Artist/Maker Stafford Mantle Northcote (1869–1949)

Hi Hee, Chinese Theatre, Pell St., New York City

1900

Place madeNew York, United States, North America

Oil on linen

Unframed: 20 × 24 × 1 in. (50.8 × 61 × 2.5 cm)
Framed: 25 1/2 in. × 19 1/4 in. × 2 in. (64.8 × 48.9 × 5.1 cm)

Gift of George A. Zabriskie

1946.254

Cantonese opera attracted eager patrons in the moments of leisure snatched from long workweeks. In make-do quarters and established theaters like this one on New York’s Doyers Street, mixed crowds thrilled to the drama and acrobatics. China’s top performers toured the US from the 1850s on, bringing the migrants familiar, instructive historical narratives with improvised lyrics on contemporary concerns In one nod to current issues in 1903, three sold-out performances at Doyers Street raised $280 for the Jewish victims of a deadly pogrom in Kishinev, Russia. The Chinese American merchant Joseph Singleton told the Jewish relief committee, “We believe in liberty and want to aid those who suffer from bigotry.”

ClassificationsPAINTINGS