Joseph Lindon Smith (Pawtucket, Rhode Island, 1863 - 1950, Dublin, New Hampshire)
A Theater in Mukden, Manchuria, about 1910
Oil on canvas , 58 x 67 cm (22 13/16 x 26 3/8 in.)
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This is a slightly vertical oil painting of a lively and crowded view of the interior of a theater in Mukden, Manchuria. The scene is rendered in bright colors and broad brush strokes. The view shows a wide slice of the theater cutting through half of the stage on the left and the ground floor filled with the audience in front of and to the right of the stage and two balconies above the right side. The stage juts out diagonally halfway into the theater and at its corner makes a right angle so that we see rows of audience in front of and at the left side of the low, green and white striped stage. A narrow orange support structure arises from the corners and supports the bottom of what appears to be a balcony painted in a wide orange, then a green strip, topped by orange vertical bars and a railing. On the stage, three figures stand, the one in front in flowing orange, yellow and white robes with an elaborate triangular shaped head piece and what appears to be a blue mask. On our left side is a blue-robed figure, perhaps seen from the back as we see what appears to be black hair covering the head with a semicircular turquoise headpiece. Between and behind these two colorful actors is a figure in black. In front of the stage on the floor level there are three or four rows of people looking toward the stage mostly dressed in shades of blue with an occasional person in black or white. All have brown skin and black hair, typically pulled together at the back of their necks in low ponytails. A few spectators are standing along the back wall. Above on the right in the first balcony the spectators are more widely spaced, one or two in a “box,” each sectioned by green or orange dividers. Although also dressed in blues, whites and blacks and having brown skin, several appear to have more elaborate, wide hairstyles. A few yellow banners with Chinese figures hang over the railing of the first balcony. Above, a second balcony backed by windows is empty of spectators.
Blue Room
Commentary
Joseph Lindon Smith painted A Theater in Mukden, Manchuria when he was on a 6 month tour of Asia with the art collector and design theorist Denman Waldo Ross. They stayed in Mukden, now Shenyang, for three days and attended the theater one evening.
Joseph had a lifelong love of performance art and produced pageants for civic events, fundraisers, and private parties hosted by wealthy families in Boston, Newport, and New York. He was likely inspired to paint the Chinese opera in Mukden to help preserve his memory of the evening so he could incorporate aspects of the production into his own performances.
The composition is painted from the perspective of a balcony box and is focused on the vibrant interior architecture and the attentive audience. With only a few brushstrokes, Smith captures the elaborate costumes and headdresses of the three actors on the stage who were likely telling a story from a historical novel about a political or military struggle. The acting would have been punctuated by traditional Chinese string and percussion instruments—creating a true multisensory experience.
Like her friend Joseph Lindon Smith, Isabella had a love of performance art and Chinese culture—she traveled to China in 1883-84.