The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 27

artists,” as its author explained. 79 By the summer of 1879, they had come to realize that every member was “heavily long of keramics,” and it was highly suspected that even their good-natured friends had received more than their fair share of “peculiar presents.” 80 In response to this “plethora of tiles,” they decided to move on to round plaques, which provided, temporarily at least, a different shape. The next major account of the Tile Club’s activities did not appear until February of 1882, when “The Tile Club Ashore” was published in The Century Magazine, consisting of eighteen pages and twenty illustrations, none of which were of tiles. 81 This article offered some insight as to what had happened to the group over the previous two years, however, its explanation cannot be taken at face value. The excuse given for the delay of the article’s appearance was “the unostentatious prac- tices and modest habits of that worthy body have led it to avoid the public gaze and to prefer the seclusive charm to be found with itself alone.” 82 In reality, the club delighted in publicity, while continually reinforc- ing its exclusivity. A more reasonable explanation is that the artists were busy with other matters, and it had taken them this long to gather enough material to piece together an interesting, although relatively brief, article. Laffan, the author, reiterated the grow- ing tendency of the group to depart from the original purpose of painting tiles. Now any artistic pursuit was permissible, as the Wednesday night worktable was “covered with drawing-boards, blocks of water-color paper, small canvasses, charcoal and pencil paper, tiles and plaques; and brushes, paints, ‘turps’ and materials of all kinds.” 83 O’Donovan continued to do plaster bas reliefs, including two images of the Gerson sisters, Alice and Virginia, who posed as models for members of the group (figs. 15 and 16). Later Alice became Figure 15. William Rudolf O’Donovan (American, 1844–1920), Alice Gerson, 1884, plaster, 7 1/2 x 5 5/8 x 1/2 in., Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, gift of Mrs. Talcott Williams, 1912.7.1 Figure 16. William Rudolf O’Donovan (American, 1844–1920), Virginia Gerson, 1881, iron-based paint and plaster, 10 1/4 x 7 3/4 in., Chazen Museum of Art, gift of D. Frederick Baker from the Baker/ Pisano Collection, 2017.27.55 Decorative Age or Decorative Craze? 21