Mystery Artwork

Found in an estate sale of a home in St. Louis County, the art that appears here remains a mystery as to artist and purpose. None of the three pieces are signed, no trace of the artist. They appear to be hand-drawn in color pen/pencil, and are obviously very intricate. The subject all appear as perhaps theatrical stage background, of maybe art designs for architectural use. Any ideas on what they are or who might have created them? Send your thoughts to Dave Lossos

RESPONSES SO FAR:

Perhaps something related to the Veiled Prophet Ball? Backdrops or something?

Maybe sketches for Muny stage backdrops? They are really cool!

Could they may have been used as picture backdrops for the 1904 Worlds Fair?

From Terri Kenney: My impression is this is some sort of art work for perhaps a tapestry for a Russian Orthodox church in light of the crescent moon on top of some of the buildings.

I think that these drawings may "simply" be art exercises — the sort of thing a "proper" lady of Victorian and/or Edwardian times might practice on. The various motifs in each drawing appeared often in those days — on book covers and frontispieces, in the little "art" separators between articles, and so on. My mother's year books from McKinley high school had lots of small ornamentations that look like parts of these drawings. Sue McCormick

I remember the fountain drawing or something similar as something I saw in a restaurant. I’m guessing it was in Gaslight Square, Smokey Joe’s Grecian Terrace perhaps. Rageris (SP?) also comes to mind. Perhaps this was a preliminary drawing.