Studio Building (Boston, Massachusetts) Explained

The Studio Building (1861–1906) on Tremont Street (corner of Bromfield Street) in Boston, Massachusetts, housed artists' studios, theater companies and other businesses in the 19th century.[1] [2] [3] [4] It "held the true Bohemia of Boston, where artists and literati delighted to gather."[5] Among the tenants were portraitist E.T. Billings, architect George Snell, sculptor Martin Milmore, artists William Morris Hunt, William Rimmer, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Phoebe Jenks; gallerist Seth Morton Vose, and many others.

History

Artists' studios

From 1861 the Studio Building stood adjacent to the Horticultural Hall, on the opposite side of Bromfield St. The building consisted of "a massive range of brick, four stories high, — the whole surmounted by a French roof; a handsome and imposing structure, in the lower story of which are six fine large stores, occupied [in 1869] by the Leavitt and Parker Sewing-Machine Cos., California Wine Agency, the Howard Clock Co., &c.; and, above-stairs, by numerous artists, painters, engravers, draughtsmen, &c."[6]

"The Studio Building ... is a perfect hive of artists. This building, indeed, is the headquarters of the artists of Boston. ... There are delightful artists' receptions here, to which the general public is invited. Besides the devotees of art, there are many private teachers of music and the languages in the Studio Building, and not a few of the rooms are occupied as bachelors' apartments."[7] Visitors included Sophia Peabody Hawthorne in 1863: "5 June, Thursday. Finest day - cool. We went out after breakfast with Annie. We visited Studio gallery - & saw good statue of Judge Shaw. Hunt's portrait by himself. Healy's Longfellow. Ames' Rachel. Gay's seashore & a pearly silvery sky of wondrous truth."[8]

Beginning in November 1861, artist William Rimmer gave anatomy "lectures in Room 55 of the Studio Building. He was an inspiring teacher; John LaFarge ... Daniel Chester French, Frederick Vinton, Frank Benson and many others testified to it. ... He represented the first thorough art instruction based on the human figure to be given in Boston, and indeed in the entire United States. ... Rimmer's lectures were never mere dry analyses of muscles and their attachments. He drew brilliantly on the blackboard, combining technical diagrams with fantastic embellishments. His figures sprouted wings, were set off by elegant draperies, sat beside elaborate urns, were clad in fanciful armor, brandished trumpets and daggers."[9] One of his students was May Alcott, who "studied sculpture with William Rimmer and painting with William Hunt at the new Studio Building in Boston, on the corner of Tremont and Broomfield streets."[10]

The "studio and gallery" of William Morris Hunt "were the great attractions to visitors who came to the 'receptions' given by the artists in the building. The stirring picture, The Bugle Call, painted in Newport, was exhibited here; the drawing of The Drummer Boy, which attracted great crowds while on exhibition in Messrs. Williams & Everett's window, was conceived and executed here. Its motto, 'To arms! To arms!' found a response in the mood of the citizens, who were burning with patriotic ardor. I think this was just after the firing upon Fort Sumter, in 1861."[11] According to one historian, however, Hunt himself probably found Boston "a far cry from the carefree vie de Boheme of Paris, and the life centering around the Studio Building on Tremont Street but a pale replica of the Latin Quarter -like a plaster cast, almost like a death mask, one might say, of the lively original."[12]

Tremont Theatre

"The new Tremont Theatre, in the Studio Building, on Tremont street, was remodelled from Allston Hall, and opened as a theatre on Feb. 9, 1863, under the management of Mrs. Jane English, with a ballet and pantomime troupe. ... For a brief period K. L. Davenport and J. W. Wallack were managers of the house, but notwithstanding the high character of the dramatic work done here, it was not a prosperous theatre. It was finally converted into a hall for pedestrian matches, and [by 1892 was] used for a retail carpet-store."[13]

Performances included:

Fire in 1906

In December 1906 a fire "caused heavy damage in the block bounded by Tremont, Bromfield, Washington and Winter streets. ... The flames were confined ... to one structure, the Studio building."[5] [18] [19] [20]

Tenants

External links

Notes and References

  1. The Crayon, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Feb., 1861)
  2. Studio Building, no.112 Tremont St.; cf. Boston Directory. 1862
  3. Studio Building no.110 Tremont St; cf. Boston Almanac, 1865, 1894
  4. Mann. Walks & talks about historic Boston. The Mann publishing co., 1917
  5. New England Magazine, Feb. 1907
  6. Stranger's new guide through Boston and vicinity. Boston: A. Williams, 1869. Google books
  7. Boston Illustrated. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1872
  8. Thomas Woodson, James A. Rubino, Jamie Barlowe Kayes. With Hawthorne in Wartime Concord: Sophia Hawthorne's 1862 Diary. Studies in the American Renaissance, (1988)
  9. Lincoln Kirstein. William Rimmer: His Life and Art. Massachusetts Review, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Summer, 1961)
  10. April F. Masten. Art Work: Women Artists and Democracy in mid-Nineteenth-Century New York. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008; p.283
  11. Frederic P. Vinton. William Morris Hunt: Personal Reminiscences. American Art Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Dec., 1879)
  12. Albert Ten Eyck Gardner. A Rebel in Patagonia. Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 3, No. 9 (May, 1945)
  13. Bacon. Boston of to-day: a glance at its history and characteristics. Post Publishing Company, 1892
  14. Hartford Daily Courant, May 5, 1864
  15. American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1
  16. Book: Morgan . Henry James . Henry James Morgan . Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada . Toronto . Williams Briggs . 1903 . 161.
  17. Winsor. The memorial history of Boston: including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Volume 4. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1886. Google books
  18. Fire loss at Boston, business heart of the city threatened for a time; loss $150,000. Ft. Worth Telegram, Dec. 19, 1906
  19. Artists robbed after fire: some pictures stolen, others perforated, in Boston Studios. New York Times, Dec. 21, 1906
  20. Heavy damage by fire in Boston: great destruction on Tremont Street was threatened. Columbus Enquirer Sun (Georgia), 1906
  21. New York Times, March 22, 1880
  22. Book: Boston Directory, 1868.
  23. Boston Almanac. 1875, 1888
  24. Book: Boston Almanac, 1889 . 1889. 2010-09-30.
  25. Book: Boston Almanac, 1865 . 1871. 2010-09-30.
  26. Boston Almanac. 1865, 1875, 1888, 1889
  27. Book: Boston Almanac, 1894 . 1894. 2010-09-30.
  28. Marilyn Richardson . Hiawatha in Rome: Edmonia Lewis and Figures from Longfellow . Antiques & Fine Arts .
  29. Boston Almanac. 1888, 1889, 1894
  30. Boston Almanac. 1888, 1889
  31. Frank Torrey Robinson. Living New England artists: biographical sketches, reproductions of original drawings and paintings by each artist. Boston: S. E. Cassino, 1888
  32. Book: Boston Almanac, 1876 . 1876. 2010-09-30.
  33. New York Times, Dec. 21, 1906
  34. Boston commercial directory for 1869
  35. William Howe Downs. Cyrus E. Dallin, Sculptor. Brush and Pencil, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Oct., 1899)
  36. Susan Hobbs. Thomas Wilmer Dewing: The Early Years, 1851-1885. American Art Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring, 1981)
  37. Boston Almanac. 1888
  38. http://www.nhhistory.org/cv/index-artists/source/10.htm New Hampshire Historical Society
  39. Boston Directory. 1864
  40. 8th Annual exhibition of paintings by prominent artists at the Poland Spring Art Gallery. Maine: H. Ricker & sons, 1902
  41. Catalogue of the third annual exhibition of the Paint and Clay Club: held at the Gallery of the Boston Art Club, March 1884. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1884
  42. Robinson. 1888
  43. Boston Almanac. 1889, 1894
  44. American Art Notes. American Art Illustrated, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Oct., 1886)
  45. Boston Almanac. 1889
  46. "Phoebe Pickering Jenks." Robinson. 1888
  47. Letter from Wendell Phillips to W.R. Emerson, Sept. 8, 1872; cf. Irving H. Bartlett and Emerson. The Philosopher and the Activist: New Letters from Emerson to Wendell Phillips. New England Quarterly, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Jun., 1989)
  48. Boston Directory. 1873
  49. William Endicott. Tribute to Professor Norton. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 2, 1908
  50. Boston Almanac. 1865, 1889, 1894
  51. Boston Almanac. 1875, 1889, 1894
  52. Advertisement detail of: "Nanitz' great mercantile map of Boston" (Boston: B.B. Russell, 1869)
  53. Illuminated business directory of Boston, 1870
  54. Obituary notes. New York Times, Feb. 24, 1893
  55. Maud Howe Elliott. Artists I Have Known through Eighty Years. North American Review, Vol. 248, No. 2 (Winter, 1939/1940)
  56. Boston Daily Evening Transcript - Aug 19, 1868
  57. Obituary: Seth Morton Vose. American Art News, Vol. 8, No. 26 (Apr. 9, 1910), p. 7
  58. Robert C. Vose, Jr. and Robert F. Brown. Boston's Vose Galleries: A Family Affair. Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1981)

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