On With the Show: Clara Tice Drawings of the New York Stage

On With the Show

Clara Tice drawings of the New York Stage

On With the Show Clara Tice drawings of the New York Stage

On With the Show Clara Tice drawings of the New York Stage

MARCH 18 -APRIL 30, 2011

Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 EAST 74TH STREET SUITE 1 NEW YORK NY 10021 TEL 212 744 7306 INFO@MEREDITHWARDFINEART.COM

Preface Clara Tice (1888-1973) burst onto the New York art scene in 1915 when her drawings of nude women hanging in a Greenwich Village restaurant were nearly confiscated by the New York City Vice Squad. The ensuing scandal, played out on the front pages of New York newspapers, brought her to the attention of Vanity Fair editor, Frank Crowninshield, who hired Tice to illustrate articles for the magazine. Soon, work was coming in from other newspapers and magazines with assignments to cover the hit shows of the day.

With her passion for depicting movement, costumes, and characters, the theater was a natural environment for Tice, and she recorded her impressions of all sorts of performances: the Ballets Russes, for which she was the official artist; Broadway and Vaudeville; and circus performers at the Hippodrome.

She captured many of the luminaries of the day—Nijinsky, Nazimova, Jolson—but was also drawn to lesser lights, supporting players in popular shows like Very Good Eddie and Betty.

Almost without exception, Tice focused on movements, gestures, or particular details of costumes, conveying the spirit of a dance number or the essence of a character with a few brief lines. Her masterful, fanciful drawings bring back to life these lost moments of the New York stage.

Meredith E. Ward

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Howard Kyle as Wu Sin Yin in “The Yellow Jacket,” 1916

Schuyler Ladd as Daffodil in “The Yellow Jacket,” 1916

Ink on paper, 7¾ x 7¼ inches

Ink on paper, 10 1⁄8 x 8 inches

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The Yellow Jacket was first performed in New York in 1912, but had a much more successful revival in 1916. Written by George C. Hazleton and J. Harry Benrimo, the play was an adaptation of several traditional Chinese dramas and was staged in the Chinese tradition.

Beatrice Prentice as Tso in “The Yellow Jacket,” 1916 Ink and pencil on paper, 10 5⁄8 x 8 3⁄8 inches

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Alla Nazimova, c. 1916 Ink on paper, 11 x 8½ inches

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The great Nazimova was perhaps one of the first one-name celebrities. Born in Russia, she became a major star in Moscow and Saint Petersburg before moving to New York in 1905. Her 1915 appearance in the play War Brides led to her silent film debut in 1916 in a film of the same title. Within a few years she was writing, producing, and starring in films and developing her own filmmaking techniques. This drawing most likely dates from the moment when Nazimova’s stage career was at its height.

This is one of Tice’s Four Elevated Elevations of Nijinsky that were reproduced in Vanity Fair in November 1915. Nijinsky was a star of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which toured the United States from 1916 to 1917, and Tice was their official artist. Since Nijinsky did not join the tour until April 1916, this sketch was probably inspired by photographs.

Vaslav Nijinsky, 1915 INK ON PAPER, 10 X 7½ INCHES

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Eleanor St. Claire as Hon. Mrs. Partarlington in “Betty,” 1916 Ink and pencil on paper, 11 x 8½ inches

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Betty is an English musical that ran at the Globe Theatre in New York from October 3 to November 25, 1916. It tells the story of a dissolute young aristocrat who proposes to Betty, a kitchen maid, to spite his father, and how this unlikely pair eventually find happiness.

Eleanor St. Claire started her career in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1911 and appeared in several Broadway productions over the next few years. Katherine Stewart was a regular on the Broadway stage from 1902 until 1938.

Katherine Stewart as Aunt Dora in “Betty,” 1916 Ink and pencil on paper, 9½ x 7½ inches

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PU B L I S H E D I N C O N J UNC T I O N W I T H T H E E X H I B I T I O N

On With the Show Clara Tice drawings of the New York Stage MARCH 18 - APRIL 30, 2011

M e r e d i t h Wa r d Fi n e A r t 4 4 E A ST 74 T H ST R E E T S U I T E 1 N E W YO R K N E W YO R K 1 0 0 2 1 T E L 2 1 2 74 4 7 3 0 6 FA X 2 1 2 74 4 7 3 0 8 I N FO @ M E R E D I T H WA R D F I N E A RT. C O M W W W. M E R E D I T H WA R D F I N E A RT. C O M

COVER (DETAIL): Clara

Tice (1888-1973)

Dorothy Sylvia and Elliot Taylor in “Very Good Eddie,” 1915-16 Ink and pencil on paper, 11 x 8½ inches

Very Good Eddie premiered at the Princess Theatre on December 23, 1915, with subsequent performances through October 1916 at the Casino Theatre, 39th Street Theatre, and the Princess Theatre.

With book by Guy Bolton and Philip Bartholomae, it featured music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Schuyler Greene, choreography

by David Bennett, and sets by Elsie de Wolfe.

Mary Nash, c. 1916 Ink and watercolor on paper, 8¼ x 5 5⁄8 inches FRONTISPIECE:

Mary Nash was a successful Broadway actress before beginning a career in Hollywood in 1934. In her early years, Nash was known for her role as Marcelle in The Man Who Came Back, a drama by Jules Eckert Goodman that was performed at The Playhouse in New York in 1916. Today’s audience may know her better as Katherine Hepburn’s socialite mother in The Philadelphia Story.

DESIGN THE GRENFELL PRESS, NEW YORK PRINTING PERMANENT PRINTING, LTD., HONG KONG PHOTOGRAPHY JOSHUA NEFSKY, NEW YORK EDITION OF 1300

PU B L I C AT I O N C O PY R I G H T © 2011 M E R E D I T H WA R D F I N E A RT

Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 EAST 74TH STREET SUITE 1 NEW YORK NY 10021 TEL 212 744 7306 INFO@MEREDITHWARDFINEART.COM