Beatrice Tonnesen – Photographer & Artist

If you’ve read Geoff Johnson’s feature on Beatrice Tonnesen in the current (March) issue of Chicago Magazine, or listened to his WBEZ interview, you know that we have learned a great deal about Tonnesen’s work from the descendants of Tonnesen’s models.  In most cases, it seems, a great-aunt or a grandmother, or maybe a dimly-remembered cousin, left behind a stack of artfully composed black and white photos, all featuring that relative in his or her youth or young adulthood.  Tonnesen seems to have been in the habit of giving her models numerous photographic mementoes of their work.  Once a photo is located and can be verified as Tonnesen’s work, either through its contents or written notations, it can provide a treasure trove of clues to help us identify or date the other photos and prints in our collections, and even learn more about how the photos were created.

Your own attic may be hiding some of these forgotten, but historically significant, treasures!  If so, we’d love to see them and learn about the ancestor they feature.  Here’s some pertinent information to help, should you decide to make a search:

• The photos will look pretty much like the ones shown in the accompanying slideshow, which came from Album #15 of the Beatrice Tonnesen Catalog (Click at the top right of this page to see the entire album containing 106 images.)  Tonnesen’s photos were sometimes marked with a “T-” followed by a three or four-digit number.
• Tonnesen worked from about 1896-1930 in Chicago and she employed men, women and children of all ages as models.  Reportedly, she occasionally traveled elsewhere in search of models.  Models’ birthdates probably range from the mid-1800’s to the late 1920’s.
• She sometimes employed professional models, but often her models were people she met in everyday life.  Modeling was seldom the person’s main occupation.
• There were many whose names we don’t know at all, but the following people, all born between about 1890 and 1910, may have modeled for Tonnesen.  If so, their photos may have been handed down to family or friends:  Mae (or Mary) Burns, whose married name may have been Foss; Adelyne Slavik Schwill, Eva Grady, who sometimes went by Eva Brady; Jean Blackwell, or some very similar name; Ellen O’Connor; Josephine Huddleston; Elizabeth Green Stone; Edna Clifford; Alice Gudgeon; Rosalie Williamson; Gertrude Nelson; Mary Suchier.
• The following who may have modeled were probably born in the 1870’s or 1880’s:  Alice Hyatt; Alice Stuart; Lillian Rosenhof or Rosenlof.

Thanks for reading!  And thanks for any information you can turn up.  We are looking forward to featuring your new Tonnesen finds here!  Just send a response (below) and we’ll get right back with you.

(C)2010 Lois Emerson

Today on the WBEZ Chicago Public Radio program Eight Forty-Eight, director and resident photographer Jason Marck talked with journalist Geoffrey Johnson about Beatrice Tonnesen’s life. Johnson tells the Beatrice Tonnesen story in the March issue of Chicago magazine (soon on the newsstand and later on the web). A podcast is available.

The associated slideshow contains all of the photos of Beatrice Tonnesen that are contained in the Beatrice Tonnesen Catalog.

Sharon Bailey, daughter of child model Virginia Waller Wicks (1913-2006), who was featured prominently in the work of Beatrice Tonnesen from about 1916-1920, recently dug an old oil painting out of her closet.  The painting had  hung for decades in her mother’s home, but was stored away when her mother went into assisted living.   Imagine Sharon’s surprise when she found it was signed R. Atkinson Fox on the front!  Perhaps even more interesting is what she found on the back.  Written in what appears to be Fox’s hand is:

No. 6

Nov 16 /24

Property of Beatrice Tonnesen

RA Fox

An undated sticker indicates that Virginia’s father had it framed at Marshall Fields in Chicago.  While the landscape painting  is very typical of Fox’s work, I do not recognize it as anything I’ve ever seen as a published print by Fox.  The inscription makes me wonder if perhaps Tonnesen, though an accomplished painter  in her own right, purchased it (and five others?) as background pieces for her photographic images.  Her prints do sometimes feature outdoorsy backgrounds, but, again, I don’t recognize this one in any of the published prints I’ve seen.

The images shown at right are, top to bottom:  1.  The landscape;  2.  A closeup of the signature on the front provided by Sharon Bailey;  3.  The inscription on the back photographed by Sharon Bailey and enhanced by Sumner Nelson;  4. A scan of a photo of RA Fox by Beatrice Tonnesen with inscription by Fox. His handwritten inscription on the photo seems to me to match the handwritten inscription on the back of the painting. This bottom image is provided courtesy Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh, WI.  All rights reserved. Fox collectors may recognize Fox’s photo as one used by his publishers to promote the calendars on which his artwork appeared.  (See page 40 in Rita Mortenson’s 1991 book  R. Atkinson Fox, His Life and Work.)

(C)2009 Lois Emerson

We are currently working to improve the quality of our catalog slideshow.  While renovations are underway, some images may appear out of their proper order and some image numbers and captions may be missing.  We appreciate your patience.

Lee Griffin, of Oregon, has written to tell us that white-haired, bearded “Father Time” in the print of the same name shown in our Slideshow Album 5, Image 20, was his wife’s great-great-grandfather, Henry Martyn Bates (1833-1902). Mr. Griffin provided the following information.

Henry was born in Hudson, Ohio and moved with his parents to Pecatonica, IL sometime in the early 1850’s. His first wife, Irene Rogers, died in childbirth in 1870. His second marriage ended in divorce. There is some evidence that he had a third wife. When he arrived in Chicago is unknown, however he died there in February of 1902. Tonnesen’s images of Henry appear to have been taken in the late 1890’s. A diary kept by Henry’s son Isaac, indicated that he had received a letter from the Tonnesen Sisters and pictures of his father in March of 1902.

Mr. Griffin also kindly sent two images of Henry that have been handed down through the family. Neither is signed, but they look to me like Tonnesen’s work. Interestingly, one of the photos shows Henry with his grandson, Douglas Bates, who was born in 1893. After studying the image, I believe that Douglas may have also modeled for Tonnesen, although he lived in Detroit and probably did not visit Chicago regularly.  (Go to Album 11, Image 6 to compare “The Little Musician” with the image of Douglas Bates shown here.)

Shown at right are the two images provided by Lee Griffin, the first showing Henry Martyn Bates with Douglas Bates, and the second showing Henry with a skull. This photograph seems to have been inspired by the Albrecht Duerer painting of St. Jerome.

Other images of Henry Martyn Bates can be found on this blog in: Album 2, Image 17; Album 5, Image 15; Album 6, Image 2 and Album 10, Image 21.

© 2009 Lois Emerson

A photograph by Beatrice Tonnesen found recently by the Winneconne Historical Society in Winneconne WI, features a woman dressed as an Indian maiden. This image is the central figure in an art print titled “The Dawn of Woman” by Homer Nelson, indicating that Nelson painted from Tonnesen’s photo. The distinctive headband worn by the woman appears in at least one other Nelson print, leading me to believe that he was a repeat customer of the Tonnesen Studio.

Nelson is known for his many paintings of Indian maidens in outdoor settings that adorned calendars of the 1920s and ‘30s during the Golden Age of Illustration. Fueled by the popularity of the Ziegfeld Follies and other costumed dance troupes during the pre-pinup-calendar era, Indian maiden prints were all the rage then, and maintain their popularity with today’s collectors.

Shown at top right is the Nelson print as seen on page 198 of the indispensable guide to calendar art, Vintage Illustration: Discovering America’s Calendar Artists 1900-1960 by Rick and Charlotte Martin. Collector’s Press. 1997. Image used with permission.

Shown below the Nelson print is an image of the original untitled photograph by Beatrice Tonnesen. Courtesy Winneconne Historical Society, Winneconne, WI. All rights reserved.

Copyright ©2009 Lois Emerson

Marjorie Eid of the Winneconne (WI) Historical Society reports that more than 100 original photographs by Beatrice Tonnesen have recently been found.  Tonnesen grew up in Winneconne.  Most of the photos were found in an old, long-unopened envelope box at the Society.   The donor is unknown.  The collection contains a wonderful range of subjects and time periods, everything from Victorian family scenes to portraits of glamorous flappers.

Scott Cross, Archivist at Oshkosh Public Museum, itself the holder of a large Tonnesen archive, has authenticated the Winneconne photographs, terming them an “absolutely wonderful collection.”  Sumner Nelson, Beatrice Tonnesen’s great-nephew, has scanned most of the photos and posted them to this blog.  Those images can now be seen in Catalog Album 15.

Popular illustrator Charles Relyea (1863-1932) was especially known for his colorful calendar art featuring glamorous flappers and Indian maidens. Some of his works appear to feature real women who modeled for Beatrice Tonnesen.

In Relyea’s “Two Hearts that Beat as One”, right, the beautiful brunette flapper (foreground) looks to me to be the same woman who is shown in the original painting from a photo by Tonnesen that appears in the post dated February 24, 2009 directly below this one. (Scroll down to compare.)  It’s also possible that the blonder woman in both images is the same, although I’m less certain about that.

Relyea’s “A Duet in the Moonlight”, below right, features two lovely flappers, one of whom appears to be Chicago-based photographic model Adelyne Slavik. I strongly suspect she was one of Tonnesen’s models. (For evidence, see Catalog Album 9, images 20-24.)

Compare Relyea’s woman in the yellow dress in “Moonlight” with the photo, left, of Adelyne as she appeared in the June 27, 1921 issue of  The Bridgeport Telegram. (Adelyne made news in The Telegram, as well as other newspapers across the country, when she came to the defense of a former beau, millionaire J. Stanley Joyce, who was embroiled in a messy divorce trial with notorious gold-digger Peggy Hopkins Joyce.  But I digress…)

I think Relyea’s apparent use of these two photographic models in his works points to the conclusion that he sometimes painted from photos. And since these photographic models apparently worked for Tonnesen, the photos he used may well have been hers.

All Content Copyright 2009 Lois Emerson

This pastel and watercolor original from a photo by Beatrice Tonnesen was found in the archives of the old Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company.  Traces of the photo underlying the painting can be seen upon close examination.  Although it is not known who added the pastel and watercolor elements, the photographic element clearly originated with Beatrice Tonnesen.  The dress worn by the dark-haired model is one that was worn by a different model in a photo in the Tonnesen archive of the Oshkosh Public Museum.  Based on the dating of other photos featuring these same models, I would place this one at around 1918.  I have two other pieces of original illustration art in my collection which I believe to have originated with Tonnesen photos.  However, this is the only one I’ve ever been able to verify.

It is known that the publishing companies purchased photos from Tonnesen and other photographers and then, sometimes, had their own staff illustrators add color, detail and/or backgrounds.  It is also known that the photographic studios employed staff artists who sometimes embellished their photographs before selling them to the publishing companies.  In Tonnesen’s case, we know that both she and her sister Clara sometimes acted as illustrator.  With no signature on the painting, however, the identity of the illustrator remains a mystery. 

This painting measures approximately 19 X 25 (without mat and frame).  Presumably, the Murphy Company published it as a print, although I have never come across one.

All Content Copyright 2009 Lois Emerson