Louis, MO).

Sure, I might believe two women who were simply helping and artists prime a backdrop, but Wishaar was a different. She wasn’t a part of a theatre company who was helping out. It was almost as if Wisahar’s story was being minimized by the press to become acceptable for public consumption.

I literally dropped everything else that I was working on and decided to venture down this particular rabbit hole. I was intrigued. Earlier this year, I looked at some of the women who were reported to work as professional scenic artists during the 1920s. A wonderful article had mentioned this group as an ever-increasing presence that included Vyvyan Donner, Nellie Leach, Gladys Calthrop, Lillian Gaestner, and Gretl Urban.

Vyvyan Donner, with paint brush in hand, and her wall murals.

There was no way that these women suddenly popped up out of nowhere and decided to enter the field of scenic art. They had gone through extensive art training and proven themselves multiple times.

My research suggested that by the 1920s there was a growing faction of women in the scenic art community and some seeds of discontent among the men. What I found interesting about the female scenic artists form the 1920s, however, is that none of them really worked as part of a team, or in a studio setting. They would each be responsible for the scenery or decorations, but by themselves. These were the women who had excelled with their own name and possibly were perceived as an ever-increasing threat.

Wishaar was different and I don’t believe that she was an anomaly. Wishaar was one of many who came before her, but there was a reason that her story emerged when it did. The next few installments will look at her entry into the field of scenic art, her work in a studio and her life after theatre. She was really quite something and deserves to be recognized and remembered.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 282 – The Milwaukee Panorama Company and Amy Boos

The Milwaukee Panorama Company was founded by August Löhr, Imre Boos and Paul Zabel on November 27, 1888. The Milwaukee Panorama Company produced a cyclorama at the Wells Street Studio (the old American Panorama Co. space) – “Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem” that opened on June 1, 1889. By March 22, 1890, the Chicago Tribune reported that the panorama was “sold to a syndicate of Mexican capitalists for $35,000, and will be exhibited in the City of Mexico” (page 10). There is much more to that story, but my main focus is the founders. Let’s look at those three men:

August Löhr (1843-1919) had previously been involved in the American Panorama Company and started a studio with F. W. Heine. Löhr & Heine used many of the artists who had previously been employed by the American Panorama Company. The Milwaukee Panorama Company was just one more business venture for Löhr. Born as the son of a soap maker in Hallein, near Salzburg Austria, Löhr studied in Munich and became a landscape painter, specializing in alpine scenes.

Between 1879 and 1881, he worked for Ludwig Braun painting panoramas, including the Battle of Sedan. By 1884, Löhr was supervising the installation of a German panorama at the World’s Fair in New Orleans (the Cotton Exposition). He then signed a contract with Wehner and moved to Milwaukee.

Little is known of Paul Zabel other than that he was a singer and impresario who organized operatic performances. One of his performance venues was Schlitz Park. By 1900 he is briefly mentioned as being nominated the secretary for the Deutscher Club (Inter Ocean, 4 April 1900, page 4). This musical connection would have brought him into contact with the Boos family.

Imre Boos (1851-1915) was a journalist for German and English newspapers in Milwaukee. He also entered into the real estate business and was an investor. He also was an inventor and patented a transposing keyboard for pianos on May 13, 1890.

1890 patent for Keyboard by Imre Boos, husband of panorama artist Amy Tesch Boos.

In addition to the Milwaukee Panorama Company, he was also involved with the Vanderbilt Mining Company. On Dec. 19, 1882, the articles of incorporation for the Consolidated Vanderbilt Mining Company were filed and two of the incorporators were Imre Boos and John H. Tesch (Chicago Inter Ocean, Dec. 20, 1892, page 7). The object of the company was general mining in New Mexico Territory and elsewhere.

Imre was the husband of Milwaukee panorama painter Amy Tesch Boos (May 6, 1851- July 4, 1935) who had worked for Lohr and Heine creating the panorama “Jerusalem on the Day of Crucifixion.” A daughter of German immigrant parents, here maiden name was Tesch. A photograph in the Wisconsin Historical Society (#26070) shows Amy Boos in the midst of the panorama painters, relaxing in the studio during a break while painting the Jerusalem panorama.

Panorama painters taking a break during “Jerusalem on the Day of Crucifixion.” Amy Tesch Boos is seated behind the table on the right (look for white apron over her chest).

Detail of Amy Boos seated at table while panorama painters are taking a break during “Jerusalem on the Day of Crucifixion.”

It was her black dress and pinned apron that immediately caught my eye. It not only verifies that she is a female, but also matches her garb in another studio photograph where she is sketching at an easel.

Amy Boos seated at easel on left side of picture. Image from the Wisconsin Visual Arts Achievements Awards page. Here is the link: http://wvaaa.com/inductee/panorama-painters-late-19th-century-38

The beer bottle and glass of wine on the table in front of her also made me realize the relaxed atmosphere and sense of camaraderie during their paint breaks. Better paint breaks than any of my paint crews have ever experienced, to say the least.

Another detail of Amy Boos seated at table while panorama painters are taking a break during “Jerusalem on the Day of Crucifixion.”

There were a myriad of other small details in the photographs that I also found fascinating: the time clock on the one wooden support, the scale drawings, and figure studies, the pegs for the jackets on a distant wall, and various examples of stuffed animals for reference during painting. It set the tone for their space and the running of the panorama paint studio. In my mind, only the paint-spattered clothes for the artists were missing. Realistically, their paint jackets or cover-ups were probably hanging from the pegs, discarded at break before sitting down.

Boos is one in a line of many female artists, all are extremely difficult to research. Part of it is that women artists lost a portion of their history along with their maiden name when they married. If the female had any type of a career or recognizable name, changing last names was similar to suddenly going incognito. It was one of the reasons that I decided to hyphenate in 1993, loosing the distinctive last name of Waszut was incomprehensible to me, but I wasn’t brave enough to buck family tradition and solely keep my maiden name. In the end, I created a one-of-a-kind last name that made me easy to find in a Google search. Think of it as a form of brand marketing.

For female artists from the past you have to divide their histories into two section – “before marriage” and “after marriage.” However it is ore complicated than simply using a new last name. For example, Amy Tesch would not necessarily become Amy Boos, she might solely become Mrs. Imre Boos, losing both her first and last name in one fail swoop. At that point Amy Tesch would disappear from all written records and solely become an extension of her husband’s name, only distinguished by an additional “s” (Mr. Imre Boos and Mrs. Imre Boos).

There is also the public perception of women that shifts throughout the centuries and defines what is socially acceptable for women to accomplish at any one point in time. They might be working in a scenic studio or panoramic studio, but any public record of their presence might not benefit either the employee or employer. It might not help with marketing to explain that there are women on staff working on large-scale art works. It could make the public’s perception of the company shift to dismay or anger. Throw in the preconceived notions of what women could and could not accomplish at various points in history and a female artist might really become a liability.

The rare mention of women working in a fine art studio or a scene painting studio are few and far between during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for the above reasons. The mention of four known female panorama artists in the Wisconsin Historical Society database shocked me. Panoramas were the “rocket science projects” of the time and not entered into lightly or without skill. The idea of women being involved in these projects is a validation that they were trained and experienced; this was not a one-time job for them.

I try to place myself in their shoes and recognize “hiding in plain sight.” It may have been an early version of “don’t ask, don’t tell” which just makes me sad. However, there were without doubt, daughters, sisters and wives who painted alongside family members, especially if it was a family business. As with many family businesses, women and men worked side by side. A great example is farming. So, why would it be any different for artistic or theatrical families? Honestly, I am looking for the woman with no familial connections to either theater or the art world as that would be a turning point in history – especially if she was publically acknowledged for her work. It had happened by the 1920s, but was there someone earlier? Yes.

Tomorrow we look at the nineteenth-century gal who was noted as the “first woman scenic artist.” “Really?” I thought, “I doubt it.” What was the incentive to market this particular female as a scenic artist? Was she a novelty at that particular time? She certainly wasn’t the first.

To be continued…

Historical Excerpt – “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 3

This is the final excerpt in a 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1) by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Page 69:

“Sure that I had struck a new note, I took my Chauve-Souris silhouettes to a foremost art publication. The editors enthused, recounts Miss Donner, “Too bad the color debars them from our use. They will not photograph.” “Yes, they will photograph,” I persisted, but they turned them down.

Did the new generation scout abide by the decision of the old guard and hide her under the light under the proverbial bushel? She did not. With a Brownie camera I photographed the Chauve-Souris and on the following day brought a composition, clean cut as an etching, to the cock-sure editors. In the next number of the periodical, they reproduced it under the caption “Something New.”

“Experience,” says Miss Donner (she is all of twenty!), “has taught be not to accept adverse opinion of my work as final until I have proved it wrong.” Too often, she declares, she has had original ideas rejected as impossible, impractical, and a month or a year later seen them exploited.

To thrash out an idea with astute men of affairs is her especial joy.

I love to work over an idea, to see from how many angles it can be developed, how many times it can be profitably turned over; for ideas I have found are like Wall Street properties, dry goods, jewelry, and marketable staple; they can be turned over and over with varied artistic and monetary results. How to do it is the big thing!” Encouraged by her first victory, the Chauve-Souris silhouettes were brought to a famous producer of spectacular drama.

“Great! Just what I’m looking for. Come with me tonight to the theatre,” he said. I went and we selected the subjects.

“What will you pay me?” I asked.”

“Pay?” he cried. “Nothing!“

“You would have my labor and my art for nothing?”

“Big advertisement for you young lady.”

“And for you, Mr. Produce!”

“For both of us,” he finally conceded, but not a penny would he pay.

“Original! New! Practical!” The great producer had said it.

“If it’s all that, it’s worth money,” reasoned the artist-flapper, and to a metropolitan newspaper she lied. It reproduced four silhouettes in color and paid for them – her first real money? The subjects were from current costume plays. After newspaper publication, each silhouette was framed and personally conducted to the producer of the respective dramas.

“Fine! Ripping! But we’re not buying picture.”

“They’re not for sale. Hang them in the lobby of your theatre. That is all I ask.” And they did.

“Something for nothing!” gurgled the merry young artist.

Doris Keane shortly after tripped through one of the lobbies and ran amuck one of the silhouettes. It took her breath. A new face! Forever the perennial cry of the playhouse and the public!

Here was no face, in the accepted form; but color flaming, action in incandescence! Miss Keane’s manager sent for Miss Donner, with the result that the actress takes on her road production of “The Czarina” a stand of silhouettes for lobby display and a sixteen-foot silhouette poster in colors of crescendo choral joy. With flesh of solid orange and in scarlet coat with pink cuffs and pink jabot, the lover holds in his arms the Czarina of bright yellow skin in flowing gown of vivid green and blue, the whole seemingly detached yet harmoniously in tune with a background of rich maroon – a masterpiece in elimination. Without a supçon of the ageworn trappings of royalty – jewels, ermine, scepter – “The Czarina’s” sovereignty dominates. With an uplifted hand in the embrace, it pulsates with pent up passion!

After the manner of the black and white silhouette artist, Miss Donner cuts her designs with scissors out of paper, preferably the rich, decorative colored papers of China, Japan or France. Mental vision of the character or scene to be delineated is her sole guide in the scissoring. No pencil drawings, no preliminary composition. On a pasteboard background of carefully studied color, the bits of cut-out paper are assembled. Each figure is built up, as in low relief sculpture, until substantial form, vital outline, a pulsating entity is achieved. Cold type is as inadequate to convey the singing color, the uncanny action of the pictorial innovation as is the photograph to portray the fine, spiritual quality of the young artist’s personality. The vitalized silhouette is for the physical eye, through which the appeal is to the imaginative soul.”

Attached are a few more images her art that were with the article. I have been unsuccessful at finding any color versions of her work from this period.

Her 1922 images seem so be so far ahead of her time!

Historical Excerpt – “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 2

A 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1) by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Here is the second installment on page 66 and 69:

“But, mark you, Young Aspirant, it is from an ancestry of Danish painters, sculptors, architects that she inherits what schools and masters are powerless to give – the creative brain! You have it or you haven’t, and there is an end of it. No dexterity of pencil, brush or palette, the fatality of modern art, notably French art; no scientifically deduced laboratory color formula can supplant the God given gift to create. Its possessor does not know its mystery or how it puts over to mortal ken intangible spirit, vision, dream.

The creator of the vitalized silhouette cannot recall when pencil, paper and scissors were not her medium of expression, and the theatre her inspiration. An Offenbach’s Grande Duchess doted on the military, this dynamic young artist dotes on the playhouse. It was original theatrical costumes designed while a schoolgirl that gave her first contact with producers and her earliest glimpse of the “back stage.” She introduced bare legs into the first Winter Garden show where heretofore silk tights held center.

Emboldened by the success of the “call back” to the childhood she had scarcely passed, she startled Impresario Ziegfeld with a costume that disclosed the entire back as Mother Eve sported it. Ziegfeld, wonderful to relate, had not the courage to use it and it remained for this day of flapper supremacy to legitimatize the bare back costume on and off stage!

More than half of the costumes that gave “Experience” its line color distinction sprung from Miss Donner’s fertile brain. This was the work of her first flush of creative impulse when she toiled through the night, dawn finding her at her studio with enthusiasm unspent. “Now I know better, and I work all day,” she laughs.

It is uncommon knowledge of historic costume that she brings to her dramatic interpretations. Every nations and period she maintains, and demonstrates, has its dominant color charged with character and feeling of the race. Pink and yellow, for instance, reflect the Eighteenth Century. In the theatres, cabarets and dance hall of Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, to which two years ago she gave nightly study, she found her costume and color deductions verified.

It was Chauve-Souris that brought her color sense to the vitalization of the old time static black and white silhouette. With bright yellow for flesh, a daring rarely attempted, and a like discard of rule and rote in her drawing, she interpreted the vivid color and elemental spirit of the Russian vaudeville.”

Last installment tomorrow!

Historical Except- “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 1

A 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1)by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Here is the first installment on page 17:

“The still-born black and white silhouette of early Victorian conception has come to life! Charged with dynamic color and vibrant line, significantly it interprets restless Now, and is America’s latest contribution to the poster art. As an eye-arrestor, imagination-stimulator it promises to go far. For happily, it credits “the man in the street” with vision beyond the physical eye. Daringly colorful, vibrantly active, it conveys an impression of the human face without defining its features, yet, never misses recognition.

This pictorial innovation is the work of Miss Vyvyan Donner. How this clever American girl conceived, developed and “put it across” is the story of the misunderstood younger generation, fearless of the unconventional defiant of the old order. Miss Donner’s vitalized silhouettes materialized last March. Before summer’s wane they held up the lobby of three New York theatres, and are now the talk of the art and theatrical worlds. In the fine or graphic arts, as in every medium of expression, there is a right time to bob up, a right time to disappear as Gilbert and Sullivan tunefully emphasized. To the one who bobs up opportunity and full-fledges, a thousand come too soon or too late, and with little more than a bonne disposition fumble along, often in the wake of false leads, and pass out with dreams unrealized, their efforts seemingly a cipher in the world’s work.

Fortunately, it is to an America awakened to the value of color in life and art that Miss Donner was born. This color awakening, however tardy, is our aesthetic recompense from Uncle Sam’s indiscriminate hospitality to Old World undesirables! Hers is a sense of color inherent and highly sensitized. It is through color that she sees, feels and realizes form. Had she come to the America that produced “The White City” of the Chicago World Fair (1893) – our art naissance – this priceless gift would doubtless have lain dormant, inarticulate, or if expressed, been a waste upon the desert air, so remote was the public from today’s color riot. Three month’s study at Cooper Union, three months at the Art Student’s League, drawing from life, cover Miss Donner’s academic training.”

And there will be more tomorrow!

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Vyvyan Donner

“Women in Scenic Art,” final excerpt from 1927 article as posted yesterday: “Oh yes, there are plenty more, the Misses Hancock, Farrington, Vickers, Bernstein, (Vyvyan) Donner…”

Vyvyan Donner (1895-1965) was a native of New York and will be my subject for the next few posts. Breaking into the business at an early age,

Donner became much more than a well-known scenic and costume designer. She excelled at everything she tried her hand at, including poster art, directing, writing, fashion design, jewelry designer, film commentator, and a producer at Twentieth Century.

By the age of 21 yrs. old she was already noted as an extremely costume designer in Green Book 1916 (shown below).

She worked at a variety of venues, including for Ziegfeld and the Schuberts, becoming a sensation by 1922 and primarily working from her studio was located on 44th Street at the beginning of her career. When she started or left this studio is unknown.

As many other theatre artists she travelled extensively– especially to Chicago. During 1927, Donner was one of a handful of artists to create decorative banners for the 1927 Scenic Artists Ball in Chicago. Artists from all over the nation gathered at this event to enjoy and evening of performance, network, and socialize. She was the only female displaying her art for this event – to me, this said a lot. At this same time, she remained extremely active as a costume designer.

In 1926, Donner was credited with designing the “modern costumes” for the production of “The Desert Song.” This was a musical operetta that appeared at the Casino Theatre. Mark Mooring also designed costumes for the production, a show inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs (a group of Moroccon fighters) against French Colonial Rule.

Donner also entered the world of clothing design and fashion journalism. In 1929, at the age of 34 yrs. old she became the fashion editor for Fox Movietone News. In 1938, she began writing her “Fashion Forecast” series that was filmed in Technicolor with each item running for about eleven minutes and narrated by Ilka Chase. Later, Donner designed the sets and costumes for each of her own fashion shows, carefully selecting models from theatre, night clubs, schools and colleges, not agencies alone. She also was a commentator on the Movietone Newsreels during the 1930s.

For videos of Vivian Donner Fashion Shows and clips, go to:

http://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A1990 for April 17, 1929 on women’s summer styles

http://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A40693 from August 6, 1942.

It is delightful to see the costumes and the setting from the 1920s and the 1940s. They are both in the University of South Carolina Libraries digital collections. Finally, here is one of the Movietone News reels from 1940 with Donner’s narration: https://archive.org/details/NewsreelClip1940 (her fashion section is immediately after the military update)

In 1946, the Scarsdale Inquirer (No 42, 18 October) noted Donner in “News of the Women’s Club.” They noted Donner as a woman “who is in constant touch with creators of feminine styles and one of the greatest individual influences in the field of Fashion.” They note that 95% of all the creations shown in her films were American made with her films were now made in New York on Tenth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street.

For film, Donner was a director, writer and producer for a variety of productions, including: “What It Takes to Make a Star” (1945), “Music from Manhattan” (1946), “Behind the Footlights” (1947, producer), “Something Old, Something New” (1948), “Talented Beauties” (1949), “Music of Manhattan” (1950).

For me, her most fascinating work was the design of the “Question Producer Pin!” Donner designed this piece of jewelry with Julio Kilney casting it. This pin dates form the suffrage period and represents the fight for Equal Rights Amendment. Donner’s pin is now part of the National Woman’s Party archives and can be viewed at http://nationalwomansparty.org/are-you-wearing-your-question-producer/ This needs a come back!

The next few posts are going to cover an interview with Donner in an 1922 called “Vitalizing the Silhouette.” This interview examines in detail her art, training, creative approach, and challenges.

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Nellie Leach

The last part of the 1927 article “Women in Scenic Art”

“Oh yes, there are plenty more, the Misses Hancock, Farrington, Vickers, Bernstein, Donner, Roche and Nellie Leach who is perhaps an actress who paints but, without disparaging her histrionic talents, more likely a painter who acts. Whether they are doing art directing, designing or actual painting of scenes, they are all going to “stay a while, thank you!” for what is particularly nice about them, they never asked more that a fair field and no favors.”

Without the first names for these women, a search is exceedingly difficult and the results are questionable at best. I actually happened to know of “Miss Donner” and will leave her for tomorrow and focus on Nellie Leach (dates unknown).

There are several performers with the name of “Nellie Leach” who appear all across the country and in both England and Australia. Some list her as a soprano who was married to Fred Leach and others note her travel on various theatre circuits. The verifiable connection that I could make is her performance in two Broadway productions during 1926. She is listed in the Broadway database for the productions of “The Jeweled Trees” and “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em.” I also tracked down her portrait in the Billy Rose Theatre collection at the New York Public Library. The age and location suggest an appropriate pairing.

It has always been difficult to track down scenic artists. Many names are misspelled in programs and last names might include only initials, or the title of “Mr.” For women scenic artists it is even more difficult as their names will change from their maiden name to a married name, while still remaining misspelled. Their first name may become entirely forgotten, being gradually erased over time and disappearing from printed history. Shadows of their husband remain, becoming a “Mrs.” tacked onto another person’s name.

Looking beyond the names and the identities, ten women were noted as scenic artists in a 1927 article in ONE city! This is a remarkable number, signifying a shift in an industry. The article publicly acknowledges the contributions of women in technical theatre.

I have continued to stumble across the names of women scenic artists since I first starting my research as an undergraduate. Some believe that any mention of women painting or illustrations of women painting suggested their activities were simply “helping out.” I have to wonder about this previous assessment by theatre practitioners and historians as there were multiple activities that continually incorporated women into other trades at this time, such as architecture, illustration, sculpture and art. Was it common? No, but it was a constant move toward progress. Women represented a small percentage of the scenic art world, but they were still there. One example is the women’s building at the 1893 for the Columbian Exposition. It was designed and decorated by women; an endeavor that could not have been accomplished with solely unskilled individuals who were new to the trades.

To think about Nellie Leach as “an actress who paints” or “a painter who acts” reminds me of Joe Jefferson’s variety of theatre skills. His painting was looked upon as an asset to all of his other stage work. Why would not the same belief apply to any female theatre artist such as Nellie Leach?

I will leave today with my favorite quote from the article: “Whether they are doing art directing, designing or actual painting of scenes, they are all going to stay a while, thank you!”

We certainly have stayed a while!

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Gretl Urban

Here some more of the 1927 article listing some women in the field of scenic art:

“Look at the diminutive parcel of wonderful feminine personality peeking up at you from beneath the bonnet rim. Gretl Urban – even the name is diminutive – and then remember her setting for Louis XIV. If you did not see them, you missed something.”

Gretel/Gretl Urban Thurlow (1898-1997) was the daughter and Josef Urban (1872-1933), the well-known architect, illustrator and designer. Her mother was Meizzi (b. 1873) and the step-daughter of Mary Porter Beegle (married to Urban from 1919-1933). Gretl’s birth name was Margarete Urban and she was born in Vienna, Austria on January 7, 1898. Studying art in Boston, she joined her father’s New York studio to paint and design costumes for several of his productions. Gretl worked with her father for both the Ziegfeld Follies and the Metropolitan Opera New York, later becoming a well-known designer in her own right.

Very little is known about her private life and marriage.

By the 1920 census, she has married John Thurlow (b. 1892) and lived with her birth mother Meizzi (sp?) and her sister, Elly Helliwell (b. 1901 in Austria). Her husband is listed as Meizzi’s lodger in Boston, Mass. with Gretl listed as the lodger’s wife. Gretl, Meizzie and Elly, are listed as all immigrating from Austria in 1912, the year after Josef. At this time, Gretl is listed without any occupation, while her husband is noted as salesman for a Broker. John Thurlow was born in Colorado with parents originating in Massachusetts. What is interesting about this census is that her husband is listed as a lodger and Gretl is listed as the wife of the household’s lodger with her mother as the head of household.

She is repeatedly mentioned for her work in various papers from 1921-1922 and follows her father to California, working in Hollywood from 1923 to 1925. Whether her husband travelled with her at this time is unknown. Her film credits include “When Knighthood was in Flower” (1922, costumes), “Little Old New York” (1923, costumes), “Enemies of Women” (1923, costume design), “Princess Yolanda” (1923, costumes), “The Value of Beauty” (1923, costumes), “Janice Meredith” (1924, costume design), “Zander the Great” (1925, costume design). In most instances she was working on films crews for her father or with her father who was either the art director or scenic designer. By 1925, she again returned to New York and was scenic designer for the musical comedy “Louis XIV” at the Cosmopolitan Theatre. This is the work that is mentioned in the 1927 “Women in Scenic Art” text. That same year, she also designs costumes for the Metropolitan Opera. Although I have included some to depict her rendering style, , they are available at http://archives.metoperafamily.org/Imgs/TurandotUrbanDesign.htm

An interesting side note for 1924 historical context: Gretl was one of the guests on Hearst’s boat, the Oneida, during the incident involving William Randolph Hearst. They had been travelling for a private screening of “Enchantment.” More on THAT can be found at “William Randall Hearst: The Later Years” by Ben Procter.

Her father passed away in 1933 and she continues with her career. By 1935, she designed the original Broadway play, “The Season Changes” at the Booth Theatre and in 1939 she designed the stage settings for “East River Romance” by Edwin Gilbert for the Studio Players of Yonkers, performing in the Waverly Terrace Auditorium. Gretl later served as a consultant for Billy Rose while he restored the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1943.

Between 1950 and her retirement in 1981 she worked for the music publisher Carl Fisher, working as the Vice President for the company. She lived last at the Holiday Care Center in Toms River, New Jersey.

Her costumes for the movie “Janice Meredith”

Her designs for “Turandot”

It was surprising difficult to find information any information on a woman that was a well known designer and daughter to an infamous father! Other than a few credits – little is left of her painting.