Ernest Albert Explained

Ernest Albert, born Ernest Albert Brown, (August 15, 1857 – March 25, 1946) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, and scenic designer. He was a prolific scenic designer, first in St. Louis and Chicago and then on Broadway. He is considered a major American landscape painter and was elected the first president of the Allied Artists of America in 1919.[1]

Early life and education

Ernest Albert was born in Brooklyn on August 15, 1857.[2] His birth name was Ernest Albert Brown, but as an artist he was known as Ernest Albert. His parents were Daniel Webster Brown and Harriet Dunn (Smith) Brown.[3] His father was a clothing retailer. At the age of 15 he began studies with at the Montague Art School with John Barnard Whittaker (1836–1926). He concurrently studied at the Brooklyn Art Institute as a teenager.[4] While a student at those schools, he won the Graham Art Medal at the age of 15.[1] At the age of 16 he began an apprenticeship in scenic painting.[2]

Early career in St. Louis and Chicago

In 1880 Albert moved to St. Louis to take up a position as the resident art director and scenic designer at Pope's Theatre. One of the many productions he designed for at the theatre was for the premiere of Charles E. Verner's Eviction (1881).[5] In 1883 he joined the design firm of Joe Toomey and Tom Noxon; at which point the firm became known as Noxon, Albert & Toomey.[6] While St. Louis based, the design firm had a national presence and worked in other cities in the United States.[6] Albert's initial work in the firm was as designer for the Grand Opera House and Olympia Theatre in St. Louis.[6]

After five years in St. Louis, Albert relocated to Chicago where he continued to work as a scenic designer and painter with Noxon, Albert & Toomey.[1] In 1885 he was the resident scenic designer at the Grand Opera House, Chicago;[7] and continued to design for this theatre in successive years while also designing for other Chicago playhouses like the Haymarket Theatre.[8] He notably designed the interior of this latter theatre when it was built in 1887.[9] In 1888 he redesigned the interior of the Grand Opera House when it was remodeled.[10] In 1889 he had a major critical triumph at the Grand Opera House with his sets for the premiere of Clay M. Greene's Blue Beard, Jr.;[11] [12] a production which toured nationally including stops at Boston's Tremont Theatre (1889)[13] and Broadway's Niblo's Garden (1890).[14] In 1890 he designed sets for The Mikado at the Chicago Auditorium.[15]

Albert also designed for theaters in other cities with Noxon, Albert & Toomey such as Buffalo, New York, and St. Louis.[7] He designed several sets for Lawrence Barrett and Edwin Booth's touring company in the mid to late 1880s; drawing particular praise from New York City and Boston critics for his designs for the William Shakespeare plays Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and Julius Caesar.[16] [17] In 1890 he designed the sets for the West End revival of Watts Phillips' The Dead Heart at the Lyceum Theatre, London.[18] He designed sets for two touring plays which starred the actor William H. Crane in the early 1890s: David D. Lloyd and Sydney Rosenfeld's The Senator and Augustus Thomas's For Money.[19]

Albert dissolved his partnership with Noxon and Toomey when he formed a new design firm, Albert, Grover & Burridge, with Walter Burridge and O.D. Grover in January 1892.[20] In 1892 he participated in the planning of the World's Columbian Exposition; taking on the responsibility for choosing paint colors for the exposition's buildings. He was a founding member of the Chicago chapter of the American Society of Scenic Painters.[1]

Later career

Albert returned to New York City, and began a prolific career as a scenic designer for Broadway productions with Victorien Sardou's 1894 play Gismonda.[1] He designed sets for more than 100 Broadway shows from 1894 through 1918; with his last work for the Broadway stage being the sets for The Better 'Ole (1918). He also continued to design for productions outside of New York. In 1899 he designed the sets for the theatre troop of the Rogers Brothers; including the play A Reign of Terror by playwright John J. McNally (1852–1931).[21]

In 1916 Albert moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, and the last 30 years of his life were spent dedicated almost entirely to landscape painting; a pursuit he had begun earlier around the turn of the century. He participated in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally during his career. His artwork is included in the collections of the Florence Griswold Museum and the Wadsworth Atheneum.[22] Ernest Albert died on March 25, 1946, in New Canaan, Connecticut, at the age of 88.[23]

Broadway set designs

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Fisher & Londré, p. 30
  2. Koke, p. 2
  3. Derby & White, p. 137
  4. Baekeland, p. 72
  5. News: The Theatres, the Plays, and How the People Received Them. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. September 13, 1881. 3.
  6. News: Gossip on the Streets. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. February 23, 1883. 8.
  7. News: Theatrical Gossip. The Inter Ocean. October 11, 1885. 13.
  8. News: Theatrical Gossip. The Inter Ocean. December 18, 1887. 13.
  9. News: Chicago's New Theatre; The Haymarket Opens For Private Inspection. The New York Times. December 23, 1887. 4.
  10. News: Chicago Tribune. December 24, 1888. 3. Chicago Opera House Changes.
  11. News: News and Gossip. Chicago Tribune. March 17, 1889. 30.
  12. News: CHICAGO'S NEW SPECTACLE.; "BLUEBEARD, JR.," AS PRESENTED BY MANAGER HENDERSON. June 13, 1889. 5. The New York Times.
  13. News: The Boston Globe. December 15, 1889. 10. 'Blue Beard, Jr.'.
  14. Gänzl, p. 76
  15. News: Theatre Notes. Chicago Tribune. February 16, 1890. 27.
  16. News: News of the Theatre. The Sun. December 9, 1888. 5.
  17. News: Theatres and Concerts. Boston Evening Transcript. January 26, 1889. 11.
  18. News: They Exchange Plays. Chicago Tribune. June 1, 1890. 27.
  19. News: 'For Money' A Success. The Boston Globe. January 13, 1892. 3.
  20. News: The Fine Arts. Chicago Tribune. January 17, 1892. 29.
  21. News: Roger Brothers. January 7, 1899. 5. The Buffalo Review.
  22. Denenberg, Kurtz Lansing, & Danly, p. 120
  23. News: ERNEST ALBERT, 88, LANDSCAPIST, DEAD; First Head of Allied Artists of America Helped Design Chicago Fair of 1893. March 26, 1946. 23. The New York Times.
  24. News: Sardou's "Gismonda" Produced. November 1, 1894. The New York Times.
  25. News: Ernest Albert. BroadwayWorld. July 30, 2023.
  26. Letellier, p. 1033
  27. Letellier, p. 289
  28. Schwartz & Bowbeer, p. 157
  29. Bloom, p. 90
  30. Sherwood & Chapman, p. 216
  31. Bloom, p. 363
  32. Letellier, p. 1027
  33. Solomon, p. 334, 339
  34. Dietz, p. 5-6
  35. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 361
  36. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 364
  37. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 372
  38. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 374
  39. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 385
  40. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 386
  41. Dearinger, p. 540
  42. Dietz, p. 59
  43. Dietz, p. 67
  44. Dietz, p. 78
  45. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 397
  46. Brideson & Brideson, p. 441
  47. Bordman & Norton, p. 217
  48. Dietz, p. 137
  49. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 427
  50. Dietz, p. 148
  51. Gänzl, p. 919
  52. Dietz, p. 181
  53. Leonard, p. 1692
  54. Dietz, p. 218
  55. Dietz p. 245-246
  56. Bordman & Norton, p. 239
  57. News: NEW MUSICAL COMEDY AT THE MAJESTIC; Return of Little Corinne in "A China Doll.". November 20, 1904. 9. The New York Times.
  58. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 475
  59. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 480
  60. Bloom, p. 539
  61. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 494
  62. Dietz, p. 308
  63. Dietz, p. 331
  64. Bloom, p. 338
  65. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 506
  66. Ankerich, p. 312
  67. Bloom, p. 447
  68. Dietz, p. 346
  69. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 509
  70. Dietz, p. 350
  71. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 511
  72. Woodworth & Osborne, p. 206
  73. Dietz, p. 386
  74. Dietz, p. 387
  75. Brideson & Brideson, p. 442
  76. Bloom, p. 271
  77. Fisher & Londré, p. 103
  78. Dietz, p. 403
  79. Dietz, p. 409
  80. Dietz, p. 412
  81. Dietz, p. 415
  82. Dietz, p. 426
  83. Dietz, p. 448
  84. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 557
  85. Dietz, p. 501
  86. Dietz, p. 516
  87. Web site: Musical of the Month: Little Nemo. Douglas Reside. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. July 29, 2015.
  88. Brideson & Brideson, p. 443
  89. Mantle, Sherwood & Chapman, p. 582
  90. Jasen, p. 79
  91. Franceschina, p. 196
  92. Madelaine, p. 63
  93. Dietz, p. 572
  94. Bloom, p. 680
  95. The Dramatic Roll of Honor; II. The Inferior Sex. The Burr McIntosh Monthly. George Jean Nathan. 315. XXII. April 1910.
  96. Ankerich, p. 319
  97. Bloom, p. 445
  98. Brideson & Brideson, p. 444
  99. News: THE RED WIDOW' IS ENTERTAINING; Raymond Hitchcock Appears at Astor in New Musical Play with Nihilistic Plot. The New York Times. November 7, 1911. 13.
  100. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=xVcEEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Peggy%22+%22Ernest+Albert%22%C2%A01911&pg=PT176. 'Peggy', Bunkruptcy, and 'Bubbles'. Leslie Stuart: Composer of Florodora. Andrew Lamb. 2020. 9781000143485. Taylor & Francis.
  101. News: 'BARON TRENCK' HAS A MERRY MELODY; A Minuet, "The Merry, Merry Way," Full of Cadences That Catch the Ear. PRETTY FARMYARD SCENE And Hungarian Music to Go with It -- Tenor Nervous on the Opening Night. The New York Times. March 12, 1912. 13.
  102. Brideson & Brideson, p. 445
  103. News: THE SUNSHINE GIRL' BRINGS MUCH LIGHT; With the Added Illumination of a New Star, Julia Sanderson, Who Is Radiantly Pleasing. The New York Times. February 4, 1913. 11.
  104. Bloom, p. 554
  105. News: PAPA'S DARLING' IS AGREEABLY TUNEFUL; Familiar French Farce Complications Set to Ivan Caryll Music. FRANK LALOR IS AMUSING His Elderly Antics Enliven a Musical Comedy That Is Reminiscent of "The Pink Lady.". November 4, 1914. 7. The New York Times.
  106. Suskin, p. 117
  107. Salem, p. 281
  108. Clarke, p. 140
  109. Bordman & Norton, p. 376
  110. Gänzl, p. 877

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