Art Institute Exhibit of 1916

The following text and pictures are taken from the catalog that accompanied the 1916 Palette and Chisel exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Notice how there were three kinds of membership: Artist (limited to 100 men), Associate (anyone can join, maybe even women ), and Life (including such local luminaries as J. Ogden Armour, Charles Deering, Cyrus and Stanley McCormick, Martin Ryerson, and J. J. Glessner).

Hopefully, descendents of these people will occasionally find the name of a great-grandparent listed here -- and send us jpg's of the artworks that they made or collected.

Notice also how well the Art Institute served as a center for local culture -- rather than just as an outpost for an international artworld:

After twenty years of exhibitions, held in its rooms at 59 E. Van Buren Street, the Palette and Chisel Club proclaims its maturity with this, its twenty-first annual exhibit. Through the courtesy of the trustees the Club is given an opportunity to show at the Art Institute its achievements as a collective body.

Many of the names in this catalogue are of well known exhibitors at exhibitions throughout the country, where they have been represented individually. Here they are shown as factors in building up a wonderfully successful organization, devoted to the best expression possible of the varied arts followed by its members. Their efforts, curiously perhaps, have not produced a distinctive Palette and Chisel school of painting nor distinguishing mannerisms, but rather have resulted in developing a friendly rivalry for divergent though equally commendable ideals.

About the Club

Out of the ambitions and friendliness of ten young men came the Palette and Chisel Club. The beginning was twenty years ago, but the same spirit of fellowship and desire for development still is the breath and life of the society.

They were students who began it. In their school work they found routine, something of necessary drudgery, so they formed their little club where freedom might be on tap at all hours. Today the founders are high in the art world, and though many have left Chicago they all are as devoted to their club and as enthusiastic as ever. Every year of the Club's life has been LIFE spelt in red letters. Nature's proverbial horror of a vacuum is not to be compared with the Palette & Chisel Club's antipathy for inaction. "Action," said a certain wise man, "may not bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." With such an idea the little society founded by ten hopeful students has grown in prestige and influence until the limited membership of one hundred seems too strait with a clamoring waiting list always at hand.

Realizing that activity means more than running around in concentric circles, the Palette and Chisel bent its energies to three definite aims: First, to advance the art abilities and general welfare of its members; second, to help beautify the city and stimulate public interest in the fine arts; third, to link the art movements of our community with those of other cities. In these aims the Club's success has been so great that every art center in the world now recognizes the organization as a generous, vital, and intelligent body.

How was it done? Slowly, perhaps, but steadily. The first meetings were held in a sculptor's studio in the Athenaeum Building, on Sundays, and the veterans will tell how they used to spend the first half-hour of a meeting pushing busts of Lincoln, Indian groups, and other sculptural novelties back into corners. This done, the great Sachem opened the meeting with an invocation, an accordion solo, or a call for contributions toward certain refreshments to restore the morale lost in rubbing a Sunday suit against a plaster cast.

Those, on the words of the veterans, were the good old days. Here are the names of that nucleus: Richard Boehm, Curtis Gandy, Charles J. Mulligan, Henry Hutt, David Hunter, Wilson H. Irvine, Walter Coakley, Frank U. Wagner, Arnold Bunch, Fred T. Larson.

From the beginning the Club members worked. Every meeting was a study session, a practice which continues to the present day. At the start, study was not as elaborate as it is today, with models, fancy lightings, and accessories; sometimes nothing but a modest still life graced the model stand.

Entertainments were never more startling or frequent than in the Palette & Chisel Club. Determined to show themselves happy as they felt, the artists often diverted themselves with the most innocent and original burlesques. Frank Holme, the broad and versatile humorist of pen and pencil, George Ade, and many others produced their raciest fun, and to the present day an invitation to a Palette & Chisel show is widely coveted.

Such relaxations have helped keep alive more serious endeavors. Annual exhibitions, beginning with hardly more than a sketch show, have been held, increasing yearly in power and scope. Today members of this society are repeatedly winning honors and prizes. For two years in succession the Prix de Rome, the greatest art prize in America, was taken by Palette and Chisel men, Ezra Winter and Eugene F. Savage. Others who have achieved international fame after having been rocked in the old Athenaeum cradle are: Lawrence Mazzanovich, Wilson H. Irvine, David Robinson, J.C. Leyendecker, Henry Hutt, F. J. Mulhaupt, Charles J. Mulligan, J.L.S. Williams, Angus MacDonald. Following its idea of civic development, the Club has thrown open its doors to the public at all times and made everyone a welcome guest at exhibitions.

Not all the exhibitions have been in that highly revered and sacred medium, linseed oil. Graphic and applied arts are developed to a high state among the members. Book plates, designs, illustrations, lettering, etchings, and every known branch of the craft has its representatives.

Ten years ago a summer camp was established at Fox Lake which has developed into a popular study and recreation feature. Originally a tent was used, then a portable house, and since last year a house of permanent construction, accommodating forty people. Open continuously from early spring until late fall, the camp affords members an opportunity to get into the country at nominal cost for outdoor painting and recreation.

"The Cow Bell", a quarterly magazine which takes its name from the Club talisman, distributes enthusiasm to the members. It stimulates a lively interest in Club doings among about two thousand readers outside the membership, and aims to reflect the combined spirits of work and play which dominate the Club's activities.

With these and countless other accomplishments recorded in its great Log Book, the Club still is looking forward and extending a promise to every Chicago citizen. Professional and business men may become associate members, and everyone can get acquainted and be convinced of the inspiriting, yes, even the "practical," nature of artistic works.
Paintings and Sculpture on Display

R. Fayerweather Babcock, "A Munich Cab Driver"

Paul Bartlett, "Buenas Dias," "The Red Lamp"

Ben Blessum, "An Old Couple"

C. Llynn Coy, 3 portrait busts - plaster

Harry Engle, "A Hoosier Cabin,""In the Wake of the Woodchoppers"

Oscar B. Erickson, "September Afternoon"

George H. Evans, "Alma," "Golf"

J. Jeffrey Grant, "The Frozen Brook"

Otto Hake, "Decorative painting, Motive from Jackson Park," "Poster Stamp" (watercolor), architectural rendering (wash)

E. Martin Hennings, "Algerian Nude," "Sister," "Italian Girl," "Grandmother," "Winter Landscape," "The Old Bavarian"

Victor Higgins, "New Mexican Dooryard," "Herdsman" (loaned by Carter H. Harrison), "Reception Day"

David Hunter, (plasters and terra cottas) "Lion," "Awakening," "Love's Caprice," "Throne of Art," "Cover Design," "Under the Sea," portrait of "Miss M.," "Autumn's Offering," "War Group"

Rudolph Ingerle, "After the Snow, Ozark Mountains," "October Snow," "Morning Mist, Ozark Mountains"

Wilson Irvine, "Summer in Connecticut," "The Grace of Spring," "The Barns"

Alfred Jansson, "Snow Laden Pine and Spruce," "Clinging Snow"

Joseph Kleitsch, "My Wife"

Carl R. Krafft, "Turkey Creek," "October's Golden Month is Here," "November Snow," "Tranquility hath charms that never cease," "The Crade of Autumn"

Fred T. Larson, "First Snow"

Theodore Lely, "Stately Pines"

Henry L. Levy, "Sand Dunes"

Niels P. Nielsen, "Quietude"

Edgar Payne, "The Island Coast," "Monteceito Way," "Hills of Rincon," "Vista, Santa Barbara"

John E. Phillips, "In Autumn's Dress," "From the Camp"

Gordon Saint Clair, "Hazel"

Josef Cestmir Svoboda, "Portrait of Josef Froula"

Frank Senge, "Landscape"

Glen C. Sheffer, "Destiny"

R.F. Tandler, "Portrait of C. L Skinner"

Ernest P. Thurn, portrait

Emil O. Thulin, "Sleeping Willow"

Walter Ufer, "Road to San Juan Pueblo," "portrait of Mrs. Walter Wardrop," "In my painting Jacket," "portrait of Carter H. Harrison," "Harvest at San Juan Pueblo"

Ufer

Carlsen

Hennings

Hunter

Engle

Graphic Arts Section

A.J. Anderson
R. Fayerweather Babcock
Gustave Baumann
R.V. Brown
E.R. Burggraf
J.H. Carlsen
Eugene Devol
William O. Dewitz
Oscar B. Erickson
Gordon Ertz
L.O. Griffith
Max Gundlach
M. E. Harris
Bernhardt Kleboe
Fred T. Larson
Orrie J. McCombs
Karl Plath
R. E. Power
Grant Tyson Reynard
Frank H. Riley
Emory P. Seidel
Frank C. Senge
R. M. Schindler
Glen C. Sheffer
Benjamin Silbert
George Harmon Simmons
Josef Cestmir Svoboda
R.F. Tandler
Henry Thiede

Artist Members

A.J. Anderson
R. Fayerweather Babcock
Paul Bartlett
Gustave Baumann
Ben Blessum
R.V. Brown
E.R. Burggraf
J.H. Carlsen
C. Llynn Coy
Eugene Devol
William O. Dewitz
Harry Engle
Oscar B. Erickson
Gordon Ertz
George H. Evans
J. Jeffrey Grant
L.O. Griffith
Max Gundlach
Otto Hake
M. E. Harris
E. Martin Hennings
Victor Higgins
David Hunter
Rudolph Ingerle
Wilson Irvine
Alfred Jansson
S. J. Kennedy
Bernhardt Kleboe
Joseph Kleitsch
S. Knudson
Carl R. Kraff
Edward Jan Krasa
Henry Kratzner
Josepph Krohmer
Fred T. Larson
Chester H. Lawrence
Theodore Lely
Henry L. Levy
W.J. McBride
Orrie J. McCombs
J. P:. Marleski
John R. Morton
Thomas G. Moses
William Neuenfeldt
Niels P. Nielsen
Charles J. Nittel
Edgar Payne
August Petrtyl
John E. Phillips
Paul Plaschke
Karl Plath
Ralph E. Power
Grant Tyson Reynard
William W. Riddell
George A. Rieman
Frank H. Riley
Herbert Rudeen
Gordon Saint Clair
Carl Scheffler
R. M. Schindler
Felix G. Schmidt
Emory P. Seidel
Frank C. Senge
Glen C. Sheffer
J. C. Sheperd
Charles A. Sieber
Benjamin Silbert
George Harmon Simmons
Samuel Stoltz
Josef Cestmir Svoboda
R.F. Tandler
Frank Taylor
William Ternes
Henry Thiede
Hiram H. Thompson
Emil O. Thulin
Ernest P. Thurn
H. L. Timmins
Charles J. Troppman
Walter Ufer
A. H. Ullrich
De Alton Valentine
I. R. Vaughan
Ernest Viehler
Watkins Williams
John B. Woodruff

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

A.H. ABBOTT
C.A. ALZEN
ALFRED B. ANDREWS
HERERT E. W. BACH
GEORGE P. BALDWIN
GEORGE H. BEARD
A.G. BECKER
LIONEL A. BELL
F.C. BELOHLAVEK
CHARLES E. BETSCHER
A. BIELENBERG
C.G. BLANDEN
S.J. BLUMENTHAL
CHARLES D. BOHLING
ALVAR L. BOURNIQUE
E. M. BOWMAN
WILLIAM N. BRADY
THOMAS W. BROWN
H.S. BROWNE
MARION S. BURNETT
EDWARD B. BUTLER
F.V. CANN
DE LYSLE F. CASS
CHARLES H. CHADWICK
H.A. CHETHAM
O.J. COE
GEORGE J. COWAN
J.P. COYNE
L.C. CRAMER
CHARLES H. CROCKER
JOHN B. CROSBY
EDMUND A. CUMMINGS
C.C. CURTISS
THOMAS CUSACK
EUGENE F. DAULM
F. GULY DAVIS
EARL H. DEAKIN
C.S. DEWEY
F. LE ROY DICKEY
HOWARD B. DILKES
R.E. DONNELLY
W. DORY
FRED S. DRESSKELL
HENRY DUMONT
FRANK V. DUDLEY
W. BRADSHAW EGAN
W.S. FAITHORN
J.W. FARRAH
J.A.C. FENTON
H.G. FIDDELKE
FRED J.A. FORSTER
CHARLES DANIEL FREY
JOSEPH FROULA
JAN. J. FUCIK
WILLIAM D. GATES
LEROY TRUMAN GOBLE
WILLIAM O. GOODMAN
I.L. GOSSMAN
DR. J.E. GILLMAN
G. HENRY GILS
R.J. GUNNING
W.H. HAFNER
BEVERLY F. HALL
WILLIAM S. HAMM
C.A. HANSON
SAMUEL D. HIRSCHL
THOMAS JULIEN HOOPS
J.A. HOOPE
WILLIAM H. HOOPS
V.A. HORACEK
H. ELMER HOUSE
CHARLES E. HYMAN
SAMUEL R. JENKINS
R.A. JONES
CARL S. JUNGE
JOSEPH KANTOR
CHAUNCY KEEP
JAMES HOWARD KEHLER
FRANK O. KING
THOMAS F. KIRBY
DR. JACOB KRAFFT
CHARLES LANSDOWN
BRYAN LATHROP
FRED M. LAWRENCE
THEODORE C. LAWRENCE
L.L. LAZELLE
E.A. LEGROS
EMANUEL LOEB
FRANK G. LOGAN
DR. WILLIAM LUXMORE
C.G. MACKLIN
RAY A. MASTERS
ALBERT MATHEWS
R.V. MCCROSKEY
OGDEN MCCLURG
ALBERT MACRAE
A.H. MCQUILKIN
FELIX MENDELSOHN
CHARLES J. MILLER
FRANCIS J. M. MILES

H.P. MUEHLENBECK

W.B. MULNDI
LOUIS MOHR
C.F. NAST
FRANCIS HERBERT NEWCOMB
GEORGE C. NIMMONS'
J.H. OSTRANDER
O. OSTENRIEDER
V.M. OLIER
CHARLES H. PALMER
O.H. PETERS
ACLAV PETRTYL
J.N. PIERCE
M.W. RALSTON
FRANK K. REILLY
EGBERT ROBERSTSON
EDWARD S. ROGERS
TOREY ROSS
MARTON A. RYERSON
W.W. SAMMONS
CHARLES H. SCZESNEY
OSCAR SWCHOENEBERG
GEORGE O. SCHOOLCRAFT
H.O. SCHULZE
PAUL SCHULZE
JACOB SCHWARTZ
HENRY SEIDNER
CHARLES E. SELLECK
GOERGE A. SHARP
HORACE C. STARR
BENJAMIN STEIN
EDWARD F. STEWART
JOHN M. STAHL
HARRY C. STRAHORN
JOHN SUSTER
J.A. TAGGERT
F.L. THOMPSON
SEYMOUR J. THURBER
WILLIAM H. TUTHILL
JOSEPH TRINER
A.J. UNGER
L.L. VALENTINE
SACKETT H. VERALL
L.P. VOORHEES
CHARLES H. WACKER
JOHN M. WAGNER
R.R. WALKER
JOSEPH A. WASHICK
C.E. WATTS
FRED K. LATIMER WELLS
CARL N. WERNTZ
CHARLES WIEDEMAN
JEROME L. WIENER
JOSEPH C. WILIMOVSKY
EDNYFED H. WILLIAMS
A.J. ZIMMERMAN

LIFE MEMBERS

J. OGDEN ARMOUR
F. BAACKES
ALFRED BAKER
L. BENJAMIN
MRS. EMMONS BLAINE
RUDOLPH BLOOM
GEORGE M. BRILL
W.A. CAMERON
S. COB COLEMAN
C.W. COMSTOCK
JOHN F. L. CURTIS
RICHMOND DEAN
CHARLES DEERING
JOSEPH DEULTSCH
SAM DEUTSCH
F.P. DINKELBERG
J.W. DUNTLEY
JOHN C. FETZER
DR. J.E. GILLMAN
J.J. GLESSNER
C.F. GUNTHER
N.W. HARRIS
JAMES O. HAYWORTH
MARSHALL F. HOLMES
C.L. HUTCHINSON
JARVIS HUNT
ROBERT HUNT
GEORGE W. JACKSON
E.V. JOHNSON
H. VICTOR KEANE
CHAUNCEY KEEP
WILLIAM V. KELLEY
OTTO KUBIN
NELSON N. LAMPERT
FRANK G. LOGAN
HENRY C. LYTTON
STANLEY MCCORMICK
CYRUS H. MCCORMICK
W. JU. MCDOWELL
JAMES R. MCKAY
GEORGE A. MCKINLOCK
J.C. MCFARLAND
H.M. MCQUTOSK
SAMUEL MCROBERTS
JOHN S. MILLER
LOUIS MOHR
ADAM ORTSEIFEN
J.V. PIAZZA
CHARLES PLAMONDON
C.L. RICKETS
TOBY RUBOVITS
MARTIN RYERSON
JOHN R. SCOTT
JOSEPH SCHAFFNER
OSCAR SPINDLER
H.A. STILLWELL
EDWARD TILDEN
JOHN R. THOMPSON
V. THRANE
FRED W. UPHAM
JAMES VILES
FRITZ FON FRANTZIUS
HENRY VON MEETEREN
WILLIAM H. WARREN
A. STAMFORD WHITE
JOHN E. WILDER