Early on I discovered that one of the numerous Kaulbach portraits of Rosario Guerrero is in the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, WA. Charles Frye, the industrialist, and his wife Emma purchased many, many contemporary paintings on their trips to Europe during the beginning years of the Twentieth Century. This Guerrero portrait is part of the core collection of the Frye, which due to the Fryes' love of art, is one of the definitive collections of late 19th and early 20th Century painting (primarily German and American) in the world.
I visited the Frye for the first time in 1999. The painting was not on display much to my disappointment. I picked up the museum catalog, The Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum: A Handbook of the Collection (available on Amazon.com) and was thrilled to see the portrait in an early photo of the salon in the Frye's home. Guerrero is front and center next to the portrait of Charles Frye. (Click here to see the photo and others on the museum's Flikr stream). I checked the page covering Kaulbach but amongst the titles of the paintings in the collection, there was no Die Tanzerin Guerrero. Did they sell it?
I called the museum to see if it had been de-acquisitioned.— No, none of the original core collection has been sold. No they do not have any painting listed in the collection as Guerrero. I pointed out the photograph in the book and was told that was a portrait of the dancer, Saharet. — Ah no, it's a Spanish dancer, a contemporary of Saharet's named Rosario Guerrero. I emailed over similar images by Kaulbach from my collection.
It seems that somewhere in the decades between the time the Fryes purchased the painting and 1989 when the catalog was published, Guerrero was lost and replaced with Saharet, understandable since there are a couple of really excellent portraits of Saharet in the collection and the two dancers had a similar look. How this happened, I think, is that after the Fryes passed away, the collection was moved to the Frye Meat Packing plant where is was on display. In February 1943, the building was damaged in a fire where about 19 employees were killed. None of the paintings were lost, but all of the records were destroyed. Hence, the loss of Guerrero's identity.
The Fryes would definitely have known the identity of the portrait when they purchased it from Kaulbach's family circa 1908. She was still an active and popular dancer. A similar portrait was reproduced commercially also as postcards, carte de visites, cigarette cards, large chromolith reproduction, the image was even used for her Berlin Wintergarten appearances. I am happy that I was able to identify her again.
My next visit to the Frye Art Museum in May 2009. I was taken behind the scenes (a.k.a. storage) and was shown the actual painting. It is beautiful with very loose, free brush strokes and subdued, golden colors. Unlike the other portrait Kaulbach did in this same costume, Kaulbach retains the sleeves, making it an even better match with the series of Gerlach photographs.
The Frye gave me permission to post the wonderful portrait and I thank them for their kindness.
If you are ever in Seattle, it is definitely worth the climb up the hill to the museum. Check out their website at http://fryemuseum.org ! The whole core collection is online! (and while you're at it, check out their entire Flikr photo streams!)
