The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 35

of these events, the Tilers celebrated the release of the
much anticipated Harper’s Christmas, published both
in America and England with amazing success. 124 This
deluxe publication, printed on special paper, was graced
with a beautiful cover design, Luna, by Vedder sur-
rounded by a decorative border in mistletoe by Parsons.
The issue included stories written by close friends of
the Tilers (Mark Twain and Thomas Bailey Aldrich)
and large drawings by club members, such as Chase’s
The Burgomaster and Vedder’s Samson) which were
particularly popular with the public. In fact, Vedder, in
writing to his wife, reported that people were actually
“cutting them out and framing them.” 125
The previous year the Tile Club had garnered
international renown when an article appeared in
the French publication L’Art (September 1881). The
account focused on the publicity the group managed
to generate for itself: “This unique organization peaked
curiosity. From the outset, the Tile Club was in vogue.
The stories which circulated, and illustrated journals
which published exotic article after article, led the
public to come to know the remarkable talent and
appealing nature of the group.” 126 So widely publicized
were the club’s activities that they caught the attention
of Vincent van Gogh, who had seen both the Harper’s
Weekly article and the special Harper’s Christmas issue.
He wrote to his brother Theo in 1883: “At present
there is a draftsman’s club in New York called the ‘Tile
Club’ or the ‘Tile Painters.’” 127 Expressing his particular
admiration for Abbey, van Gogh specifically men-
tioned that he had a “little figure of a woman in the
snow by him,” perhaps the reproduction of Winter that
appeared in Harper’s Christmas (fig. 22). 128 In summary,
van Gogh told his brother: “I write about it because
I believe you will agree with me that not all Ameri-
cans are bad. That, on the contrary, there are extremes
Figure 22. Edwin Austin Abbey (American, 1852–1911), Winter,
1882, gouache on paper, 44 x 28 in., University of Cincinnati
Fine Arts Collection, gift of the Engineering Class of 1923.
Decorative Age or Decorative Craze? 29