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BEEHIVE HISTORY
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MelvinT. Smith Director Stantord J. Layton Coordinator of Pubiicatlons Mlrlam B. Murphy
Beehlve History Edlfor Janet G . Butler Assistant Editot Thomas J. Zeidler Assistant Editor @ Copyright 1979 Utah State HistoricalSociety 307West Second South Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 - ,
BEEHIVE HISTORY
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Contents Cartooning, the People's Art ................JanetQ Butler 2 Tbe Sculptor Works in Three Dimensions . . Paula K. $mi* 8 Ute Muslc and the Bear Dance ........Janet G. ~ u t i e r11 Bat let the Royal Art Form ................ Susan White 13 Photography the Modern Medlum.. .......... RellG. Francis 16 Architecture Is a Utilitarian Art. ............. Miriam B. Murphy 20 Viol inmaking - the Four-dimensional Art, :.... Thomas J. Zeidier 22 Opera - the Performing Art with Everything . . Mfrlam 8. Murphy 24 A Theatrical Tradition in Cache Valley. .... Linda Thatcher 26 Theatre Magic: A Look . behind the Scenes. ............... 28 Stained Glass - the "New" old ~ r t . ... . . . . . . . .~ a r l J. a ijelson 30
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The cover: Al end Beulah by John Held, Jr. Pen and Ink from "The Holy Bonds" in The Flesh Is Week, 1931, collection of Mrs. John He14 Jr.
TS ROOTS ARE ANCIENT, BUT THE CARTOON REALL
Today, cartoons are mea
Animation Who hasn't watched with fasclnatlon as Donald Duck, the Pink Panther, or Road Runner dashes across the television or movie screen and wondered how it was done? Animation is the most sophisticated development of cartooning as art. It gets its name from the Latin anima, meaning breath, soul, or life, and animation d m s breathe life into cartoon characters. The art of making drawings move began in the early 1900s but really took hold in the 1920s when it was found that each figure and background for the thousands of drawings In an animated short were not all necessary. Now the characters, drawn on paper but xeroxed onto acetate sheets, can be shot against a. single background. But this Is the only automated part of the Industry. The rest is done by artists of one sort or another from layout personnel to background paintersand animators, who do hand inking. Speclal effects such as explosions are done hy airbrushing, like spraying paint from a can. Animated cartoons are getting simpler in the sense that sometimes only the eyes or mouths of the characters move, requiring considerably less artwork than before. But the next time you -watcha half-hour Saturday morning cartoon you might think of the three hundred scenes that had to be drawn and shot, of how many drawings it took to create even a simple walk cycle, and of the $100,000 and eight weeks'work It took to produce what is truly a living, modern w o k of art.
Yell by John Held, Jr. Pen and Ink from the New York Times Magazine, Januaty 16,1954, courtesy Addlson Gallerj of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andwet, Massachusetts, and Mrs. John Held, Jr.
City around the late 1 8 6 0 s . H e also popular-
ized the donkey as symbol of the Democrats. Nast was staff artist for Harper's Weekly magazine for twenty-five years until he clashed with the editor and resigned. Around the turn of the century editorial cartoons such as Nast's became closely tied to newspapers. The cartoon printing process began to take less time, and printers were less reluctant to break up the vertical columns and run material across several columns. It was expensive to hire a staff cartoonist, however, so editorial cartoons were most frequently seen in big-city newspapers. Then as now, smaller papers solved the problem by running syndicated cartoons that illustrated national, if not local, situations. With the invention of the fast, rnulticolor printing press, newspapers began to hire cartoonists around 1890 to draw colored comic strips. And the funnies became a major factor in circulation wars of newspapers, especially in New York. People actually bought particular papers to keep up with the stories of their favorite cartoon characters. Later, during a newspaper strike, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was heard on radio, not to calm the public but to read the comics to anxious followers. New York newspapers also fought over who would run Richard Outcault's Hogan's Alley, starring the Yellow Kid, so named for his long yellow cloak. The Yellow Kid was the precursor of Alfred E. Neuman, Mad magazine's hero. Early comics were amusing, but some today are adventure stories (Steve Canyon) or political [Doonesbury), and the highly popular Peanuts has a strong psychological appeal.
2 Lunging swordsman, drawn by Darrell Thomas, Illustrates anlmatlon principle
Alan Lister Lovey was one of Utah's own crop of cartoonists, some with national reputations but each with an individual style and message. Born in California in 1877, Lovey started drawing when very young. He found in cartooning the perfect union of Ms genius for illusiration and his excellent sense of humor. After some work as an editorial cartoonist on San Francisco newspapers, he came to Salt Lake City at age twenty to work for the Salt Lake Herald. His drawings proved so popular that they were regularly reproduced in eastern newspapers and magazines. That he was very informed about political figures and issues is shown by his own political life. He served as a delegate from Utah to the Democratic National Convention at Saint Louis in 1904 and was a candidate for the Utah legislature on the Dem* cratic ticket in 1906. Lovey's cartoons stand as a monument to the skill and recognition he gained in a few short years. He never fell victim to cynicism, that occupational hazard of the editorial cartoonist. A different type of Utah cartoonist, John Weld, Jr., gave the nation its most striking images of the roaring twenties with his flappers and their raccoon-coated boyfriends. What F. Scott Fiizgerald wrote about the jazz Age, Held illustrated. Born in Salt Lake City i n 1889, Held showed artistic talent early with a woodcut he sold at age nine to a local newspaper for $9.00. At West High School he was a schoolmate of Harold Ross - founder of the New Yorker magazine and the two worked together on their school paper. Held also drew cartoons for the Salt Lake Tribune. A friend of his, sculptor Mahonri Young, gave Held the only formal art training he ever had. At age twenty-
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one with $4.00 in his pocket, Held left Salt Lake for New York where he free-lancedstreetcar posters and did other odd jobs. When he sold a cover drawing to Judge magazine in 1922, Held launched his career in earnest and drew for the most famous magazines of his day. Legend has it that editors sent him blank checks for his work to fill inwithhis own price. Although known to contemporaries as the "Mormon Kid," John Held's characteristic cartoons showed the emancipated, uninhibited flaming youth of the 1920s. His flat-chested flappers with their shingled hair, short skirts, rolled stockings, and cloche hats smoked cigarettes in long holders, drank bathtub gin, and sped through the night in Stutz Bearcat roadsters. The college sheiks accompanying Held's shebas sported wide flaring ties, bellbottomed pants, and greased-down hair parted at the center. The artist of h s age, Held was extremely versatile, using both black and white and color to create everyhng from cartoons and woodcuts to watercolor landscapes. Salt Lake presently boasts an editorial staff cartoonist on the Deseret News in the person of Calvin Grondahl whose cartoons appear almost daily on the editorial page of the paper. Grondahl discovered his talent while still in grade school, developed it in art courses at Brigham Young University, and refined his skill working at the News. Having tried different drawing instruments, Grondahl now finds that a thin brush gives him the line quality he wants. He first draws a rough cartoon in pencil. Next, he projects the image and draws it in black lines on a special paper that allows for two shade tones. Then, he paints in a chemical, first using one tone, then the other. Grondahl's syndicated cartoons
Jack Sears helped launch two careers when he sketched Will Rogers roping a steer in Madlson Square Garden in 1904: his own as an artist and the humorist's. Sears was a cartoonist for the Desemt News before leaving Salt Lake for New York, where he worked for several newspapers and free lanced for important national magazines. He jolned the University of Utah art faculty in 1918 and taught for nearly thirty years. In addition to producing editorial cartoons Ilke this one, Sears was prollflc In sketching and drawing. He illustrated several books. HIS advice to aspiring artists Is, "It's ldeas that count," and, "An artist must sketch continually." Courtesy Nyal W. Anderson, Beehive Collectors Gallery.
appear in 700 newspapers throughout the country. The western cowboy has come to represent the All-American masculine hero. But another typical western type, the sheepherder, has the reputation of being greasy, smelly, and dumb. In 1952 cartoonist ChrisJensen took thatstereotype and caricatured him into Sheepherder Sam, a distinctive character known as much for his battered Stetson and stubbly beard as for his homespun humor and good sense. "I thought it was time sheepherders had their say," says creator Jensen who, though Danishborn, grew up in Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah's sheep country. Jensenfirst started drawing cartoons at age fourteen. After completing school and holding many odd jobs , including sheep camp helper, Jensen joined a commercial art firm under contract to the Salt Luke Tribune. Jensensays, "Despite my many interests in commercial art my heart was set on cartooning. When you are struggling to attain success in the work you love most, you find yourself working harder, much harder, than anyone lacking such ambition. But all that sweat is well worth it, believe me."
Jensen was forty-seven when he created Sheepherder Sam far the Sunday farm and garden supplement to the Tribune. Sam changed over the years he was in print. Jensensays he got better acquainted with the character. Sometimes a reader would suggest an idea for a panel, but it just wasn't something Sam would do. Perhaps Sam's popularity is best illustrated by his followers. Once when the publisher decided to discontinue the cartoon feature, there were so many angry letters of protest that the salty character was allowed to remain in print. Is cartooning really an art? It would seem so. In art, as in other fields, it is often the simplest end result that is most difficult to create. In cartooning every stroke of the pen is vital. The drawing must be accurate at first glance or it doesn't succeed at all. Cartoonists are often skilled in other art forms, but not every artist can draw cartoons. And the successful cartoonist has an exhibit at the desk of every reader who cuts out a drawing that hits home and displays it for all to see. Cartoons make up the poor man's galley. Ms. Butler is assistant editor of Beehive Histoy and Utah Historical Quarterly.
Paris scene by Mahonri M.Young.Watercolor, courtesy Utah Arts Council.
The Sculptor Works in Three Dimensions -
PRIZEFIGHTERS OR PIONEERS MAHOMR1YOUNG CAPTURED LIFE AND MOVEMENT IN HIS ART BY PAULA K. SMITH
In art it is one thing to reproduce a boxer to make his gloves look round and full, his trunks hang properly, and his muscles look smooth and firm. It is quite another to give the boxer power and punch enough to knock someone down, to give him life.
Mahonri M. Young, Utah artist, captured in his sculpture, etchings, watercolors, and paintings the life he studied so intently. He aimed at a realistic portrayal of all he saw. A careful and accurate artist, Mahonri was one of the first sculptors to make the common
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man the subject of his work. He became famous for his small, detailed figures of athletes, cowboys, and laborers with picks, shovels, and sledges. He also made statuetks of many familiar barnyard animals. His knack for catching movement and p w e t was apparent in his smaIl sculpture The Knockdown, which won first prize in sculpture at the I932 Olympic Games - one of many awards he received during his lifetime. Later, his life-size statue of the black pdfIghter Jos Gans, part of the sculpture he did for a movie called Seven Faces, was placed in New York's Madison Square G h n . Utahns are very familiar with two of Mahonri Young's best works: the Sea GuII Manumen t and This Is the Place Monument. Born in Salt Lake City on August 9, 1877, Mahonri's interest in art developed early. While he was recovering from an attack of appendicitis at age five, his father whittled in wood to amuse him. Mahonri was not anowed to use a knife, but his father's whittling inspired him to begin madeling birds and animals out of clay from dong the riverbanks. During his youth Mahonri's schoolmates teased him about his unusual first name, but his fighting ability soon reduced the teasing. He was named after Ris father, Mahonri Moriancumer Young, who in turn was named far a character in the h o k of Mormon. One day Mahonri and a friend decided to teach Keal Brown, the town bully, a lesson. Mahonri's friend wisely chose to fight Real's younger brother. Mahonri rushed Real, "knocked him to the ground and held hirn there." Although the lesson had to be repeated once maw, this fight and another with "the toughest kid in town" raised Mahonri's stature as a fighter and lessened the teasing. Mahomi dropped put of school in the fall of 1894, after one day in the ninth grade. He did not see how a regular school could help him become a rancher or an artist, his two desired occupations. His intermt in ranching was discouraged by his m o h r but lived ofi in his art -studies he made of aanimais, cowboys, and &E western landscape. Although Mahonri modeled clay and carved wood as a boy, his farina1 art education began in the classes of J. T. Harwod, an early Utah artist. His first job in art, as a portrait artist for the Salt Lake Tribune, came at a time when newspapers used drawings rather than for ihstrations. This experience
Boxer by Mahonri M. Young. Bronze, courtesy Brigham
in quickly sketching news events later helped him when he sketched boxers and ather athletes. When Mahonri had saved enough money he left Utah to study at the Art Students League in New York and then at the art academies in Paris. In France, Mahonri learned his art by studying the great masters m his own, He loved the detail of their work. ''They don't just give you one glenee,'"e said. "You get a glance and that's good, but you can read into them. They are so full of all kinds ofideltesting things." He spent his last two years in Paris, 1903-5,working on his own, an education he thought much more valuable then art school. Back in the United States, he started at the bottom. His first art commission was for The Dairy Maid, a sculpture in butter at the Utah State Fair. After sbmggling to make a living in Utah, he returned to New York in 1910. There he worked on drawings, etchiw, w&r~olars, and small sculpture.
Many people important in Utah history are represented: Peter Skene Ogden, John C. Fremont, Brigha111 Young, Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, and William H. Ashley, as well as members of the original Mormon
q Worker by Mahonri M. Young. Bronze,courtesy Brigham Young Untversity.
During his later travels Mahonri made thousands of sketches,watercolors, and paintings of the places he visited. He captured views of Central Park, Hollywood, and various spots in Utah and Europe. Between 1912 and 1917 he went on three field trip for the Museum of Natural History in order to create museum displays. While on these trips he studied the Hopi, Apache, and Navajo Indians. His sketches of the Navajo appeared in Treasury of American Prints, 1939. Most Utahns are familiar with some of Mahonri Young's most famous works. His Sea Gull Monument, honoring the birds that aided the Mormon pioneers, has stood in Temple Square since 1913, along with his life-size statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. His statue of Brigham Young, his grandfather, stands in Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C. The sculptor's greatest achievement, This Is the Place Monument, unveiled in 1947, stands at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Pioneer Trail State Park.M e d in honor of early Utah explorers, trappers, and pioneers, t h i s statuary group includes 74 persons, more than had appeared in any other monument to that time.
pioneer company. Sketchwork on the project began eleven years before the dedication in 1947, and the sculptor spent eighteen months working on the monument itself. This Is the Place Monument was Mahonri's triumph as a sculptor who pioneered working with complex groups. Some ten years after the completion of this massive work,on November 2,1957, the sculptor died. Mahonri M. Young attained worldwide fame as an artist. He taught at the Art Students League and was a member of many art societies. His works are in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and other famous museums. He gave life to the common man and to many famous figures in Utah history. His unusual name led him to try many different signatures during his art career: M. M. Young, Young, and Mahonri M. Young. He finally decided that his odd name would help people to remember him. Then he began to sign hls work Mahonri Y before settling on just Mahonri. He knew that no one remembered the last names of Michelangelo, Rafael, or Rembrandt. Ms. Smith is a n editorial writer a t the Utah State Historical Society.
The sculptor with a model of This I s the Place Monument, the Domlnguez-Escalantegroup. Courtesy Brinham Youna Universitv.
Ute musician at right demonstmtesa morache which accompanies songs of the Bear Dance. It consists of a stick shaped like a bear's jawbone wlth notches cut in It, a shorter stick or bone to rub across the notches, and a resonator basket placed over a hole In the ground. The downward stroke Is sharply accented to make a reverberatingsound. The hand drum shown at left is used with dances other than the Bear Dance,with war songs, and in parades. Drawn by Margaret Pettis.
Ute Music and the Bear Dance IN SPRING, WHEN THE BEAR COMES OUT OF HIBERNATION, UTE MEN AND WOMEN JOIN IN A WELCOMING CEREMONY BY JANET G. BUTLER
A young chief of the Ute Indians had a dream in which he wos told to go to a certain place in the mountains, and he would receive some instructions for his tribe. He went to the mountains und saw a large bear dancing by a pine free. He went up to the bear and was taught the bear dance and the songs to sing with it. The bear told him the dance was to welcome the spring and to give full thanks for the harvest of the year. This folktale gives the origin of the famous Bear Dance, an important annual Ute celebration combining music. dance, and feasting.
Ute music is not listened to for itself as are operas, symphonies, or pop concerts. Instead, it is part of a traditional ceremony held for a particular reason. It might be part of a social event like the Bear Dance, or for heaiment of the sick,or to inspire bravery in war, or to accompany a parade or hand games. The songs and music are not made up by an individual who sat down with pen and paper and sketched out the tune and words. One Ute song was composed like this: I dreamed that I was at a Bear dance; there was a great crowd, but they were strangers to me and did not address me. AII were singing
A Ute flageolet or flute. Drawn by Margaret Pettis.
this song and 1 learned i t porn tnem. I sang it while 1 was still asleep and was singing it aloud when I Q woke. After that I remembered the song. The Ute Bear Dance is held in the spring when the bear comes out of hibernation. Some say it used to be a courtship dance, but now it is =imply a social event. Here is one description: They would all gather together down at Ouray. The big flat on the east of the store. . . down on the river bottoms would be covered with tents and tepees. The Indians woufd come with their teams and wagons . . . they would stay there about two weeks while they had their Bear Dance. They would dance aImost every afternoon into the evening. When it got dark then they would stop. The circular enclosure where the dance is held is made of poles with willows or branches woven between them. Opposite h e door a hollow is dug and the singers sit around the sides of it with the morache in the middle. The hole was said to be "connected with the bear." The rasping sound produced by the momche and the songs themselves were said to "imitate the sound made by a bear." The Indians chant ' 0 the music, making UP S O W about events end peopb.
The women choose their Partners by going them and flicung their shawls at them: "At h e Bear Dance it was lady's choice all the h e . " The dancers face each other in parallel lines, women on one side, men on the otheris two forward and three backThe typical ward. If anyone falls from exhaustion, the singing ceases and a leader rubs the not+ed stock from the momche on the dancer's body. Finally, t h e d a n c e r r i s e s a n d c o n t i n u e s dancing. The end of the dance has been described in several different ways. According to one account, on the last day of the dance, soon after UP to
sunrise, a man and a woman chase eacn omer around the enclosure and, if anyone laughs at them, they act ferocious, run toward the person, and pretend to scratch h. Sometimes they paint red around their mouths to look like from its jaws. o n a bear with b l ~ o d he day style of dancing chafiges*and &e line of WOmeIl approaches the line of men, trying to push them backward. Each woman tries to push the man opposite her. When the women push the men against the wall, the dame is over. Another version describes it like this: On the last night before the Bear Dance ended they would dance all night and all the next day until sommnG got tired and fell. Then fhat would be the end of the Bear Dance. They would have a big feast, and everybody would kPPY andhave a good time tqether. Here is a final description: The last part of th, dance is an enduranae test. TIle dancers o ~ f couplss and dance until smeone down from exhaustion. Someone comes a beaFskin on. That s*iand dancm b spring has~ ~ i ,bear is out af ~
arrivd Why are there different accounts of the bar Dace? A major reason is h t individuals ofkn see and interpret the same event differently. After a football game, for example, the losers may teB quite a different story about the game from that told by the winners. Of course, there are no winners or losers at the Bear D, tm at s,t historic events), but it is still important to know who is telling the story. was it a ute Indian who descriw dance? th, telleF know wfiat th; ~~~~k m a n to Sometimes, too, accmnb of the
aneventarepimafrommemory,andmemory of past events is not always accurate. Finally, he'descriptions h r e were of Bear Dances held in different years, and the dances m a y not have been performed in exactly the same way.
Pi- Ballet - the Royal Art Form :
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BALLERINAS HAVE DANCED THEIR WAY FROM THE FRENCH COURTS INTO THE HEART OF UTAH!
Tauna Hunter and deux from Flower Photograph by Ke
BY SUSAN WHITE
When you think of ballet, what images come to mind? The Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier? Eight-year-olds in baggy-kneed pink tights? Ballet is much older than either image. As a dance form, ballet is great-granddaughter to court dances performed in France and Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The date of the first ballet - a story told through dance and pantomime -is usually set at 1581 in Paris at the celebration of a marriage in the French royal family. Catherine de Medici, Italian wife of the French king,Henry 11, ordered a lavish five-and-a-half-hour entertainment, Ballet Comique de Ia Reine.
From that time on, court ballet flourished. Even Louis XI11 himself danced in the early seventeenth-century productions! This dance storytelling was moved from court halls to the stage during the seventeenth century. In addition,the movements were set down to form the basis of ballet technique as we know it today. But how did this early European form of entertainment arrive in twentiehcentury Salt Lake City? I asked Mattlyn Gavers, chairman of the Ballet Depariment at the University of Utah, why there is so much ballet in Utah. She replied, "It's the question that's been asked me over and over again as I've gone back East to stage choreography for operas.
Christopher Fair in The Nutcrecker. Photograph by Kenn Duncan, courtesy Ballet West.
Why Utah? And some of my Italian directors say, "O+tah- where is that?' " The story begins as early as 1854 when Lars Christensen emigrated to Utah from his native Denmark and settled in Brigham City. A lover of music and dancing Lars taught the young Brighamites and his sons Moses, f3-k tian, Aaron, Frederick, and Peter the social dances of the time as well as Danish folk dances. Moses was the first to study classical ballet. But it w a s Peter who really founded the Christensen ballet dynasty. He had injured his hand while working in the family's sugar cane mill, an accident that ended his career as a violinist. So, he turned his energies toward the dance. Peter and his brother Christian opened a dancing academy in Brigham City. They became known throughout the area for both dance and music. The young sons of Christian were taught ballet by their Uncle Pete. True to the family tradition, the boys were adept musicians as well as dancers. Willam, or Bill, played the piano with a popular Dixieland jazz band. During the 1920s ballet was not wellknown in America outside of New York, but touring vaudeville shows with ballet "numbers" were becoming more and more common. In 1927 Uncle Pete billed his young nephews as the Le Christ Brothers and off they went, playing vaudeville houses in Utah and the West
Coast. The troupe included Bill, Harold, and Lew Christensen, Wyora Stoney, and Mignon Lee. The Le Christ act combined classical ballet dancing with lots of spectacular lifts and jumps and elaborate costumes to "keep 'em clapping." By 1932 Bill had married his dancing partner Mignon and wanted to settle down. He took over the ballet school his Uncle Moses had established in Portland, Oregon. One of his pupils there was Janet Reed who later became a first-generation member of America's homegrown ballerinas. The Great Waltz, an extravaganza of music and dancing, opened in New York in 1934, so off the Christensen brothers went: Lew a n d Harold to participate in the shuw and Bill to study ballet with Michel Fokine, the great Russian choreographer and teacher who had opened a school there. The American Ballet, forerunner of the New York City Ballet, was being established by another young Russian choreographer, George Balanchine, so Lew and Harold stayed on. Bill, however, was seeking something else his own ballet company.
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Mr. C,at a rehearsal of The Nutcracker, a holiday tradition in Utah. Courtesy of Balle* 'Afae+
The Christensen story now moves to San Francisco where dancer Adolph Bolm had given ballet its beginning with a small company he directed in the early 1930s. His successor, Serge Oukrainsky, hired Bill Christensen in 1937 as soloist. The following year Bill took wer as ballet master. Since several of Bill's best Portland students followed him to San Fkancisco, the company's school flourished. In 1939 the San Francisco Ballet company performed the premier full-length American production of Coppelia, staged by Willam Christensen. The first complete American Nutcracker followed in 1944. Lew and Harold ~ Coast, and joined their brother on t h West with the guidance of the three brothers, a p a r titularly American form of ballet developed. Bill Christensen spent his summers from 1948 to 1950 in Salt Lake City,choreographing the University of Utah summer festivals. When, in 1951, he was offered a professorship to teach ballet there, Mr. C., as he came to be called, accepted and the University Theatre Ballet. was born. The company performed Act 111 of Swan Lake in 1953 in Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah. Two soloists from the San Francisco Ballet danced in the production: Sally Bailey and Gordon Paxrnan, who joined the University of Utah ballet faculty in 1959. It was Mr. C. who started the annual Nutcmcker tradition in Salt Lake City with his University T h e a h Ballet production of 1966. Maurice Abravanel conducted the Utah Syrnphony in he first full of the Tchaikovsky score performed in America. The Ballet Deparbnent at the University of Utah, the first such school within an American university, was growing in reputation, attractstudents from all over, and training tb as fine dancers for the University Theatre Ballet. M ~ c. . *proteges, ~ along those dancers drawn to the univecsiw deparment, eventually joined forces to form a professional ballet company. . ~h~ utah civic ~ ~was created l l in ~ 963 ~ with the aid of $175,000 provided by the Ford Foundation. Christensen was artistic director. Bene Arnold, a San Francisco colleague of hh. C.'s, was named ballet mis-. she =kxsed fie company and kept the repertoire in "performing shape." The new company featured such dancers as Carolyn Anderson, T o ~Ruud, ~ I Barbara Hamblin, and JaniceJames. 15
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Suzanne Erion and other oancers In r;opperra. Photograph by Kenn Duncan, courtesy Ballet West.
In 1968 hFederation of Rocky Mountain States chose the Utah Civic Ballet as its official ballet company, and it became Ballet West. The company had by then grown and matured to a surprising degree in isolated Salt Lake City. It was now performing a full Salt Lake season, in addition to touring the US. And in 1971 it showed Europe what sort of dancing is done in the Wild West. Summers are spent in Aspen, Colorado, where the 'OrnPanY performs and teaches ballet classes. Ballet West is rapidly becoming one of America's finest ballet companies. Willam Christensen, father of Utah ballet, named Bruce Marks his heir as director of the carefully nurtured company. ~ a r k s former , Theatre in New dancer with American York and the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen, came to Utah in 1976 with his wife, Danish ballerina Toni Lander. The recently renovated Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City is West's new Many of us would probably agree with Willam Christensen in his assessment of ballet: "Good dance should show the nobility of man . happy to be part of such an art-" Ms. White is a graduate student of ballet history at the University of Utah.
Photography
- the Modern Medium
GEORGE EDWARD ANDERSON'S PHOTOGRAPHSARE WORKS OF ART THAT ALSO TELL US MUCH ABOUT THE PAST BY REtL G. FRANCIS
George Edward Anderson [1860-1928) wanted to document the historic landmarks and activities associated with Utah and the Mormons. With his camera and glass plates he could record the building of temples, important events, and the people of his own generation. The authenticity of detail in one of Anderson's photographs would have astonished yesterday's historians, He captured his own time for all the future to see. The incredible ability of this modern medium to instantly and accurately record life distinguished photography from all other media. In addition, prints from the plate negatives could be clearly enlarged and endlessly duplicated or preserved in publications. The possibilities excited Anderson's imagination.
The fact that silver turns dark when exposed to light is the main principle upon which photography is based. From the early daguerreotypes (invented by a Frenchman,
Louis Daguerre, in 1839) to modern color film, light-sensitive silver is the agent that captures nature's images with incredible detail. Although Americans were quick to adopt this new picture-making method, no photographers were available to record the historic pioneer trek to Utah in 1847. In the 1850s when a product called collodion was invented to adhere silver nitrate to glass plates [wet plates) or to metal plates (tintypes),the photm graphic process was still too cumbersome to allow a traveling photographer to drop out of a wagon train, set up a darkroom, coat the plates, make long time exposures, and develop the wet-plate negatives. {Unless the wet plates
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were exposed and developed within a very short time, t h pictures would not h m out.) The building ofSalt Lake City was well undsr-
.bhI***,+Jfak
@&@&& ., pm.
tat.n. Marsena Cannm, Charles W. Carter, w d Charles R. Savage w m among the first phtogfaphers to -cord the rW. af the Great
Lake City, Ijeorge Edward Anderson learned the art a d sdence of photography from Charles R, Savage, Utah"s most
place in the Urns photagrapbd i a l o n at territorial fair of 1878.
studio van and tent galleries. Then, he the road and traveled to the small towns of southern Utah, taking pictutures of peoph and theb everyday activities. Later, Anderson set up a moe permanent gallerya the Temple Bazar at Manti. His keen interest in Mormon subjects was put to use when he began to d o m e f i t with many photographs the building of the new Manti Tmple. George Ed developed another interest at Manti in one of the pretty sitters at his studio, Olive Lowfy, After h i t marriage, the couple moved to Sprfngviile where Anderson had a hornestudio on Main Street. During the next decade Ander k thausands of pictures of village life and indusby. Whenever samething impartant h a p p e d . he seemed to be on the spk, photographing his subjects in natural but artistic poses. Feople were always the center of interest in his scpnes of farm life or mining towns. Although he received little money for this work, Anderson felt it was important to photograph historic events and human interest subje~ts.
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Self-portrait of George Edward Anderson, ca. 1897. 17
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Left: Train wreck on coke oven tracks, ca. 1902, at Sunnyside, Utah. Above: Ambrotypeof Amos S. Warren ca. 1865, at Springville, Utah, courtesy of John A. Warren (not an Anderson photograph). Below: The Phillip brothers in "Springville's first racer," July 4,1914.
Anderson's equipment and darkroom methods were typical of the times. His view cameras were various sizes up to a 14-by-17inch format. Contact prints made from these large negatives r e d u d the need for making enlargements, which required special equip ment and a permanent studio. Contact or direct prints were made by placing the glass negative next to albumen paper and exposing it to sunlight. Using this method, Anderson
could set up a simple darkroom in a patron's home or cellar and produce a photograph without much difficulty. In May 1900 he took the train to Scofield, Utah, to document one of the worst mine disasters in the history of the West. Two hundred men were killed in the explosion at the Winter Quarters mine. Anderson's incredible skill as a photojournalist, unsurpassed today, is clearly shown in the many pictures he took of
Top: Mant~Temple under construction, 18M. Above left: Anderson's damaged tent gallery in Salt Lake City, 1893. Right: Christian Otteson children and cows at Huntington, Utah,1898.
that tragic event. During the remaining years of his life, Anderson traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He photographed many subjects, but much of his effort was directed to recording sites and subjects important in the history of the Mormon church. A true artist with the camera, Anderson was "in the photography business for the love of art and history" not for great financial gain.
To him the value of the silver-laden glass plates was more precious than gold. H e fulfilled hls dream, and the visual heritage he left us is an irreplaceable treasure.
Mr. Francis, the author of books and articles on Anderson and sculptor Cyrus Dallin, is the owner of a large collection of Anderson glass plates. The photographs accompanying this article were furnished by him unless credited otherwise.
Rotunda of the Utah State Capitol shows architect Kletting's sklll at designing interior space.
Architecture Is a Utilitarian Art A GERMAN IMMIGRANT DESIGNED SOME OF UTAH'S MOST FAMOUS BUILDINGS, INCLUDING THE CAPITOL BY MIRIAM B. MURPHY
A tool shed is a building. The Utah State Capitol is a work of architecture. Almost any structure large enough for humans to move around in is a building. But works of a r c h t e ~ ture are those buildings designed by an architect with an eye to beauty as well as utility. In some ways the architect'stask resembles that of the painter and the sculptor. However, a building encloses space. An architect's need to shape this internal space makes architecture different from visual arts such as painting
Architecture is an ancient art. The Greek architect Ictinus designed the Parthenon in Athens. One of the most famous architectural works in the world, the Parthenon was begun in 447 B.C. and dedicated to the goddess Athena in 438 B.C.Critics consider it a masterpiece of design. But design is only part of an architect's job. Detailed plans are needed in order to build a structure. So, besides developing design skills, an architect must master subjects such
and sculpture, An architect also differs from
as algebra, trigonometry, geometry, calculus,
other artists by creating a basic human survival item -shelter.
physics, mechanics, and construction methods and materials.
One noted Utah architect, Richard K. A. atting, bqgan his architecturai education as a. young boy in &many, Writing of his chiIdold, I bad mostly mechanic's tmIs and drafhg i n s h m ~ n bfor my playthings . ,.." When be learned to wad, bmka illustrated with 'buildings we're apeciat favorifes and trained his eye to appreciate form. Most of the buildings he saw in hs native Wurttemberg, years
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Violinmaking
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THE C R A F S M A N COMBINES ART AND SCIENCE TO PRODUCE A MASTERPIECE THAT TIME WILL BRING TO PERFECTION BY THOMAS J. ZEIDLER
Most of us have heard the fable of the lazy grasshopper who fiddled away the summer whib the i d u s h i o w ant gathered f w d for the coming fall and winter. One thing the story illustrates is that violin- or fiddle-playing did not always receive the acclaim it does now.
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In the 1700s Lord Chesterfield, an English politician and writer, advised his son: "Fiddling puts a gentleman in a very frivolous and contemptible light and brings him into a good deal of bad company, and takes a good deal of time which might be better employed." Today, first-class violinists like Jascha Heifetz and Eugene Fodor are world famous and acknowledged as me artists. However, before a violinist enters a concert hall he must rely on the work of another artist - the luthier or violinmaker (most luthiers also make violas, cellos, and basses). People have tried making violins out of earthenware, brass, copper, silver, leather, and even papier-mache.Violins have been trumpetshaped, pear-shaped,triangular, and trapezoidal. None of these attempts at "improving" the violin has worked. Most have beenhideous. The design and construction of the modern violin have changed very little since the 1500s
when there sprang up in Cremona, Italy [a town now about the size of Ogden) a group of vioiinmaking families - the Amati, the
Kitty Cowan,apprentice vlolinmaker, vlotinlst, and folksinger, appHes varnlsh to a vlalin at Pearce Muslc. Inset shows scroll being
Stradivari, and the Guami~ri.The instruments they made are still renowned both for their beautiful appearance and their magnificent sound. (Violins were usually signed with the Latinized version of the Italian name, therefore the violins themselves are called Stradivarius and Guarnerius.) Several different kinds of w o d are used to build a violin. Hard maple is used for the back, neck,ribs, and bridge [see illustration for violin parts). The belly, corner blmks, linings, bass bar, and sound post are made from soft pine from Switzerland or Austria. Madagascar ebony is usually used for the fingerboard, nuts, peg, tailpiece, and tailpiece button, but sometimes rosewood is substituted. Purfling is a strip of wood that prevents the edges from splintering. The wood must be thoroughly seasoned and dry. It is usually left in the sun for five or six years before using. The most famous violinmaker of all, Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), chose his material according to what kind he had in stock and how much money he was being paid. After a violin is completely constructed,it is called a "white violin." It is then ready to be varnished to preserve its tone. Each violinmaker may have his or her own idea as to the proportions of gum, oil, and coloring material. "Dragon's blood," cashew oil, or gamboge can be used for color, depending on whether the violinmaker wishes a reddish, brown, or yellow instrument. Craftsmen may also differ on how to apply the varnish, but patience is the key to producing a superior insh-ument. The great Italian violins of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the result of superb craftsmanship and the passage of time. A violin must be perfectly made and perfectly varnished, but only age and the gradual exposure to light can produce the appearance of a Stradivarius or Guarnerius violin. A would-be violinmaker must understand a couple of things before embarking on a career. A finished, handmade violin requires about 200 hours to make, and not many people can afford the $2,000 price tag. So, in order to make a living, a violinmaker will probably spend 80 to 85 percent of his time repairing violins. A capable violinmaker must be able to create his own artwork and masterful enough to be trusted with repairing the violin h a s u r e s
of the past. A violinmaker must look upon his art as did Antonio Sbadivari for, as one violinmaker has written, "Success will only come to those who, mindful of the old traditions, unhesitatingly return to them." There are two ways to become a violinmaker: the school system and the apprentice system. Both ways are available in Salt Lake
City. Peter Paul Prier, a graduate of the State Violinmaking School of Bavaria, started the Violin-making School of America in 1972. It offers a four-year course in construction, repair, and varnishing of violins as well as the history and theory of string instruments. Entering students must be high school graduates and at least eighteen years old. Tuition is required. Under the apprentice system at the Pearce Music Company, violinmaking students learn while they earn. Jay Pearce, the owner, began to learn violinmaking by doing chores in his father's shop when he was only eleven. By h time he was fourteen he had made his first violin. He studied for three years with Ludwig Aschauer, the first European violinmaker in Salt Lake City and the son of t h director ~ of the State Violin-making School of Bavaria. Pearce later spent six years in San Francisco at the Cremona Violin-makers and Dealers where he worked mostly with older and extremely expensive European violins. Mr. Zeidler is assistant editor of Beehive Hisfory and associate editor of Anliquilies Section Selected Papers.
Opera - the Performing Art with Everything UTAH'S LUCY GATES SANG HER WAY ACROSS EUROPE AND AMERICA AND FOUNDED HER OWN OPERA COMPANY BY MIRIAM 8. MURPHY
produce operas for Utah audiences.
Opera places great demands on the voice. Years of training are needed to master proper technique and to avoid ruining a fine vocal instrument. One Utah singer who dedicated her life to the demands of opera was Emma Lucy Gates. Born in St. George, Utah, on November 5, 1880, Lucy showed musical talent at an early age. Her original training was in piano, and in her early teens she won a local competition. In 1899 she sailed for Europe to further her study of piano. However, when her talent as a singer was discovered, she switched to vocal study, Her first official concert took place in 1901 in Salt Lake City when she appeared as a soloist with theTabernacleChoir. Lucy Gates continued her vocal studies in New York, Paris, and Germany. As her voice developed and her reputation grew, the Royal Opera House in Berlin offered her a contract. Later, she became the leading coloratura soprano of the Royal Opera in Kassel, Germany. She also sang in many other European cities. After seven years with the German opera companies, Miss Gates returned to the United States. With the outbreak of World War I, she decided to remain in this country. In 1915 Lucy and her brother Cecil Gates organized the Lucy Gates Grand Opera Company. They produced, and Lucy sang in, many operas in the Salt Lake Theatre. The company also toured the surrounding states. In addition to producing operas herself, Lucy gave many concerts in major American cities during the remaining years of her career. In 1916 she signed a contract with Columbia Records and became one of their best-selling artists. So great was her success that some critics compared her to the legendary Amelita Galli-Curci. Although Lucy Gates never achieved the ultimate success - a career with the Metropolitan Opera in New York she was one of the best-known American singers of her day.
The human voice has been called the most beautiful of all musical instruments.
ate editor of
Opera is a fairly new art form. It even has a birthday - 1597 when Jacopo Peri's Dafne was performed in Florence, Italy. In some countries opera is one of the most popular performing arts. The great Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi was a national hero. When he died in 1901 a quarter of a million people crowded the streets for his funeral. In the United States opera reaches larger audiences every year. And many local opera groups have been organized, including our own Utah Opera Company. But what exactly is opera? Like plays, operas tell a story - a human drama that c a p t u r e s the imagination. Scenery a n d costumes create the atmosphere and add to the visual appeal of both operas and plays. And some operas, like Broadway musicals, feature dance, especially ballet. There the similarities end. For opera is, above all, beautiful music. In most operas the entire story is sung to orchestral accompaniment. For opera fans, the dramatic story, colorful scenery and costumes, dance, orchestral music, and the human voice combine to create a total experience no other art form can equal. The traveling Howson troupe performed the first complete operas in Utah in 1869,just after the building of the transcontinental railroad. The new railroad brought many opera and theatre companies to Utah. In the years before radio, television, and movies, traveling performers provided exciting entertainment all across the country. Utah musicians and singers wanted to produce operas themselves as well as enjoy outside talent. So, in 1888, Evan Stephens, conductor of the Tabernacle Choir, organized the first local group to perform Michael William Balfe's popular comic opera, The Bohemian Girl. The production played to full houses with Lizzie Thomas singing the title role. Over the years local talent continued to
Ms. Murphy is editor of Beehive History and associUtah Historical Quarterly.
The only Grand Opera of the Season
Lucy Gates Grand Opera Company
ner role as constanze In Mozart's opera The Abduction from the SeragNo.
LUCY Gates costumed tor
In the late 1880s Evan Stephens organized a grand opera company in Salt Lake City and produced Balfe's The Bohemian Girl with the local talent pictured below in gypsy costume.
Lucy Gates as Gilda in Verdi's ~ p e r a k i ~ o ~ esuffers tto betrayal and death. Right: During World War I, Lucy and her brother produced operas locally, including Gounod's Romeo and Juliet.
I n GOUNOD'S
ROMEO AND JULIET JANUARY 3A 5
SALT LAKE THEA TRE Company of 70 Aupnented Orchestra New Scenery
Theatre Magic: A Look Behind the Scenes BY MIRIAM 6. MURPHY AND JANET G. BUTLER ART BY DARRELL THOMAS
LIGHTING MAGIC Lights are used to itlurnlnate the set and to llght the actors, especially their faces. Lighting elso can indicatetime and season or set the mmd or atmosphere. Specld llghtlng effects areachieved by uslng wlor fllters. For example, a purple light falling on a yellow costume or set will a p w r a s red since the yellow pigment will absorb the blue portion of purple and mflect the red.LigMlng is one of the most sophlstlcated aspects of modem play production.
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Artlst George M. Ottlnger palntdscenery at the old Salt lake Theatre and also acted. Here he Is costumed as the Duke in Shakespeare's The Merchent d Venice. His costume was prohbly prwlded for hlm, but in the early days actors often supplied their own: "Every gentleman engaged In the Theatm is to prwide hirnseltwith such silk or cotton tlgMs, stmklngs, wlgs, hats, feathers, swords, shoes and boots, as may kappropriate and n e c w to the m t u m e he is wearing. If the costume im of present period, the whole of it must be provided by the performer."
STAGE MAGIC To createtheeffect of anarmy of soldiers on the march, Salt LakeTheatre stagehands cut out cardboard silhouettes of soldlerswith guns on their shoulders and painted them. The autouts were attached to a chain device similar to a blcycls chaln. The "soldiers" marched behind apainted mckwatlas long as the stagehands kept pulling the chaln.
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THE MAGIC OF MAKE-UP
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To make a young person lmk old Is a dtffieult job. First theactw should "wrinkle up" his fme toshow where- the natural creases are. Makeup
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received at b h prices, in payment for llckets. Doors open at a quartebpast 6 o ' c w Performance commencing at 7.
CHIIDREN IN ARMS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED. Grid W o d e n or steel trarnework ahme gos tor suopcnding ol l
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MAKE-UPCAUSED AN UPROAR OliverTwist created asensation in 1889 at thesalt Lake Theatre. Actress Lucille Western as Nancy, atternptlng reallsm, glued a thin slice of raw beef to her cheek. When J. A. Hwne as Bill Sikas d r a g m heracross the stage by her hairshe turned her gory face totheaudlencaand many women fainted. Bripham Young objected.The theatre was for amusement he blieved. Real life had enough tragedy. Tha play was with&awn. A half-century later an enterprising press agent advertised the 1889 incident so dramatically that thousands of would-be playgoerswere turned away from the theatre.
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A chalk drawing d Shakespeare stared at the audlencefmm above ttm curtain. The Bard was extremely popular on the western
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Othello. The performance of this Shakespeare
CAMP FLOYD THEATRE With tlmeon their bands thesoldimat Camp Floyd dwided in 1858 to bulldandoperate their own theatre. Muslcwasprwlded by a lDrnan orchestra c o r n p o d of memkrs of the Infantry band, includinga wlollnist, Petar Noel.
Stained Glass
- the "New" Old Art
MONKS DEVELOPED THIS COLORFUL ART FORM CENTURIES AGO NOW EVERYBODY'S DOING IT!
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BY KARLA J. NIELSON
Stained glass is an art, but more than that, it is a skill and a creative craft Stained glass was used in Utah homes for a very long time and was especially popular around the turn of the century. Not until recently, however, have so many people of all ages and skill levels enjoyed making stained glass. The making and use of stained glass reaches far back into history. Around A.D. 1065 the monks of the European cathedrals first developed beautiful colors of glass and 'set them into pictorial panels representing religious events. For centuries these s tained-giass panels were known as Biblia pauperurn, or Bible of the poor. Since these monks dedicated their lives to the service of the Catholic church and would not take d t for anything they accomplished, we do not know the names of early stained-glass artists.By A.D. 3 350stained glass was being produced by ordinary people or lay workers hired by the Catholic church. This art began to be signed by the artist or artisan. From 1500 to 1650 stained glass was used throughout Eumpe, in churches and castles and even in the homes of the wealthy. But by the end of the sixteenth century the art of stained glass began to decline. The painter became more important than any other kind of artist. Over the next few centuries, stained glass was "lost" as an art and a craft. It simply gave way to other fine art forms. Then,from 1850 to 1900 interest in stained glass was revived. {This was the era when so many large, elegant Utah homes were built and included stained-glass windows as. one of the beautiful features.]This period i~ architectural history is known as the late Gothic Revival era. In Europe a group of artists and architects organized around 185d to foam the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their goal was to rebel against the flood of mass-produced goods of poor, or at least questionable, quality ink* duced at the beginning of the machine age. This group decided to draw inspiration for art
and architecture from a mantic period be-
fore the painter Raphael]. Their chosen period was the Middle Ages when much stained glass
was used. The new movement style became known as Gothic Revival. Many of the older homes in Utah are strongly Gothic ~ e v i v a l ,although the term Victorian is often used to describe these turnof-the-century and earlier homes. The Gothic Revival influence, with its demand for stainedglass windows, dominated. However, there were so many other influences from around the world - from Europe to the Orient and even South America - and such a hodgepodge of architectural and decorative styles that a catch-all name, Victorian, was useful. Victorian stood for Queenvictoriawho reignd from 1837 to 1901 in Great Britain. The length of her reign determined the use of her name to label this era. Gothic Revival and Victorian windows re flect many,styles.Some look Neoclassic, styles copied from the ancient Greek or Roman worlds. French motifs such as the flewdelis, a s t y M lily flower, may be found. Examples of
Stained glass is glazed or assembled uslng lead cames which will be soldered at joints. Pieces of glass are cut and placed following a pattern called a cartoon.
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be historically accurate or new creatione-;:-$p: ,: -"A ' + Nature motifs such as flowers, leaves, birds, mr,--zp> + + , . .?T and-snimals-arevey popular today, , ;,'? To make a stainedglass window, one of two methods is gbnerally followed, although .:,:$/ ::r; theire are many others. These two methods are ' " similar and vary rmly in the materials used toadhere the glass pieces together. The artist first '' ..:., : makes e sketch of the design, known as a ;:;?j:' , , cartoon. Special scissors are used to cut up y.-;.-<> these twcale drawings. These scissors remove ,-.,-..+ .>, , a thn strip from between the cut-out pieces to < :<. accommodate the lead caming or came or the ., ,., copper foil to be inserted. Next, glass colors and textures are selected. Stained glass is made from silica glass, sand, soda, and lime or potash heated to a high temperature, formed, and cooled. To this basic formula are added various metal oxides to produce the desired color. The finished glass may be smooth, bubbled, or bumpy, 01 have streaks of white or other colors, or even be "flashed" with a thin layer of colored glass on top of another base color. The artist can etch or engrave. laminate or decorate these pieces of glass before putting them into the composition. As a general rule, the more unusual or imperfect the piece of glass, the more beautiful the finished stained-glass project will be, since each imperfection will catch and reflect the light in a different way. The patterns are used to guide the cutting of the stained or clear glass. In the lead came <
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methods, the pliable lead strips are grooved on each side where the glass pieces are inserted, thm soldered together at the joints. In the c o g per foil technique, the copper is a tape, sticky on one side. Each piece of glass must be completely wrapped with foil on the edges. Then, all the pieces are soldered together. Working in stained glass is a skill that can be learned at nearly any age. It is a rewarding craft because of the creativity and individuality that it can express. Most of all, it is a lovely art form. Stained glass is, in fact, the only work of art that never remains the same once the composition is completed, As the light of day or night dhanges, so do the characteristics and personality of stained glass. Thus,a lovely piece of original atwork can turn into a spectacular play of light and shadow, subtle and intense hues that delight the eye and cheerfully enhance the interior of a home, MTB.Nielson teaches art and interior design at
Splendor in the Glass Let6 Art Nouveau wlndows in home of architect Fred Markham feature symmetrical treatment. Below right: Late Victorian window. Center: Modern stained glass.