Sale on canvas prints! Use code ABCXYZ at checkout for a special discount!

Blog

Displaying: 1 - 13 of 13

Lily and Carl Tolpo Paths Meet

April 27th, 2015

Lily and Carl Tolpo Paths Meet

In 1939 Lily was frequenting the Art Institute of Chicago. On one of these visits, she was attracted to a discussion of artists taking place in front of a painting on exhibit. She joined in on the discussion with one artist in particular... Carl Tolpo.

He wanted to see her work so she brought a portfolio to his studio at the Tree Studio Building... He was very impressed with her art and her many talents. They corresponded while she was on tour with The Hollywood Cowgirls.

They continued they relationship upon finding that they had much in common... Lily became Carl’s muse. The result was many paintings of Lily... The La Conga being one. They married in 1941.

1939 Painting from Wyoming Painting Trip

September 20th, 2014

1939 Painting from Wyoming Painting Trip

Carl Tolpo painted this Teton landscape on site... Accessibility was not easy in those days and accommodations were rustic.

Early Painting Excursions of Carl Tolpo

September 10th, 2014

Early Painting Excursions of Carl Tolpo

In the middle to late 1930s Carl Tolpo would go on painting trips to explore the landscapes of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming... During this time he painted onsite the Seacoast Sentinel in California, Mt. Massive Lake in Colorado, in Wyoming, the Yellowstone Lower Falls, Teton Mountains and in Montana, Saint Mary’s Lake, as well as, the White Sulphur Springs Valley.

Carl Tolpo in the Late 1930s

September 10th, 2014

Carl Tolpo in the Late 1930s

In the late 1930s Carl Tolpo lived at the Tree Studio Building at 4 East Ohio Street, Chicago IL. It was well known as an artist colony of the
Near North Side.

During this time Carl did the portraits of Dorothy Littlefield of the Littlefield Ballet Company... Margery Mayer, opera singer of the Chicago Opera...
Beverly Lane, opera singer of the Chicago City Opera... Ebba Sundstrom, Conductor of the Chicago Civic Opera... Justice O.W. Holmes of the US Supreme Court... E. Einer Andersson, Editor Swedish American Tribune, as well as, prominent Doctors and Professors, Musicians and Entertainers
of that era.

Midwest Landscapes of the Tolpo Collection

August 25th, 2014

Midwest Landscapes of the Tolpo Collection

The Midwest Landscape Paintings by Lily Tolpo and Carl Tolpo, cover the years from the 1920’s to 1980’s... These landscapes were created onsite (en plein air) while visiting locations of the old homestead states of Michigan and Illinois... They also painted where they lived and raised their family.

Trip to Illinois Homstead

July 21st, 2014

Trip to Illinois Homstead

Since our last blog allot has happened:
A trip to Illinois was necessary to visit with Lily (a family reunion), make arrangements, take care of business, check the property, digitize the remainder of the Tolpo Collection and ready it for FAA.

In the next coming weeks we will upload images from the Tolpo Collection and continue with information about Lily and Carl and about various images

Carl Tolpo in the 1940s

March 17th, 2014

Carl Tolpo in the 1940s

Carl Tolpo moved, in 1940, to the Italian Court Building on the Near North Side of Chicago where bohemian poets, artists, designers and writers resided. The buildings main attraction was an interior courtyard surrounded by an arcade with high-end shops, an Art Gallery, studios and offices on three floors. The Le Petit Gourmet Restaurant was the main feature of the courtyard.

At this studio Carl did the paintings of...Dr Nelson M Percy - Chief of the Medical Staff Augustana Hospital Chicago IL... Dr. Jakcob Bongren –Swedish Poet and Man of Letters... The Laconga - featuring his wife Lily, A charcoal drawing of Frank O Salisbury the English painter, as well as, Prominent Doctors, Professors, Politicians of the time.

At this time he also continued his annual painting trips to the West concentrating mainly on the Yellowstone Region.

Carl Tolpo Early Years out West

February 19th, 2014

Carl Tolpo Early Years out West

In the mid 1930s Carl Tolpo went on a painting trip out West... He visited Colorado, Wyoming and Montana
On his trips in the 1930s Tolpo painted Mt. Moran...Yellowstone Lower Falls...and St Mary’s Lake in Glacier Park.

He was so inspired that for the next 45 year Carl would return every year or so.

The photo on the left shows Carl Tolpo in the 1930s painting at String Lake in the Tetons of Wyoming.

Early Years Carl Tolpo Continued

February 3rd, 2014

Early Years Carl Tolpo Continued

Carl Tolpo studied at the Art Institute from 1926 to 1929... He was a student of drawing and painting with Elmer Forsberg ... Jessie Pixley Lacey was the teacher of Figure Drawing. The photo on the left is of the Landscape painting class from the school of the Chicago Art Institute. It shows the class painting in Jackson Park, across the lagoon from the old Fine Arts Palace... Carl is the standing artist on the left side of the photo.

Early Years of Carl Tolpo

January 16th, 2014

Early Years of Carl Tolpo

Carl Tolpo was interested in art when he was a child living on a farm in Michigan...
Here is a drawing he did when he was 10 years old in 1911.

Lily Tolpo Early Years Part II

December 13th, 2013

Lily Tolpo Early Years Part II

This1939 photo shows Babs Bardo and Olivia Hoskins in the foreground... Dot Hackley walking towards you... with Don the chauffer and the group's limousine in the background. Lily took the photo when they arrived at one of their gigs.

When Lily joined Dot Hackley and her Hollywood Cowgirls, the novelty act was a stage show that traveled the movie theater circuits throughout Illinois, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

The Show consisted of Dot Hackley, the star, who performed rope tricks... Babs Bardo (Dot’s sister) tap-danced while spinning a rope, as well as, doing other stunts... Lily played the fiddle and tap danced... Olivia Hoskins played the bass fiddle... The Rodik Twins played guitars and sang... Lillie Mae played the accordion and her husband, Don, was the act’s Clown... as well as, chauffer of the group’s mode of transportation.

*********************************************************
Here is information that was found about The Hollywood Cowgirls:

A theater advertisement stated:
Stage Attraction... In Person... Dot Hackley and her Hollywood Cowgirls...
Hollywood’s popular cowgirl, Lily Mark and her Fiddle, Olivia Hoskins slapping that bass fiddle, Babs Bardo, roping tapster, Lenore Larson and her accordion, and the Rodik Twins’ singing guitars...
A Hollywood Novelty Show.

**************************************************

In the Cumberland Evening Times of Maryland June 28th 1939, a review of the Hollywood Cowgirls stated:

THEATRES FAMOUS STARS OF HOLLYWOOD WILL BE HERE IN PERSON
Something entirely new for you, is the slogan of the Famous Dot Hackley and her Hollywood Cowgirls, a group of talented musically inclined girls, who did not make a success of climbing the stairs of stardom in the movies, so instead of giving up and going home they formed the Hollywood Cowgirls and became a success almost over night not only with their stage show... but their radio success was almost sensational, as they became popular favorites before they could realize that they were one of the most popular acts on the west coast and was being applauded and looked up to by about all the successful movie stars of Hollywood. Their act is something very different, the girls being very good performers and present lots of new novelties... Among the Hollywood Cowgirls are included, Dot Hackley, well-known champion girl roper, as well as, all around entertainer...then the Rodik Twins and their singing guitars. Lily Mark, the fiddler, has a carload of tricks up her sleeve and does much to make Hollywood Cowgirls one of the outstanding radio and stage acts of today... Talk about stunts, Babs Bardo hasn't room up her sleeve for all of hers.

While on tour, Lily was documenting her experience through sketches she did of backstage scenes...
These drawings can be seen at: artbytolpo-collection.artistwebsites.com ...in the Gallery named Show Business- Entertainment.

Next we will cover what Carl Tolpo did in his Early Years... Watch This Space...

Lily Tolpo Early Years Part I

November 22nd, 2013

Lily Tolpo Early Years Part I

Lily Tolpo was a scholarship student at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts from 1935-1939.
Here is how she got her scholarship...

Lily’s father, who was Chinese, had a friend, Lin Chin, who was a student at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art.
They referred to him as the “ perpetual student”. He was well acquainted with Ruth Van Sickle Ford, who was a teacher at the Academy, and in 1937 became the President and Director of the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, and later, she became it’s proprietor... (Ruth Van Sickle Ford will show up in Carl Tolpo’s life as well.)

Lin Chin’s daughter, Helen, was a close friend of Lily’s... They spent many an hour practicing drawing and sketching together. When Helen applied for a scholarship at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, Lily did as well.
They were both accepted with a full Scholarship...Lily became a student of Ruth Van Sickle Ford.

In 1935-36, Lily worked for Nystrom painting figurines...

In the year 1938, Lily also was a fiddle player in an all girls western music group called the Sunshine Valley Girls.

Upon finishing her art education in 1939, Lily read, in the paper, an audition call for a fiddle player to join Dot Hackley and her Hollywood Cowgirls... Lily went to the audition and got the job... Thus started her travels and sketches with the Hollywood Cowgirls...

Part II will cover 1939

Upcoming Research for the Art by Tolpo Collection

September 30th, 2013

Upcoming Research for the Art by Tolpo Collection

The Tolpo family will spend October researching the archives for background information on the paintings of the Art collection.

We also will be visiting with matriarch Lily Tolpo, and, reminiscing about the paintings in the Collection.

More to come in November...