Crayon Artists and Steel Workers
Ella Bentz Smith of Coatesville
It was exciting to find an entry for a crayon artist in the Boyd’s Chester County Pennsylvania Directory for 1896-97! The address on Pennsylvania Avenue sounded familiar somehow. Then it clicked – Ella Bentz was living in the other half of a double house occupied by photographer John B. Gibson! It struck me how handy it would be for Gibson to be bringing her work to hand color! We can never know if they were working together, but the proximity makes it a real possibility.
In the days before air conditioning, porches were essential on a house. In the summer the porch was where you relaxed and enjoyed the cool air in the evening after your work was done. I grew up in a double house and am familiar with porch culture. All the neighbors knew each other and looked forward to chatting in the evening, sitting outside until the lightening bugs (or mosquitos) came out. We can be sure that Gibson’s family knew Bentz’s family living next door. When the artistically inclined lady needed some extra income, it is logical that she may have gone to him for advice or for a first job.
Doing hand coloring on the oversized portraits known as “Crayons” was a convenient job for the home artist. Crayon portraits may look rather garish to our eyes today, but they offered the public the effect of a painted portrait essential for the dining room. Photographs taken years ago could even be copied and enlarged, bringing a respected grandparent back into the family fold.
At one time Ella and her sister used their home as a boarding house. There are some logistics that I can’t wrap my head around. The two sisters hosted seven steel workers in the three-bedroom house! I am assuming that the sisters shared one bedroom. How did the seven men fit in the other two bedrooms? Did they sleep in shifts – assuming that some of the worked the night shift at the mill? How far did the hot water stretch for the Saturday night baths? Cooking breakfast and dinner for them must have been a monumental task!
You can read about Ella Bentz Smith, her life and career in her biography. If anyone has any samples of her work, I would love to see them and add them to her information.
