The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 32

Figure 20. Francis Hopkinson Smith (American,
1838–1915), Home of the Artist William Sidney
Mount, 1881, charcoal on paper, 12 x 17 in., image
from “The Tile Club Ashore,” The Century Maga-
zine XXIII, no. 4 (February 1882): 498.
more, it had both a piano and an organ for musical Elihu Vedder. 110 In February of 1881, he had won a
them in an artist’s paradise. Everything in the historic
village related to either the making or dismantling of to do special midseason cover designs for The Cen-
tury Magazine, including Midwinter/Number/Febru-
members. Unlike the previous summer, when the artists
could find no artistic inspiration, this trip had landed
ships; even the local fences were crafted from the
wreckage of old “ship-joinery.” 105 These were “happy
days of extemporized clam-bakes on the pebbly beach,
of long swims in the clear blue waters of the harbor, of
excursions through the hills and valleys of the Sound,
of sketch books filled to overflowing.....” 106 Before
leaving, the group paid homage to the area’s most
celebrated artist, William Sidney Mount (1807–68), by
visiting his homestead, “a charming old Long Island
household, a place rich in memories, and hallowed by
endearing associations.” 107 To commemorate the visit,
Smith did a drawing of the Mount house, which was
used in the article (fig. 20). 108 Although the days were
dreary and filled with rain, they were days “that
weather could not spoil,” which in the travelers’ minds
“ended too soon.” 109
The year 1882 proved to be a very active one for
the Tile Club, although not in the production of tiles,
which had virtually ceased. One of the few members
working in the decorative arts was the newly inducted
26 THE TILE CLUB: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting
Christmas card competition sponsored by Prang and
Company, which led to a commission that summer
ary/1882. Among Vedder’s other decorative ventures
were several done in collaboration with the J. and J.G.
Low Art Tile Works. One was a relief tile done in
1882 portraying the popular actress Anne Russell as
“Esmeralda” in celebration of her one-hundred fiftieth
performance at the Madison Square Theater in New
York. This was, however, a production piece that did
not involve hand painting. By January of 1882, Vedder
was attending the club’s Wednesday night meetings
and special events on a regular basis, and his diary en-
tries give some insight into the schedule for that year.
On January 12, the club held a reception for the poet
Thomas Bailey Aldrich; on February 2, Vedder ad-
dressed the club; and on April 1 he created the drawing
of the evening. 111
Meanwhile, the February issue of The Century
Magazine with the “Tile Club Ashore” article came
out. And on February 25, an exhibition of works by
Tile Club members was held at the St. Botolph Club, a
private club in Boston established “for the promotion