Nella Fontaine Binckley: "Odds and Ends from an Artist's Life," Chapter VIII, Part 1

[Nella Fontaine Binckley, "Odds and Ends from an Artist's Life," Chapter VIII, part 1. From a transcription annotated by Patricia D'Arcy Binckley of typewritten original, February 25, 2005. Original "written some time after 1941 by Nellie F. Binckley, 1860-1950 or 51." Notes in brackets are mine, unless followed by the initials "P.D.B." or "M.J.B." (Milton Johnston Binckley, 1902-1991). Occasionally, additional paragraph breaks inserted for easier reading.
 
Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration; specifically to William for providing a scan of the original document, and in turn many thanks to Peter Binckley and Patricia D'Arcy "Trish" Binckley (1951-2007), at the source.]

Mother was now living in California, in Santa Rosa. An old friend, Senator Thompson of California, when not in Washington lived with his family in Santa Rosa. He had got Mother a position there as town librarian. His sister, Mrs. Huie lived in San Francisco. It was a friendship of many years standing.

My grandparents Michel when young had moved to Louisville, Kentucky and Mother was born there [in 1836 -- M.J.B.] [corrected: February 16, 1838]. The Thompsons lived there and became intimate and beloved friends. When Miss Thompson married Dr. Huie, Grandmother dressed her for her wedding. The bride and groom went west in a covered wagon, arriving in San Francisco when it consisted of only a few houses and the Spanish Mission Dolores.  

My grandparents did not stay in Louisville, but grew homesick and returned to Virginia and Mother grew up there. Though she loved Virginia, she was always proud of being born in Kentucky. It's a fine old State, too. 

I went to Lynchburg and had a class there. Mother had left me her kiln and her china painting class and I rented a very tiny one story house on Church Street for a studio. I boarded at Mrs. Jordan's a block or two away. The house was full and all I could get was half a big room, sharing it with a school teacher. She was out all day at school, and I was out all day at my studio.

In the evenings she went to a big revival going on in the town, often staying there till midnight. I went out with the unregenerate, so to speak, some of my young friends, or they came to see me in the parlor. So, though we slept in the same big bed, we seldom saw each other awake. When I'd get home she'd be in bed asleep, or vice-versa. She went out early in the morning and I later. 

There was but one key to the room and we arranged that the one going out last should put the key in the drawer of a table in the hall downstairs. But she often forgot and took the key with her, and I couldn't get in my room. Then I had to go to the revival where I'd find her laboring with a sinner and looking very holy. She'd be hurt at the interruption, but I got the key.

One of the boarders was a musician, Theodore Presser. He edited a musical magazine named The Etude [The Etude], which still survives, I believe. He had a piano in his room which he pounded louder than I had ever heard a piano pounded before. He must have played with his fists.

One day I saw a book on our table and being a bookish creature, picked it up and glanced through it. It was an anthology and to my amazement, I came across some little verses I had written when we lived in suburban Chicago, called "Clouds." Verse was never a form of expression with me. In all my life I never wrote but very few bits of verse, very trifling ones. I happened to be looking up into the sky that day. I always showed everything to Dad. As I learned afterward, he showed the verse to an intimate friend of his, a literary man, Mr. F. F. Browne. [This was Francis Fisher Brown, whose papers contain some correspondence with John Milton Binckley -- P.D.B.] 

He sent them to a publisher or a magazine -- I never knew and being but a child never gave the matter any thought. They gave me a dollar, and told me the verses had been paid for. I never saw them in print till I chanced to come across them in Lynchburg. I did not bother to remember the magazine to which the anthology credited them.

The teacher borrowed my copy of Longfellow and never returned it. And it was a special copy, too. It was the prize at a spelling bee the neighbors got up in suburban Chicago. Everyone was in it, grownups as well as children. Our family were good spellers, and Dad and I were the last on the floor. The Dad got tangled up in the word 'unparalleled.' He knew perfectly well how to spell it but was not accustomed to spelling aloud.

[Ellen/Nellie/Nella Fontaine Binckley (September 1, 1860-April 27, 1951). Family names and dates were whimsically tweaked by their owners during their lifetime, adding mystery and sometimes causing confusion. For Binckley's "Artist's Life," I'm opting for the artist's full signature name, Nella Fontaine Binckley.

Mother = Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley (1838-1930).
My grandparents Michel = Harvey Mitchell/Michel (1799-1866) and Jane Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892). 

Senator Thompson = Representative Thomas Larkin Thompson (1838-1898), son of Robert Augustine Thompson (1805-1876) and Marion Satterlee Thompson (d. 1905).  
His sister, Mrs. Huie = Sarah Elizabeth Thompson Huie (1827-1905), had married Dr. George William Huie of Louisville (1825-1877) in 1848.

Theodore Presser (1848-1925), musical director at Hollins College in the early 1880s; began The Etude in October 1883 in Lynchburg; published in Philadelphia from 1884 forward.

Dad = John Milton Binckley (circa 1831-1878). 
Francis Fisher Brown (1843-1913). See The Newberry Library (Chicago) for his papers. Link here.]

Queer Things in Leather: Nella Fontaine Binckley in San Francisco, 1897

San Francisco Call, Volume 81, Number 76, February 14, 1897:

QUEER THINGS IN LEATHER CARVING

Work Formerly Done by Indians Now Made an Art Here.

Strange Pictures on Skins and Wood in Miss Binckley's Studio.

Chicago the Only Other Place in the United States Where the Art Is Practiced.

Miss Nellie Binckley, the artist, of this City, has for some time past been giving her attention to etching with fire and to leather carving, especially the former. Leather carving is done very little in this country. A Chicago paper a short time ago had a long article setting forth that a leather-carver had lately arrived in Chicago from Spain, but that outside of that there were no carvers in leather in the United States, except two ladies in California.

Miss Binckley's studio on Sutter street shows a large amount of etchings by fire. The etchings are chiefly on wood and leather. She says that really the original etchings here were done by the Indians, as may be seen by an examination of the inner sides of the bearskins, elkskins and hides of other animals on which they have drawn curious Indian figures with fire. The burning lines are traced by the pointed piece of steel known as a cautery, which is kept red hot by the generation of hydrocarbon vapor in a small bottle.

"California furnishes a most attractive field for a fine etcher or professional, for there is such a fascinating variety of beautiful woods to choose from. Those most used are poplar, sycamore, white holly, redwood and madrone. The latter has a tone admirable as a suggestion of flesh tint and is excellent for heads," said the lady yesterday.

“Leather is as much adapted for this decoration as wood and is almost as durable. A new leather has been prepared by a special process for fire etching. It is called velvet calf and has an exquisite velvety surface, something like suede or undressed kid, and is soft and pliable. It is dyed in a variety of colors, usually gray, terra cotta and green. Sheepskin is tanned with the same velvety finish now and is much less expensive than the calf.

"Then there is leather carving. This has been done a great deal in Germany, but it is considered more distinctively Mexican. It is entirely different from the old Spanish and German stamped leather and is literally carved with sharp toos. A Mexican has recently begun doing this work in Chicago and O'Hara & Livermore intend to introduce it here.

"In the older Mexican towns dark-eyed artisans work still at the leather, wondrously cut and carved, and known to all the world as a remnant of the days when every man was a cavalier, and his saddle the proudest of his possessions.

“Now comes the etching of the leather, technically called pirogravure, growing under the hands that is dominant today — the race of new women. As to my own work in fine etching, my specialty is heads and figures. It bores me to extinction to do conventional designs. I hate to do anything which has to be exactly the same on each side. It is purely mechanical. Any one can do it. It only requires care. It is no particular credit to get it perfect and it is disgraceful to get it wrong.

"But to do a figure design well is something that interests one more, and is to a great or less extent an achievement. One must feel it enter into the spirit of the design or it will be stiff and wooden. It takes a sure eye and a steady hand, and a sufficient knowledge of anatomy (in figure work), to give the worker the power of assimilating the designs, and putting it forth again from his own brain without the necessity for constant reference to the design.

"When one makes a long, flowing line, it is disastrous to glance aside at the copy. An instant's pause in the progress of your red hot point and a hole, or at least a period, appears, and the line is spoiled."

Among the etchings which Miss Binckley has is one of Cypress Point, near Monterey, with a view of the sea; figures of Indians and Chinese and of bears and other wild animals.

[Nellie/Nella Fontaine Binckley (September 1, 1860- April 27, 1951; she was not born in 1877 as she later successfully hoaxed), studio home at 932 Sutter Street] 

Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration. 

Nella Fontaine Binckley: The Tinted Venus, 1896

San Francisco Call, Volume 79, Number 183, May 31, 1896:

MAKES A TINTED VENUS

Otto Dobbertin Discovers the Art of Coloring Plaster of Paris.

English Breakfast Tea Plays a Hitherto Unsuspected Part in Sculpture.

Otto Dobbertin, the sculptor, and William Keith, the artist, have studios just vis-a-vis to one another on Pine street. This is a great convenience to the disciples of the brush and chisel and an advantage to art, for in moments of inspiration Keith can rush across the hallway and confide to a sympathetic heart, "Dobbertin, I have discovered a new way of painting a picture." Dobbertin, being in the business himself, can enter feelingly into his friend's exultation.

Up to the present the sculptor has sawed wood, or rather chiseled marble, and said nothing about discoveries on his own account. It is harder to juggle with plaster of paris and dull gray clay than it is with oil paint and water colors, and sculptors know that the roseate tints of early dawn and the red glows of sunset are not for them. The atmosphere of discovery is infectious, however. Dobbertin began to wonder whether he could not make a tinted Venus, or at least a figure that would have a glow warm enough to make him listen without envy when Keith talked about art that rivals the tints of a Turkish mat.

Yesterday Dobbertin found it. He had been working for some days on the portrait bust of Miss Binckley, a young artist whose fluffy yellow hair is admired wherever she goes. In a flash of inspiration he had conceived a method for mellowing the cold, white plaster till it became rich and warm in tint like a meerschaum pipe that had been smoked to a turn by an expert.

Dobbertin had said nothing to Keith — he worked on his inspiration for two days. Yesterday he found that it exceeded his most sanguine expectations. "Eureka!" he cried, rushing across the passage to communicate his discovery to Keith, but the artist was softly snoozing in an afternoon siesta.

The thoughtful Dobbertin withdrew, bottling up his enthusiasm in his own breast till the artist should awake. When asked about his discovery later in the day, he said: "Oh, it is simple, quite simple when you have found now to do it. So. You first have the bust in plaster of paris, it is cold and colorless, but to give it a soft, warm tint you dip it in tea, strong black tea. After the dip the bust is no more white, it is very beautiful and mellow in tone.

The tea? Yes it is what you call English breakfast tea and it must be strong till it is black. The next thing is to take water colors, mix them in tea, very thin and lay them lightly on the bust. When the colors dry the work can be polished with wax and turpentine and it is completed.

"You see that bust," and the sculptor pointed to a plaster of paris bust of one of San Francisco's leading citizens that stood neglected on a shelf of the studio, "that is as cold and dead as clay, but you see that," and this time he indicated the charming bust of the pretty young artist that occupied the place of honor in the sculptor's workshop, "that bust has the soft, warm look of life. It is a new process, I know, but I believe that in English breakfast tea lies the future of colored statuary."

John Gibson, Tinted Venus, 1850s

[Nella Fontaine Binckley (1860-1951), studio home at 932 Sutter St.
William Keith (1838-1911), Pine St. studio destroyed in 1906 earthquake
Otto Dobbertin (1862-1931), studio at 424 Pine St.] 

Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration. 

Nella Fontaine Binckley and the San Francisco Press Club, 1896

San Francisco Call, Volume 79, Number 75, February 13, 1896:

MISS BINCKLEY'S GIFT.

The Artist Presents a Handsome Painting to the Press Club.

Miss Nellie F. Binckley, the artist, has presented to the Press Club a very handsome painting of a lady in this City, the wife of a business man. The lady has thick blonde hair, and is of a type of beauty rarely seen. The picture as it is finished represents a sort of modern Ophelia. There is a crown of marguerites in her hair, and the touches given otherwise make her appear in a manner very attractive. The canvas is nearly two by three feet in size. The portrait is much appreciated by the club. It is said to be a perfect likeness of the lady who sat for the artist.

[Nellie/Nella Fontaine Binckley (1860-1951)
The San Francisco Press Club was formed in the late 1880s. To confuse matters, there is also a wine bar by that name]

Nella Fontaine Binckley (1860-1951) in the Studio: New York City, 1906

STUDIO NOTES

If all artists possessed the picturesque personality and adaptability as to posing which distinguishes Miss Nella Fontaine Binkley [Binckley], they might easily discard models and pose for each other. Upon entering Miss Binkley’s studio one notes many portraits of this clever artist, whose likeness to Mme. Sarah Bernhardt [1844-1923] is most striking, particularly at night in the delicately shaded glow of the studio lights. One portrait is by Edmund Russell [1858-1923; possibly painted of her by him in San Francisco], another by Henry Lawrence Wolfe [1878/81-1911, when he went missing in Italy] a third by De Takach [Bela De Takach, 1874-1947]. In all of these, individuality of both artist and subject is manifest.

Miss Binkley’s is a winning personality: charming address and a Southern accent give a touch of delicacy. Versatility in all the many branches of art in which she excels has not lessened concentration in any one of these. A portrait from life of the grandson of the famous Sioux chief, Sitting Bull [1831-1890], in all his regalia of paint and feathers, attests success in oil. Posters of La Loie Fuller [La Loïe Fuller, dancer, 1862-1928], of a daughter [Annie Early Wheeler, the “Angel of Santiago,” 1868-1955] of Gen. Joe Wheeler [1836-1906] in the costume of a Red Cross nurse, of many prominent actors and well-known personages give a small idea of her liking for that line of work.

A study of Mr. De Takach, which was made at night, shows him musing over a half-smoked cigarette – his blonde personality strongly defined and remarkably handled. Across the studio one suddenly discovers a painting, which if life size would be startlingly deceptive. An open door and just without a woman’s figure. The reflection of the sun’s glare upon the panes of glass in the door, the daintiness of the woman’s garb, the sense of distance, the bright sunshine, the garden in the background, all go toward making this a never-to-be-forgotten piece of work.

On the easel was one of the last studies for “Smoke and Bubbles,” the second book by John William Sargent [he may have been the same person as the friend of Houdini with this identical name, ca. 1853-1920] for which Miss Binkley has supplied the illustrations. The first Sargent book was called “Toasts” and eighty sketches by this versatile artist [Toasts for the Times in Pictures and Rhymes, 1904]. “Smoke and Bubbles” [Smoke and Bubbles, 1906] will have eighty-three illustrations, and the amount of thought shown therein in addition to the technique displayed goes far toward the success of the book.

Then Miss Binkley’s “play” work was exhibited – leather, burnt and lace effects. Unique jackets, artistic wing-like shoulder capes of strange smoky hues, dainty blues or dusty reds. Odd collars, cuffs, belts, purses, trimmings, adorned with beads or buttons of oddly contrasting colors, with the usual compliment of portieres, draperies, wall ornaments likewise record her artistic expression in the articles meant for daily use. After this one is not surprised to learn that Miss Binkley’s designs for artistic jewelry are much in demand. In fact, Miss Binkley has covered so much ground so excellently as to be notably prominent in the art world.

HELEN AVERY HARDY

From: Daily Attractions in New York. Advance Information of Art Exhibitions, Lectures, Concerts, Churches, Theatres, Railroads, Pullman Accommodations, Points of Interest, Where to Dine, etc. (1906), p. 27. 

More about Nella Fontaine Binckley (1860-1951) and her work here.

Biography of William Edward Michel (1881-1970)

'WILLIAM EDWARD MICHEL [1881-1970]. - A thoroughly competent man and one who enjoys the entire confidence of his employer, employe[e]s and patrons is W. E. Michel, who is in charge of the livestock and packing house interests of the Pacific Lumber Company at Scotia, Cal. There is not one of his customers who would not gladly deal with him again. He is the buyer of all the cattle, hogs and sheep to supply the four stores and to feed the army of about three thousand workers connected with the great Pacific Lumber Company.
Mr. Michel comes from some of the leading American families. His father, Dr. William M. Michel, whose native state was Virginia, was a nephew of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston of the Confederate army. The Johnston family was one of the "F. F. V.'s"; the well known writer, Mary Johnston, author of "To Have and To Hold" and other novels, is a member of this family. Mr. Michel's branch of the Michel family is traced back to King Robert Bruce of Scotland. His father served several years as a surgeon in the Southern army, and after the close of the Civil war as surgeon in the government navy. Later he came to Humboldt county, Cal., and was connected with the Round Valley (Mendocino county) and the Hoopa (Humboldt county) Indian Reservations. At the close of his term of service as doctor at the Hoopla Reservation, he moved to Ferndale, Cal., where he engaged in the general practice of medicine and also ran a drug store for several years. He was accidentally killed by the breaking of a banister railing at a ball game in Ferndale, dying several weeks later from the effect of the accident. The mother of Mr. Michel was formerly Miss Lucy Dennis, a native of Virginia. She is now living with her daughter, Mrs. R. D. Porter, at No. 1628 E street, Eureka.

The parents of Mr. Michel had six children, four daughters and two sons. The eldest, Maynard H., is state sheep inspector and resides at Rohnerville, Cal.; Genevieve is the wife of William Smiley, a rancher and dairyman of Carlotta; Elizabeth is now the wife of R. D. Porter, manager of the Robert Porter estate and director of the Bank of Eureka; Marian is the widow of Ellis Roberts and resides at No. 1628 E street, Eureka; Lucy is the wife of Hon. John W. McClellan, of Bridgeville, proprietor of the Casa Loma Ranch (see his sketch); William Edward, the youngest of the children, was born in Mendocino county, August 6, 1880.'

'As a boy Mr. Michel had to work hard. At the age of fifteen he started in the meat market business at Ferndale with Payne & Beck, and has been in the meat market and stock business ever since, ten years in Ferndale and two in San Francisco. His association with the Pacific Lumber Company dates from the year 1907, when he was engaged to take charge of their packing plant. He and Alexander Lamb, Jr., worked together in devising plans for the packing house and refrigerating plant which the company adopted and which are still in use and regarded as one of the most satisfactory systems known to date. In 1910 Mr. Michel was put in charge and ever since has been at the head of the livestock and packing house department. He has made a special study of the animal and meat industry in all its phases, breeding, feeding, buying and selling, slaughtering, refrigerating, cutting, making lard, sausages, salt pork and other meats, curing, smoking, retaining, etc. It is an unfailing rule with him never to kill for use any animal unless it is free from disease and in good order, and he inspects all animals intended for the block while on hoof.

The Pacific Lumber Company kills enough hogs to provide all the lard consumed and handled by the Eel River Mercantile Company at its four stores located at Scotia, Dyerville, Shively and Field's Landing. Besides this, the company keeps on its cut over lands about eight hundred head of stockers and feeders. They have six thoroughbred Hereford bulls which they use for breeding purposes, raising approximately two hundred head every year, and they kill twelve hundred annually.'

'It is almost beyond belief that there are but twenty twe horses employed by this gigantic lumber concern; yet this is true. Steam machinery is installed for logging, loading and transporting the logs, and gigantic cranes and monorails handle the sawed lumber in units of about two thousand feet each. The horses are used mainly to haul building material to places where the company is building residences for its employes, and erecting other necessary structures.

While a youth at Hoopla Indian Reservation Mr. Michel became convinced that Humboldt county held great deposits of gold bearing quartz, sulphuret of gold and iron, and at the present time he is largely interested as a stockholder in the Red Cap Mining and Development Company of, Humboldt county. He has studied the mineral wealth of this county and has the utmost faith in its resources along this line, especially in the gold at Orleans Bar.

Mr. Michel was married in 1902 to Miss Adah Davis, daughter of Frank Davis of Rohnerville, a pioneer of Humboldt county. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Ferndale, and Myrtle Encampment at Ferndale; is a member of the Weeott Tribe No. 147, I. O. R. M., at Scotia, being past sachem of the tribe; also Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E.'

Leigh H. Irvine, History of Humboldt County, California, with Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who have been Identified with its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present. Los Angeles, California: Historic Record Company, 1915, pages 638-640. 

Text may also be found here.

Biography of Dr. William M. Mitchell/Michel (1839-1908)

'William M. Michel, M. D.  Born in Tazewell county, Virginia, October 1, 1839 His father [Harvey Mitchell/Michel, 1799-1866] was an artist. When but a child they moved to Charleston. And after a residence of about two years here they moved to Washington, D. C. Here the subject of this sketch was educated at the Rugby Academy. At the age of sixteen he entered the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, which he attended two years. He then commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Johnson Elliot, where he graduated in March, 1860; after which he joined the rebel army and served about five years, taking an active part in drilling soldiers. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Sailors Creek, and was held prisoner for four months. Was captured about four hours before Lee surrendered. Was released after the close of the war, and went at once to Eastville, Virginia, where he commenced practicing medicine, which he continued about one year.'

'He then returned to his native county (Tazewell), where he practiced for about two years, when he was appointed surgeon on a Pacific mail steamer, and came to San Francisco, and was transferred to the Golden Age and went to China, and remained in China and Japan about two years. He then returned to California, and after practicing in Nevada county, Knights Landing, Yolo county, Elmira, Solano county, St. Helena, Napa county, and Ukiah, Mendocino county, he finally, in October, 1877, settled in Covelo, Round valley, where he is engaged in active practice of his profession. Married in 1867, Miss Lucy Dennis [1845-1923], a native of Virginia. They have five children: H. Maynard, Genevieve, Lizzie, Miriam, and Lucy.'

Lyman L. Palmer, History of Mendocino County, California : Comprising its Geography, Geology, Topography, Climatography, Springs and Timber . . . (San Francisco, California Alley, Bowen & Co., Publishers, 1880), p. 603. 

Text may also be found here.

VMI biography may be found here.