Name/Title
Photo Album PageEntry/Object ID
2022.5.16Description
"#11: A luncheon, second floor of Hayloft. Water color by Rowena Fry; Natalie Henry seated to the left; Rowena's back in forefront. (I often kidded Rowena about that self-portrait not being fair as she was such a pretty lady and should have poistioned herself so you could see her face.) In the original, you can see the seeds in the sliced tomatoes; the water mellon on the table top to the left, lower right. Rowena has mentioned these delightful lunches and Natalie writes about this group, including the names of the two domestics. The chimney pepe led to a wood stove on the first floor. Those two paintings were done by Mary Aldis."
"#12: Ruch Ave., a serigraph, painted by Rowena Fry from the living room window of 100 #. Chicago Ave., where Mary and Arthur lived for many years before they winterized 135 E. Deerpath in Lake Forest. Done in the twenties, you can see Club Alabam beyond the corner drugstore. it was a favorite of jazz buffs for many years. That brick building on the right was owned by the Methodists and the first floor was their bookstore for many years. #14 is another of Rowena's seragraphs, of the Italian Court. All of this art once hung in various buldings at 135 E. Deerpath."
"#13: Charles Orwell did this of the fountain and the front of the big house. Dorothy used it for a postcard for many years. It speaks to the tranquility of the "Place", as Dorothy reffered to it as she grew older."
"#15 & #19 [2022.5.17], a bit out of sequential order. The summer of '08 was a significant summer. Albert Stoner, a very competent artist from Chicago (Sterner) was highly respected for his portraits. One of the first gallery shows I saw in Chicago, as a student at the U. of C. was a one man show at Goodspeed Gallery. he worked in charcoal and crayon, and, although I saw that show and went back to it many times, I did not know that many of the hangings were portraits of various Aldis family that he did at Newport. Graham then was a Trustee of the U. of C. and loaned many of his mother's commissions. I did not know anything, then, about these handsome people, from grandson to mother, uncle or grandmother. But, I liked them all. I did not know that I would, some years later, marry into the family. #15 is of Graham, signed by Albert Sterner: "To my friend, Mrs. Arthur Aldis, July 1908. But, it is interesting to compare with #16, painted by L. Heustis, 1906. I know nothing about the artist, but you can bet that an oil of "Sonny" would have been carefully chosen and that he was then an artist of merit. The likeness is amazingly similar. Graham was an incredibly handsome boy at 14 or sixteen. I have had utter strangers tell me, " I don't care who it is. I wish I owned that portrait ." But there is also the Sterner of Owen F. Aldis, the original in Marie Madeleine Adlis, until her death when she willed it to Owen F. Aldis Jr.. A commanding man, a handsome man, even at a date when he was beginning to think of retirement from Aldis & Co., which he did because he had sight problems and enjoyed traveling, with Helen Aldis Lathrop, Bryon and rambunctous Barbour, with Thomas Nelson Page, with Henry Field and his wife Ninna and so many others of the Chicago scene (Although many of these people wrote books, the indexes are terrible. For instance, Doubleday did a book by Henry Field - the Trace of Man - does not mention his wife in the index."
-Notes provided by Roy E. Porter, son-in-law of Graham Aldis, and grandson-in-law of Arthur Aldis.Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Album, PhotographNomenclature Primary Object Term
AlbumNomenclature Sub-Class
MemorabiliaNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication Objects
