USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
Placed in the galleries of the Public Library, the collection is seen by hundreds of men, women and children who would never visit it in another location, and it performs a valuable service for the many students who can never see the originals. The connoisseur may sneer at copies because he does not need them, but there can be no question of the value of these pictures as an education to the public at large. Hundreds of business men, club women, pupils in the history and art departments of our public schools, have enlarged their horizon by a study of them, gaining new ideas of the meaning of art to older nations and realizing from them more vividly the manners and cus- toms of our elder brothers across the way. The city owes a debt to Mr. Nelson which it has not yet fully recognized.
In 1896, the artists of the city, under the leadership of G. Van Millett, organized the Paint Club, with a view to conducting exhibitions of paint- ings. The first roll of active members included George Sass, president ; E. A. Huppert, secretary ; G. V. Millett, A. H. Clark, Floy Campbell, Clifton B. Sloan, Wm. Weber, Frank Bell, Helene De Launay and Alice Murphy; and the sustaining members were W. R. Nelson, J. V. C. Karnes, Elma J. Web- ster, T. W. Johnston, Jr., Frank Brumback, Gertrude Woolf and Carrie Volker. Through Mr. Millett's acquaintance with artists all over the coun- try a large number were interested in the undertaking, and the exhibitions were good. The Board of Education looked upon the work as educational and gave the use of rooms in the Library building, which made it convenient for a great number of persons to see the pictures. In 1900, the club was reor- ganized as the Art Club with G. V. Millett as president. An agreement was made with out of town artists to buy one picture each year, the local work being excepted. Four canvases were thus acquired and now hang in the Public Library; one water color by W. Forsyth, entitled Spring, and three oil paintings-Martique, by Frank Vincent Du Mond, Indiana Village, by J. C. Steele, and Still Life, by Wm. M. Chase. Strangely enough the club rejected a street scene by Connoyer.
Worn out by their efforts and discouraged by lack of support on the part of the public, the club abandoned the exhibitions in 1904, and it fell to the craft-workers to pass along the torch.
602
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
In 1896, the local china decorators organized a society under the name of the "Keramic Club," whose purpose was the study of the general subject of ceramic art, including exhibitions. Mrs. Wm. G. Baird was the first president. This club has always been energetic and enthusiastic, and has given many creditable exhibitions. A few years later members who wished to do specialized work formed the Koehler Club for technical study.
In 1904, the craft workers decided upon more definite work on a broader scale and at a meeting held in May, at the Baltimore hotel, Mrs. Noble Fuller, Mrs. George Matthews, Mrs. Mary Linton Bookwalter, Mrs. A. J. McDonald, Mr. Alfred Gregory and Mr. Clifton Sloan were chosen as a com- mittee on organization, with Mrs. Fuller as chairman. It is interesting to note in passing that Mrs. Fuller and Mrs. McDonald had been pupils in the school of design carried on by the Art Association. On January 20, 1905, a formal organization was accomplished under the name of "The Arts and Crafts Society of Kansas City," for the purpose of conducting exhibitions of the work of the various handicrafts. Edward T. Wilder was elected presi- dent; Frederic Lyman, first vice-president; Mrs. Noble Fuller, second vice- president; Mrs. Mark Gerard, recording secretary; Miss Minnie Ward, corres- ponding secretary and Mrs. F. P. Burnap, treasurer. The charter members numbered forty. With the exception of a few who have gone abroad for study, or have taken positions elsewhere, they constitute the present working force. The associate membership numbers one hundred and twenty-five. The society is composed of earnest and interested craftsmen who see in the movement not only opportunities for individual study but the far reaching possibilities of raising the craft-work of the city to the dignity of creative ar- tistic production. It has established a basis of cordial co-operation with the manual training departments of the public schools and other institu- tions where craft-work is used educationally. Every active member is expected to produce something each year, and the exhibits of this work are in demand in cities all over the country. The best hand-crafts-men of the United States from Maine to California, send their work to the local exhibi- tions of the Kansas City society, seven of which have already been held. A salesroom was maintained for a year and a half, but has been discontinued for the present. The next step will probably be the establishment of shops where metal work, wood carving and other crafts can be taught.
In 1906 a new movement for the establishment of a public art school and museum was begun. An organization under the name of "The Fine Arts Institute" has been chartered with J. C. Ford as president.
All art movements in Kansas City are hampered by the lack of a large collection of works covering all classes of applied arts as well as of those purely decorative in character, which can be used for purposes of study and inspira-
GEN. GEORGE C. BINGHAM.
605
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
tion by the large number of students of art in our public and private schools and studios. Much good technical work is accomplished, for example, in our high schools, but creative imagination is clearly lacking. The artists realize the inspirational value of the works of great masters not only in paint- ing but in architecture, sculpture, decorative designing for fabrics, metals, porcelains, in fact in all the arts and crafts which add to both the pleasure and profit of life. These works can be found only in a great collection, housed in a fire proof building. Until such a collection is provided in Kansas City, much of the money used in our efforts to train the eyes and hands of boys and girls to produce practical work of artistic value is not furnishing the fullest returns on the investment. Already there is renewed agitation for such a building and collection, and doubtless the "Kansas City spirit" will provide them. As taxpayers, the public already does its share in free educa- tion, and it may justly be anticipated that private gift will return to the city in a fine arts institute some measure of the wealth amassed under its pro- tection.
Kansas City claims as her own a few artists with something more than a local reputation, Bingham, Millett and Barse among them. J. L. Fitzgib- bons and John Patrick, the painter of the salon picture "Brutalité," are also resident artists.
George C. Bingham was born in Augusta county, Virginia, March 20, 1811, yet so large a part of his life was spent within the borders of Missouri and so closely was he identified with her social, political and intellectual, as well as artistic life, as to be justly classed among her most eminent citizens.
He left home at the age of sixteen to become an apprentice to a cabinet maker in the town of Boonville, as a stepping stone to the legal profession for which he hoped to educate himself. As soon as his apprenticeship terminated he began his studies for that purpose. A roving portrait painter, however, visiting Boonville at that time, diverted his interest into new chan- nels, and the study of the law was abandoned for that of art. He had early manifested a talent for drawing, and the work of this painter fired his ambi- tion and determined his future career. With even this small advantage, and limited instruction, his first efforts in the new field were so encouraging and remunerative that he was able to make his way East. When twenty-six years old he entered the school of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts at Philadelphia; three years later he opened a studio at Washington, D. C., where he remained five years. During this time he painted the portraits of a num- ber of distinguished statesmen and citizens of the National capital, including that of ex-President John Quincy Adams, at that time a member of Congress, and of John Howard Payne, the author of "Home Sweet Home," and estab- lished his reputation as a portrait painter.
606
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
In 1845 he returned to the house of his mother in Saline county, Mis- souri, and was for a time drawn into politics, and elected to represent that county in the State Legislature. At the expiration of his term of service there he turned once more to the practice of his art. No longer confining himself to portraiture he began a series of paintings, illustrating the life and customs of the Southwest, upon which his fame is chiefly founded and will perma- nently rest. The first of this series, "The Jolly Flatboatmen," was immediately selected by the Art Union of New York as especially representative of Ameri- can art and life, and reproduced as its annual engraving and distributed among its members, giving it a wide and deserved popularity. This subject was treated by him many times, with modifications of size and number of figures and differing accessories, but always with breezy out-of-door fresh- ness, and a true spirit of abandon on the part of the "brawny sons of toil," enjoying their leisure hours in music and dancing, while their primitive craft is carrying them swiftly down the current of some great Western river. This was followed by what might be classified as the "campaign pictures," depict- ing scenes and incidents with which association with state politics made the statesman-artist entirely familiar and which the artist treated with cor- responding fidelity to truth in every detail-"Stump Speaking," "The County Election," "Result of Election," and others of similar subject and character- several of Col. Bingham's pictures which were made familiar by steel engrav- ings by John Sartain, the great Philadelphia engraver, and published in Paris as well as America.
One of the most celebrated of this group, "Stump Speaking," has been described as "representing the local politician with eager attitude and counte- nance aglow with confidence, speaking literally from the stump to the coun- try folk who have gathered from all sections to hear his view of the situa- tion and his reasons for believing himself to be the only logical candidate." The same skill is shown in introducing a large number of figures, a mot- ley throng of merchants, farmers, laborers, small boys and dogs, grouped with great animation, but without confusion, and with many interesting details, representing the stores and taverns of the Main street of a country town of that day with so much reality and such a touch of humor as to bear com- parison with some of the Kermess pictures by the little masters of Holland.
The success thus attained created ambition for wider knowledge and further study. Mr. Bingham went abroad with his family, in 1856, visit- ing London, Paris, Berlin and remaining three years at Dusseldorf in the study and practice of his profession.
Later Mr. Bingham returned to America and to his home in Kansas City where he lived until the close of the war. His home in Kansas City having been destroyed, he moved to the quaint old town of Independence, east, ten
GENERAL BINGHAM'S FAMOUS PAINTING, "MARTIAL LAW," OR THE EXECUTION OF "GENERAL ORDER NO. 11.27 NOW THE PROPERTY OF GEORGE BINGHAM ROLLINS, OF COLUMBIA, MISSOURI.
609
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
miles from Kansas City. It was there in 1866 that he painted his picture, first entitled "Martial Law," subsequently better known under the name of "Order No. 11," perhaps the most noted, certainly the most dramatic, of his paintings.
Mr. Bingham's final public service to the state as adjutant general under Governor Harding, gave him the title of "General" which has since been as- sociated with his name. His last educational labor was performed as superin- tendent of the art department of the State University and Stephens college at Columbia, Missouri, going from his home in Kansas City at stated times for that purpose, until the end of his life. This city and Independence had been his home most of the time from the close of the war, here he passed away after a brief illness, July 7, 1879, and there he was laid to rest.
However later day critics may differ in regard to the excellence of the technical methods and artistic practice in this country, at that early day, as illustrated in the work of this Western artist, there can be no disagree- ment as to the great historical value of works which represent with such fidelity and truth, scenes and events peculiar to the Southwest and especially characteristic of our own state at that time. The very fact that the life and types thus vividly portrayed are passing away, emphasizes the importance of preserving a faithful record for coming generations, and makes it a mat- ter of interest to those now living, to trace, so far as possible, the present location of his more important works.
It seems fitting that Kansas City should have her share of General Bingham's work, as much of it was accomplished here, during the later years of his life, and here it was that the final public sale of his paintings was held. Perhaps no clearer impression could be obtained of his versatility than by re- ferring to the inventory of the collection, including originals, replicas and studies, as printed at the time-"Order No. 11," "Palmleaf Shade," "The Re- sult of the Election," "The Puzzled Witness," "The Jolly Flatboatmen," "Washington Crossing the Delaware," "Landscape View," "Landscape View in Colorado," "Flock of Turkeys," "Bunch of Letters," "Moonlight View," "Feeding the Cows," "The Bathing Girl," with portraits of the artist and members of his own and other well known families.
"The Puzzled Witness," one of the few interiors with figures, belongs to Judge Gibson; "The Result of the Election," to Mr. James W. S. Peters; "Palmleaf Shade," to Mrs. L. M. Miller. In the Kansas City Public Library the self-portrait of the artist, given by Mr. Thomas H. Mastin, hangs in room E, on the first floor of the building, while in the reference room, upstairs, has recently been placed a portrait, loaned to the Library as an example of the art of the state at that early day.
During Mr. Bingham's residence in Washington Mr. John Howard Payne was a frequent visitor to the studio of the artist, often sitting for hours
610
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
watching the painter. As a result Mr. Bingham painted, in water colors, in the attitude he had so often seen him, Mr. Payne's portrait. It was one of Mr. Bingham's best portraits. When Mrs. Bingham died this beautiful picture of Mr. Payne was bequeathed to Mrs. J. V. C. Karnes, who still cherishes it.
Others, including family portraits, are in possession of relatives and per- sonal friends of the artist, making in all more than twenty-five canvases in this eity.
Many of the paintings which adorn the capitol of Missouri at Jefferson City are the work of his hand, either as copies or originals from life. Full- length portraits of Washington, Jefferson and Clay, and life-size equestrian portraits of General Jackson and Lyon, are also there as a result of a special order given by the state.
St. Louis is fortunate in having some of the more important works. Mr. Bingham painted for the Mercantile Library full length portraits of Baron von Humboldt and General Frank P. Blair, and the Library now owns six more of his paintings. George and Martha Washington, from the originals by Stewart, "The County Election," "Stump Speaking," "The Result of the Election," and "The Jolly Flatboatmen," the latter an entirely different pic- . ture from that of the same name owned by the New York Art Union. The Mercantile Library also owns the original sketch of each character in these paintings. These studies are in pencil, India ink or crayon, and are mounted and bound in book form. They, with the last six paintings, were presented to the Library by the Hon. John G. Beach of St. Louis.
Columbia was General Bingham's home for a time, and there he painted a number of portraits of eminent citizens for the State University, which were unfortunately destroyed in the disastrous fire of 1892. A list of these has been kindly furnished by Mr. C. B. Rollins, of Columbia: "A bust por- trait of Dr. Anthony W. Rollins, founder of the Rollins Aid Fund; a life- size, full length portrait of the late James S. Rollins, known as 'Pater Uni- versitatis Missouriensis'; a bust portrait of the late Dr. John H. Lathrop, the first president of the University ; bust portraits of Drs. Hudson and Shannon, presidents of the University." Mr. Rollins also states that the original of "Order No. 11" is the property of Mr. George Bingham Rollins, a namesake of General Bingham.
At the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in the gallery of the Retrospective Exhibit of American Art were four paintings by George C. Bingham, owned and lent by the Mercantile Library Association of St. Louis, and entered in the official catalogue as "Stump Speaking," "Election" (painted in 1854), "Election Returns," "Jolly Flatboatmen." Among less than one hundred canvases by some sixty artists of the last half of the eighteenth and
KERSEY COATES TERRACE, BEFORE GRADING.
KERSEY COATES TERRACE, AFTER GRADING.
613
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
first half of the nineteenth century, including the best work of such men as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Washington All- ston, Charles, James and Rembrandt Peale, and others less familiar, they attracted the attention of students and critics, as thoroughly Western in sub- ject and spirit. As the art critic of the Boston Transcript expressed it-"The paintings of American life west of the Alleghanies, prior to 1860 were and are so few as to be of uncommon historical importance as national and local documents. Here was a painter who had evidently lived among the scenes and people he represented, and knew and loved them. He had done what no other painter had done, and sufficiently well as to be entitled to an honorable place in the pantheon of American artists. In the peculiar province of illus- trative pictorial art to which these paintings belong he was the pioneer and discoverer." With this frank verdict of the East, we of the West may surely claim and hope that when the history of the art of our state, indeed, that of the entire West shall be adequately written, there will be recorded as the earliest to achieve success and gain distinction in his special field of artistic expression, and among the first in rank for force and sincerity-the name of George C. Bingham.
G. Van Millett is distinctly a Kansas City product, having cast his lot as a worker in the place of his birth. He finds inspiration in local color and Missouri subjects, which makes his work acceptable for good positions in the important exhibitions of this country. His "Missouri Mother" was selected as worthy of reproduction in all sizes among the Copley prints. He was a student at the Cincinnati school of Design and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he was a pupil of Raup, Gysis and Loefftz, and won honorable mention. While he does portrait and landscape work, he is never quite in his "heart's delight" except when painting some homely domes- tic interior, tinged with the tender feelings of fireside life. Mr. Millett is also an active member of the Society of Western Artists.
George R. Barse was born in 1861, in Detroit, but as he spent his boy- hood in Kansas City and was educated in its public schools, we naturally claim his success as our own. He was a student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Academe Julien; a pupil of Cabanel, Boulanger and Lefebvre; and received the first prize of the National Academy of Design in 1895, and the Shaw Fund prize in 1898. In 1896 he was commissioned by the United States government to paint eight panels in a corridor of the Congressional li- brary. Mr. Barse is distinctly a figure painter, and his work is decorative in character.
A museum for Kansas City was opened in 1897 in the Public Library building by securing the loan of and combining a large number of rare and interesting private collections, as follows :
614
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
The M. C. Long collection, representing the stone age of America; con- taining some of the finest specimens of stone implements in the West.
The Sidney J. Hare collection of fossils, containing rare geological speci- mens, including type crinoids found in Kansas City of which duplications are unknown.
The Mrs. Hal Gaylord collection containing oriental costumes, Indian relics, utensils and implements from Borneo and Sumatra, with fine speci- mens of Pueblo pottery and Pima basket work.
The Esquimo collection of Walter Davis, consisting of domestic utensils and implements of warfare from Alaska and the North-west.
The W. H. Winants collection of historic American and foreign medals.
The Mrs. Clarke Salmon collection of exquisite oriental relics, rare and beautiful tapestry and ceramic specimens of great interest.
Other collections are a very fine lot of mineral fossils and crystals by Otto HIatry; a number of shells, minerals and agates, by William Askew; Birds eggs by E. P. Holbert; Crimean war relics by William A. Roxby ; Civil war relics by Dr. Willis P. King.
Also the famous Daniel B. Dyer collection, accumulated by him dur- ing a residence of fifteen years with the Indians, including the Lava Bed Modocs, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe, and since that time other objects of interest have been secured from all over the world, for in making his col- lections Mr. Dyer has not confined his researches to the limits of Indian reservations, but has enlarged his kingdom to the far corners of the earth. Hence there are found in this collection many most curious objects of great interest, from the isolated islands of the sea and from explorations in Old Mexico and South America, from the wilds of Africa, and Alaska, from China, Japan and from Turkey.
There are also ancient fire arms hundreds of years old, arms from the Revolutionary, Civil, and Spanish-American wars, creating in the aggregate 15,000 objects, the largest and most interesting private collection ever gathered, including specimens in Anthropology, Archaeology and natural history, with many rare specimens for scientific study. Representing all phases . of the life of aboriginal Indians, including various historic relics such as a silver Peace Pipe, presented by General Harrison on behalf of the United States to the Shawnee Indians in 1814, and a silver medal with the inscription George Washington, President 1795.
A few of the most valuable objects are an Elk tooth dress decorated with fifteen hundred eye teeth of the Elk, representing the slaughter of 750 Elk; and a scalp shirt decorated with 750 human scalps; the war trap-
.
615
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
pings of Yellow Bear, the right-hand man of the famous Nez Perce Chief Joseph.
The Dyer collection was awarded medals and diplomas at the Kansas City Exposition in 1886, the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, the Augusta, Georgia, Exposition in 1894, and the Cotton States Exposition at Atlanta, Georgia, in 1895, after which it was returned to Kansas City and loaned to one of the public schools, but the Board of Edu- cation, recognizing its value as an educational medium, provided two rooms in the southwest corner of the Library building that all the school ehil- dren could enjoy it; the space was not found sufficient for its proper dis- play and later it was moved to the northwest room, and this proved the beginning of the present Museum.
In 1904, Colonel Dyer presented his collection to Kansas City and the Board of Education as a proper and fitting recognition of the generosity of the giver named the Museum "The Daniel B. Dyer Museum." This gift with contributions from many other individuals, resulted in a remark- able collection which first formed the substantial and permanent nucleus for a public museum; and to-day these original exhibits have been sup- plemented with numerous articles from generous people who are taking an earnest interest in the museum, until there is in the Library building one of the finest and rarest collections in this country, illustrating to a marked degree the value of such an institution in a community.
Of the one hundred and seventy public spirited citizens who have as- sisted since the foundation was so firmly established, no one deserves more credit than Mr. Edward Butts who has contributed thirteen well filled cases of prehistorie articles which are invaluable.
Captam Traber Norman has added a most valuable collection of arms personally secured while in the Philippine country during the Spanish- American war.
Mrs. Guy C. M. Godfrey's contribution consists of relies from the Philippine Islands collected by her late husband who served his country as assistant surgeon United States Army.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.