The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 34

Figure 21. Charles Stanley
Reinhart (American, 1844–
1896), The Tile Club Abroad,
n.d., etching on paper,
9 1/2 x 13 3/4 in., Heckscher
Museum of Art, museum
purchase, 2001.6.3
house (no. 58) built by the same family. To enter 58½,
one had to proceed through a dark tunnel beneath the
house fronting on the street. 119
Beginning early in 1882, the Tilers were busy work-
ing on another joint venture, this time with Harper’s.
Tile Club artists were asked to contribute illustrations
to accompany stories written by contemporary writ-
ers for a special Christmas edition of the magazine.
Having submitted all the artwork by March, and with
no organized summer sketching trip in the offing, the
Tilers were free to “scatter themselves over Europe in
search of rest and recreation, and to await in serene
confidence the golden harvest of their reward”—re-
ferring to the Harper’s Christmas. 120 Just prior to the
release of this special issue, Harper’s Weekly (November
25, 1882) published an article, “The Tile Club Abroad,”
a humorous account of members who had met in Paris
that summer to attend the Paris Salon and see the
sights. A series of cartoons by Reinhart (who was living
in Paris) accompanying the article documents the
28 THE TILE CLUB: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting
antics of the travelers, although this was by no means
an “official” Tile Club trip (fig. 21). Captions for the
cartoon illustrations included “thrilling incidents on
the voyage…meeting with exiled members of the club
[including an image of Boughton done as if it were in
tiles] ...sightseeing...and breaking up!” 121 The author
(unidentified), criticizing Americans who viewed such
recreation as a “frivolous waste of time,” declared that
the travelers returned not only refreshed, but “rich with
the artistic spoils of many lands.” 122
When club members returned that fall they re-
sumed their weekly meetings and parties. Among
the special guests entertained earlier that spring were
the actor Edwin Booth (May 3) and the writer Joel
Chandler Harris. On December 9 they gathered at
Smith’s studio; on December 18 a party was held at
Millet’s studio for Oscar Wilde (in the United States
for a lecture tour explaining the Aesthetic movement,
“Lectures on the Decorative Arts”); and on December
19 a party was held at Gifford’s place. 123 Surely at one