History of Salt Lake City, Part 105

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

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All these remain in mem'ry's passing thought, And moulds reflection of our by-past years ; The time and place, like spectres, all unsought, Passing before us, joyous or in tears, 'Till sight and mem'ry dims the vital spark, And lame and weary on our crutch we lean, Forgetting all, so childlike, in the dark, We pass in dotage from this mortal scene.

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Still, 'midst the changes of this mortal scere, One hope remains, unaltered and and secure- That nothing yet could ever come between To make the hope of after life obscure. While faith and hope grow brighter in old age, Though all the framework of the body's riven ; The chinks of time but lighten up life's stage To show the actor on his way to heaven.

Judge C. C. Goodwin is one of the ablest journalists on the Pacific Coast, and an author of high culture, speaking in the old classical sense of authorship. Modern journalists are rarely authors, still rarer poets ; and, when such an one is found in the editorial chair, we are reminded of " the days past and gone," when Douglas Jerrold edited Lloyd's (London) Newspaper, Thackeray the Cornhill Mag- asine, and Dickens, Household Words. Such an editor we have in Judge Good- win of the Salt Lake Tribune, whose morning leaders frequently rise to the dig- nity of prose poems. The following is a touch of his poetic pen :

ERNEST FAITHFUL.

"I was the soul of Ernest Faithful Loosed from its house of clay- Its mission on earth completed, To the judgment passed away.

'T was the soul of Ernest Faithful Stood at the Bar above, Where the deeds of men are passed upon In justice, but in love.

And an angel questioned Faithful Of the life just passed on earth ! What could he plead of virtue? What could he count of worth ?

And the soul of Ernest Faithful Trembled in sore dismay ; And from the judgment-angel's gaze, Shuddering, turned away.

For Memory came and whispered How worldly was that life; Unfairly plotting, sometimes In anger and in strife-

For a selfish end essaying To tre asures win, or fame ; And the soul of Ernest cowered 'neath l'he angel's eye of flame.

Then from his book the angel drew A leaf with name and date, A record of this Ernest's life, Wove in the loom of Fate.

And said, " O Faithful, answer me ; lIere is a midnight scroll. What did'st thou 'neath the stars that night? Did'st linger o'er the bowl?

" Filling the night with revelry. With cards and wine and dice, And adding music's ecstasy, To give more charms to vice ?"

Then the soul of Faithful answered : " By the bedside of a friend

I watched the long hours through; that night Ilis life drew near its end."

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

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" Here's another date at midnight ; Where wast thou this night, say ?"

" I was waiting by the dust of one Whose soul had fled that day."

" These dollar marks," the angel said: " What mean they, Ernest, tell?"

" It was a trifle that I gave To one whom want befell."

" Here's thine own picture, illy dressed ; What means this scant attire ? "

" I know not," answered Faithful, “ save That once 'mid tempests dire,

" I found a fellow-man benumbed, And lost amid the storm ; And so around him wrapped my vest His suffering limbs to warm.'

" Here is a woman's face, a girl's, O Ernest, is this well ? Know'st how often woman's arms Have drawn men's souls to hell?"

Then Ernest answered : " The poor girl, An orphan was ; I gave A trifle of my ample stores The child from want to save."

"Next are some words, what mean they here?" Then Ernest answered low ;

" A fellow-man approached me once, Whose life was full of woe,

" When I had naught to give, except Some words of hope and trust ; I bade him still have faith, for God, Who ruled above, was just."

Then the grave angel smiled and moved Ajar the pearly gate, And said, "Oh, soul! we welcome thee Unto this new estate."

" Enter! nor sorrow more is thine, Nor grief; we know thy creed- Thou who has soothed thy fellow-man In hour of sorest need-

" Thou who hast watched thy brother's dust, When the wrung soul had fled ; And to the stranger gave thy cloak, And to the orphan bread-

"And when all else was gone, had still A word of kindly cheer For one more wretched than thyself, Thou, soul, art welcomed here.

" Put on the robe thou gav'st away, 'Tis stainless now and white; And all thy words and deeds are gems; Wear them, it is thy right."

And then from choir and harp awoke A joyous, welcome strain, Which other choirs and harps took up In jubilant refrain,

Till all the aisles of Paradise Grew resonant, as beat The measures of that mighty song Of welcome, full and sweet.

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

The late E. L. Sloan was, in his line, the ablest of our writer :. He figured first in his native country, Ireland, as a minor poet. He published a little volume of his poems, a copy of which he sent to the Millennial Star office, which at- tracted the attention of E. W. Tullidge, who wrote to him and offered a brother's helping hand. Mr. Sloan replied with an article entitled "The Destiny of Nations.' which was the first prose effort of his pen published. The circumstance brought him from Ireland, and finally he succeeded Tullidge as assistant editor of the Mil- lennial Star. That article marks the commencement of E. L. Sloan's professional career, and he never forget to acknowledge the friend who opened his way in life. Mr. Sloan was an able magazine writer, but his distinguishing place was that of a journalist.

Charles W. Penrose is also principally historical in Utah as the founder of a journal-the Ogden Junction-and more recently as the editor of the Deseret News. But Mr. Penrose first became famous among the Mormon people as a poet. His most popular characteristic song of his people is -" Oh ! Zion." It is too familiar to need quoting.

John Jaques is one of our eider poets, a journalist, and historian.

E. W. Tullidge has contributed to literature and published a magazine.

Robert W. Sloan is well known among local writers. Among other honors he won the prize offered by Mr. George A. Meears, at the fair of the Deseret Agri- cultural and Manufacturing Society, for the best essay on " Utah ; her Re- sources and Attractions," in which contest were engaged several able and dis- tinguished pens. He is an apt and interesting writer in the line of journalistic correspondence and in literature generally has marked talent.

We next come to our painters.

Many influences have aided to develop an early taste and love for pictures in the community, far in advance of that in surrounding Territories and greater than the newness of the country would seem to promise. A large proportion of our citizens are from the old world, fresh from the memories of countless art gal- leries which, abroad, are cast open to the inspection of all classes, however poor. By these means they have unconsciously acquired much judgment and taste, and a regard for the beautiful by association with the artistic developments of Europe. It must also be remembered that they are the reverse of a floating population. Immediately on their arrival, they have made themselves homes, and possessing, from the beginning, a definite intention of remaining here, have, in some degree, been disposed to patronize the artists in the embellishment of their parlors.

Art in Utah has at least kept pace with the other branches of civilization. There is no cause for wonder that, among us, the treatment of landscapes should exhibit such progress, for this Territory possesses sufficient elements of grandeur and beauty to give impulse and inspiration to any artist ; while in some portions, notably in the Southern counties-Utah scenery has lines of individuality that are unique, and have contributed to the fame of Thomas Moran and other artists of celebrity. Utah also possesses, at many points, the ponderous outlines be- longing to Rocky Mountain scenery ; and with its crystal atmosphere presents new effects of distance-clear and sometimes hard, yet with their own ærial

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beauties-whose just expression is reserved for the brush of some native artist un- trammelled by mannerisms acquired in European studios.

Confined to this local sense, it may be said Utah has been a nursery to the painters who have grown in her own soil ; but it is rather of the fruitfulness of the artistic element that we may boast than of superlative quality of local names. If in half a century Utah should give but one great painter to the world, she will have contributed her full quota to the immortal role.

The first artist who followed his profession in Utah was William Majors. His works were principally small profile portraits in water colors, specimens of which may occasionally be found in the possession of the families who came in with the pioneers. Mr. Majors, going to England in 1853, died shortly afterward in London.

About this time, William Ward-who had considerable ability as a sculptor -- arrived in the Territory ; but after a few years' residence, returned to the Eastern States. The lion which lies couchant on the portico of the "Lion House " is quite a public specimen of his work.

Among the best artists of Utah, the late William V. Morris may claim a niche of lasting fame. Nature endowed him with rarer gifts than his sphere as an ornamental house painter brought into artistic practice. Had he received a first class art training under some great master and spent his life in the higher branches, he would probably have reached the rank of a master figure painter. He came to Salt Lake City in 1852, started the first painter's shop in Utah, on Main Street of this city. He ranks historically as the pioneer decorative painter of Utah. He did the first graining in the Territory, the work being done for President Young, in the Lion House and the Bee-Hive House. He next executed some fine work for the late Mr. William Jennings.

In 1861, George M. Ottinger arrived in Salt Lake City and permanently es- tablished hinself in his profession. At this time, the people of the Territory had somewhat emerged from the straightened circumstances of earlier days; and build- ings were being erected with some pretentions towards ornamentation. The theatre was shortly completed and Ottinger, the painter, and William V. Morris, the decorator, found employment in painting the scenery and decorations. Much of their work in this direction remains to-day in excellent preservation, giving evidence of originality, care and conscientiousness. It has recently been carried to greater completion by Morris' son, Wm. C. Morris, on whose shoulders the mantle of his father's talents seems to have fallen.

The following year Daniel A. Weggeland, and, in 1863, John Tullidge, came to Utah-both being men of artistic taste and accomplishments-and quite a little society of artists and art-lovers was thus formed. Before the close of the year 1863, these instituted an organization under the title of the Deseret Academy of Arts. Its objects was the extension of the various branches of the Fine Arts, and an advantageous manner of teaching drawing and painting to aspirants. A building was rented (Romney's Hall, Main Street) and a night school for drawing classes commenced ; but the effort seemed premature for, after a few month's trial, the project was abandoned and the society shortly after dissolved.

Since then, the only public patronage that the artists have received has been

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by means of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society who, at their fairs, have stimulated our painters by the offer of gold and silver medals.

Later on, towards 1870, Alfred Lambourne came into notice. He arrived in Utah in 1866, when a boy of sixteen, and began his career as an artist in this city, being the first of any note that the Territory had produced from the native school. He is scrupulously original in his work, rarely painting except from his own sketches from nature. His choice of subjects is such as to give strength and dignity to his pictures.

About this date Phineas H. Young, son of " Uncle Joseph Young," not only attracted the attention of the art patrons of our city, but the warm encourage- ment of the elder members of the profession, who welcomed with a sort of family pride the promise of a rising painter native born. He first studied under Dan Weggeland. His best line seemed to be in the painting of figures and faces, though he also painted landscapes. That he possessed the talent of a painter of more than ordinary quality there is no doubt, but death claimed him in his youth and ended the promise of future fame.

In 1866, Mr. Arthur Mitchell, an Englishman, made his residence here, ad- ding to the number of artists. Although his works are few in number, they give evidence of skill in the delicate manipulation of textures, and his familiar know- ledge of painting and painters abroad has made him an acquisition to our art circle. The principal works that we have seen from his brush have been fruit pieces and a few small landscapes.

Mr. Reuben Kirkham (formerly of Salt Lake City but now residing in Logan) is another artist whose career began in Utah. His works, during the few years he has devoted to the profession, have been numerous and varied, embracing land- scape, portrait and figure painting. His landscapes possess the decided merit of originality. An ardent lover of the sublime and picturesque in nature, he has en- deavored to paint the most stupendous subjects that the magnificent scenery of Utah can suggest.

Of the elder painters a few biographical touches may be given.

Dan Anthony Weggeland was born March 31st, 1829, in Christiansand, Norway, where, his early taste for drawing and painting being manifested, his studies were directed by the artists of that city. Going to Copenhagen, he was there admitted, at the the age of eighteen, as a pupil in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Here he continued his studies for three years, at the expiration of which he left Denmark and returned to his native country. Six years later, he visited the north of England, pursuing his profession of portrait painter, and re- mained in that country until the spring of 1861, when he emigrated to America. Remaining for a season in New York, he then started westward and arrived in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1862. He at once found employment in the decora- tive work of the new theatre and has since found patronage among our citizens in many different departments of art.

At the various art exhibitions, the merits of Mr. Weggeland's works have always been conspicuous, making him the recipient of several gold and silver medals and diplomas. Until a few years ago, his works were chiefly confined to portraits in oil ; but latterly a variety of subjects have shown a wide range of

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ability and a high degree of excellence in each. Weggeland is a painter full of devotion to his art, and one whose skillful touch and grace of outline give life and vigor to all he undertakes.

It is probable that an adherence to one branch of art-either that of his- torical painting or genre-would have more fully developed his abilities ; but the demands of a new country for pictures have not been sufficiently active to admit of such concentration. In technique, however, and in skill of application, Mr. Weggeland has no superior in the city. He knows well what combinations of colors will produce certain effects, and he applies them with a rapidity of touch that marks the man of experience.

John Tullidge was born April 17th, 1836, at Weymouth, a noted seaport on the southwest coast of England. Evincing at an early age a decided passion for art, his love of pictures was so great that he would frequently make the round of the picture shops of his native town, eager to contemplate the beautiful in what- ever new production chanced to be on exhibition. Reared on the sea shore, his mind learned to appreciate nature in its sublimest phases, and the invigorating impulses thereby acquired have given him a degree of energy that has stood him in good stead in his later life. Mr. Tullidge is not only a good painter, but he is a man of æsthetic faculties and pure taste. To one in whom such qualities are inborn, the effects of early impressions found among the varying scenery of a fine sea shore are of lasting benefit. A crude and lowly mind may rarely, even in the experience of a lifetime, feel the exhilarating impulses of the grand old ocean and may look with apathy on its finest moods ; but to the discriminating eye of a person of natural taste and refinement, the sea, in its every condition of calm or storm, has elements of beauty peculiarly its own. How then, must the mind of young Tullidge have been filled with delight at the changing splendors of Wey- mouth Bay-for it is said to be the second in the world for beauty, that of Naples being scarcely superior-when its waters were stirred by the approaching storms of the rough coast or lay sleeping in placid beauty under the misty light of a summer moon. His home was near the beach and in stormy seasons the surf rolled nightly with a roar that broke his slumbers; but in times of calm, the quiet grays of the shores and the misty atmospheric effects upon the ocean gave to him an equal interest.

As the result of these early impressions, Mr. Tullidge shows his greatest in- dividuality in the treatment of subjects involving effects of waves or sky ; and he excels in grays and in delicate atmospheres and distances.

George Martin Ottinger was born in Springfield, Montgomery County, Penn- sylvania, February 8th, 1833. His early ancestors were German, and settled in America about 1740. Being industrious and enterprising, they soon acquired considerable property ; but during the war for Independence, having espoused earnestly the cause of the colonies, they lost nearly all of it. Mr. Ottinger's father, however, came into the possession of a good farm, in the management of which he was very successful. In 1840, he was persuaded by an uncle to embark in merchandise, and to that end sold his farm, and removed to Bedford, Penn- sylvania. For a few years the venture promised well, when suddenly certain spec- ulations in which he had invested his property failed, and left him almost penni-

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less. Young Ottinger was then thirteen years old, and cherished strongly the de- sire to become a painter. As far back in his boyhood as can be remembered, he kept a box of paints, and spent a great part of his leisure in drawing and paint- ing. His relatives did not encourage him in the way of his inclinations, but per- mitted him to drift about without instruction or advice on the subject of art. His early education in other respects does not appear to have been neglected ; for besides the training received at the district school of Bedford, he attended for nearly two years the Mechanic's Society School in New York City, and subse- quently schools in Philadelphia.

At the time Mr. Ottinger was pursuing his studies in the Eastern States, con- siderable controversy existed among the painters, not only in America but in Europe.

The old canons of art were just falling into disuse, the academic rules im- ported by Trumbull, Allston and other artists of note in the present century were fast giving way to the precepts of the " realists " and "pre-Raphaelites." Ruskin's Modern Painters became the text-book for many, and was by them re-christened " The Painter's Bible." And with the revolution, painter as well as patron saw the necessity and justness of a change and an advance towards a school of paint- ing distinctly American.

Determined not to be carried to extremes by either party's methods, Mr. Ottinger chose a middle course, knowing that there were good rules taught by all schools well worth studying-that by going to nature for inspiration, any rule or method that best aided the interpretation, come from what theory it might, was for the time correct. Using his own words: "I believe that if ever the Amer- ican painters originate a distinct school of American Art, it will originate with those painters who are not influenced by any particular foreign academic teaching, and who are thoroughly eclectic in technique and composition. And individually I have gone further than this. When I first commenced painting, I grew tired of the repeated ' Evangelines,' ' Mary Stuarts' and ' Joan of Arcs' annually on ex- hibition. I wondered if there was any new field for the American painter to glean subject-matter, especially in his own country, that had not been painted to death : In Landscape? Yes; a superabundance. Of history ? But little that was un- painted as far back as the discovery ; but what was there beyond the advent of Columbus ? Ah, here is a vast, almost unexplored vista, mysterious, new and pic- turesque ! Old America with all her pre-historic treasures, a storehouse of ma- terial, that needed only study, time and patience to make interesting and of value; and in this direction my studies have been chiefly directed for years. But it is an ' uphill' work ; the history of ancient America is not familiar to the public, and the people are slow to recognize or appreciate that of which they know nothing. Still I have letters of praise from artists and antiquarians of distinction, that lead me to hope that some day I may produce a picture worthy of being pronounced meritorious."

J. T. Harwood, of Lehi, Utah County, is esteemed as one of the most prom- ising of our young native artists. He studied under Dan Weggeland ; but is at present at the School of Design, San Francisco. His particular line so far has been in studies of "still life" and landscape; what his real line will be the

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future will show ; but there is no doubt of his talent as a natural artist, which cul- ture will develop and tone.

Mr. John Hafen, another of our young local artists, has during the past five or six years, gradually risen in public appreciation for his many excellent crayon works. He has also painted landscapes ; but his works in crayon portraiture mark his most successful and profitable line ; his pictures adorn the homes of many of our leading citizens.

Loris Pratt, son of the late Orson Pratt, has chosen the sphere of a portrait painter proper, his works being executed in oil colors. A good portrait painter (and Mr. Pratt is considered to be one) is always to the public one of the most useful members of the profession, and one whose works from their very subject are endeared to the family circle, as they transmit, in some cases through many generations, the faces and characters of a family's love and pride. Already has Mr. Pratt painted such portraits, which live in the homes of our citizens and speak for the absent dead.

Mr. John W. Clawson is a young painter of considerable talent ; his partic- ular line is in the painting of portraits and figures. He excels in pastelle, but works cleverly and effectually in all media. The early germinations of his talent and instinct for art induced his father to send him to a first class school of design in New York, at which he was under training for over a year, when he returned to Salt Lake City, established a permanent studio and is now practicing in the regu- lar profession. One of his portraits is that of the late Hon. W. H. Hooper. John W. Clawson is the grandson of the late President Brigham Young, being the son of Hiram B. Clawson and Alice Young Clawson.

F. A. Billing, Esq., a local artist of some fame, and much ability, has pro- duced most excellent works. Landscape is his specialty, and into it he throws a fire and vigor of handling, combined with such refinement as to place him in the ranks of the best painters on the coast.

One of the most recent to come into notice as an artist is Mr. H. L. A. Cul- mer, whose natural tastes and critical understanding of artistic requirements have together led him to take up the brush in this fascinating pursuit. Like most other artists of our city, the magnificence of our scenery has impelled him to landscape painting, in which department his works show much knowledge and refinement. His ain is the expression of truth and fidelity to nature, and he seems, so far, to have avoided sensationalism or vivid effects of color lest they draw him from the simple truth. How far he may be able to extend the compass of his works com- patible with this aim, his development in the future will show; he has already carried his rock and mountain painting to a high standard.

With this brief notice, we give his following exquisite fragment of local art literature, descriptive of our " Desolate Shores."

DESOLATE SHORES.

A burning sun, high in heaven, flinging his fierce shafts upon a parched and fruitless earth ; his rays reflected a hundred times from a broad watery expanse that gleams also upon the hot land ; hills, white, rocky and bare ; dismal hollows dotted with cedars-a few living weakly amidst a ghostly concourse of their dead fellows, whose stark and ashen limbs writhe grimly about their shattered trunks; a grimy beach, darkened with millions of decaying larvæ and strewn with clumsy crumbling boulders; the si- lence of a desert.

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 105

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194