By: Sarah Samala, ‘28

When you think of ballet, what comes to your mind? For most, it’s pink tights, pale tutus and classical music. However, when I was going through the materials donated by visual artist Tom Cramer in the Pacific Northwest Artists Archive, I came across the bright, almost psychedelic backdrops and hand-painted costumes of Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Jungle. Seeing Cramer’s strange, pop-art-esque art that typically covered cars or carved wood totems adorn the bodies and stage of the Oregon Ballet Theatre brought to mind several questions. Why was Tom Cramer chosen to set and costume a ballet? What was Jungle about? And finally, how did Cramer’s sets play into its narrative? Through research and the wealth of papers in the Willamette University Archives, I discovered the history of Jungle, and why Tom Cramer’s art was essential to its role within the modern dance world.

Tom Cramer was born in 1960 in Portland Oregon. He earned his BFA at the Museum Art School, now known as the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 1982. Cramer often combined different cultural mediums in his art. His early work, which consisted of abstract art and hand-carved totems, took inspiration from a variety of techniques like traditional Native American wood-carving and German expressionism. Cramer’s bright and chaotic style even made it onto unconventional canvases, as evidenced by his painted Volkswagens. Tom Cramer’s art was loud and memorable, yet described as eerily dark and foreboding by many. It was these qualities that caught the eye of dance agent Alex Dubay, who reached out to the Oregon Ballet Theatre’s artistic director, James Canfield, and pushed the visual artist into the world of ballet and theatre.

The Oregon Ballet Theatre first featured Cramer’s work in the 1994/95 season, where his first ever ballet set debuted in the American Choreographer’s showcase. The showcase was a culmination of several young choreographer’s original works, meant to challenge choreographers and dancers alike through its experimental nature. Shortly after being imbursed for this initial commission, Canfield sought out Cramer for another piece, one that would become one of Canfield’s most well-known works.

The 1996/97 season’s “James Canfield Signatures,” featured Jungle, a fast-paced piece meant to capture the violence and majesty of animal life. Unlike most productions, Jungle’s set, which was a thirty-by-sixty-feet mural that channeled the essence of nature in Cramer’s style, was actually created before the choreography. This unconventional choice challenged choreographers to mold their work around the energy of Cramer’s art, making it the foundation of the entire piece. The music used within Jungle was also an unusual choice; forms I, II, III and IV from Future Sound of London’s Lifeforms, uses ambient electronic sounds to mimic the bird and insect sounds of nature rather than carry the audience to a dramatic or climatic ending. The costumes reflect this unorthodox theme as well, instead of tailoring costumes to each dancer, Cramer painted a large piece of nylon in his colorful abstract style that was cut and sewn into the dancer’s outfits, meaning each costume carried a piece of the larger artwork. Some costumes were even painted directly onto the bodysuits while they were on the dancers.

Aside from the American Choreographer’s Showcase, Jungle and its accompanying James Canfield Signatures were a modern first for the company, which typically produced traditional shows such as The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. Similar to Cramer’s innovative method of combining different mediums, artistic director Canfield wanted Jungle to change the expectations of a “standard” ballet by merging the traditional art form with unconventional practices and abstract art. Throughout his work in the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Canfield strived to “carry ballet from one century to the next” (Box 2, Folder 2) and elevate the older artform for growing modern audiences. Cramer’s unique art served as the backbone for Canfield’s goal, and the contemporary Jungle became an important fixture within the Oregon Ballet Theatre’s history.

After its run in 1997, Jungle went on to fulfill its show’s title and become a James Canfield Signature, eventually being revived in 2002 as one of James Canfield’s final pieces before he left the company. Even today, Oregon Ballet theatre continues to stylize their performances. In the 24/25 season’s Hansel and Gretel, an eerie silent-film aesthetic was combined with gaudy and colorful sets, creating a sense of unease and like with Jungle, causing the production to visually stand out. Cramer went on to paint one more ballet set for Ballet Pacifica’s As is Us, which makes both his work at the Oregon Ballet Theatre and Ballet Pacifica nearly one of a kind. Though Cramer’s art strays toward wood reliefs more than painted murals nowadays, the production still stands as a crucial part of his legacy, and an important milestone in the modernization of the Oregon Ballet Theatre’s shows.

Works Cited

Cramer, Tom. Jungle 1997. Tom Cramer Art. https://www.tomcramerart.com/pages/jungle1.htm
Future Sound of London. Lifeforms, Virgin Records, 1994. Youtube,https://youtu.be/nhOXE4wn6Sk?si=X1oLslwk1oHe3EZ9.
Newspaper articles about art, 1986-2012, Subseries B, Box: 3, Folder: 3. Tom Cramer papers,
WUA122. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Newspaper clippings (and exhibit fliers and correspondence to Betty Perkins (mother) and
Francesca Stevenson), circa 1979-2011, Subseries B, Box: 3, Folder: 2. Tom Cramer
papers, WUA122. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Oregon Ballet Theatre booklets and fliers (season schedules), 1994-1997, Subseries A, Box: 2,
Folder: 10. Tom Cramer papers, WUA122. Willamette University Archives and Special
Collections.
Oregon Ballet Theatre. Oregon Ballet Theatre, https://www.obt.org/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.
Oregon Ballet Theatre “Spring Romance” (article about Tom Cramer), 1995 March 9 – March 12,
Subseries B, Box: 4, Folder: 5. Tom Cramer papers, WUA122. Willamette University
Archives and Special Collections.
Portfolio and resume, circa 2005-2009, Subseries D, Box: 3, Folder: 14. Tom Cramer papers,
WUA122. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.

By Doreen Simonsen
Humanities & Fine Arts Librarian, dsimonse@willamette.edu

Four hundred years ago, in 1625, the first edition of De iure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) by the Dutch jurist and theologian, Hugo Grotius was published.  Recently, the Hatfield Library was contacted about our 1646 copy of this book¹, which led to some amazing discoveries about the man who owned our copy and his Willamette University connections to historical and current world events.

Hugo Grotius, born in Delft, the Netherlands, (1583-1645) was an intellectual prodigy, who graduated from the University of Leiden at the age of fourteen.  After holding various municipal posts, he was arrested for treason in 1618 and given a life sentence in Loevenstein Castle.  Here he regularly received a large crate of books for him to read while imprisoned, and his love of books eventually led to his own freedom. In 1621, his wife and her maid managed to fit him [he was a small man] into one of these book crates and it was shipped out of the castle to France,² where Grotius spent the rest of his life in exile. 

Hugo Grotius is considered to be the father of International Law.  While living in France Grotius penned his most famous work, De iure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace), which was published in 1625 during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).  This work was Grotius’ response to “the ‘licentiousness’ of Europe’s Christian rulers in rushing to war for frivolous or imprudent reasons’… Grotius worked to lay a foundation of natural law on which the law of nations and its accompanying laws of war could be built.”³   The result is this three volume book.

An article from the November 20, 1897 issue of the Oregon Daily Statesman tells the story of how Willamette University received a copy of this work that now resides in the vault of the Mark O. Hatfield Library.  A copy of this article was cut out and glued to the back inside cover of that book, and it shows the book owner’s bibliophilia:

“The Seventeenth Century Hands Down One of Its Literary Gems to a Prominent Salemite.” 

“Perhaps it would not do to class President W.C. Hawley, of the Willamette University, a bibliomaniac, but that he is a bibliophile will scarcely be denied by any one cognizant of the professor’s love for books; the rarer the book the nearer he approaches the condition besetting the former devotee.

The last volume to cast the spell of its charm, born of antiquity and rare literary quality, upon this accomplished student, was one that crossed his path in Denver, Colorado, during his late visit there as a member of the head camp of the Woodmen of the World.

Prof. Hawley was never known to go deliberately by an “old book” stand without stopping, and that he should bring up in front of Chain & Hardy’s stalls in that city, in one of his idle hours, needs no accounting for, but that he did so, is a matter of supreme gratification for him by reason thereof, he is the possessor of a copy of Hugo Grotius’ work on “International Law,” a treatise in Latin, that bears the same relation to the particular phase of jurisprudence that the first edition of Blackstone bore to English law. …

It is the star of his collection, and was aired here yesterday for the first time when he took it to his class in international law at the university, and unfolded its rare contents to the interested and delighted young people who have the good fortune to sit under him as pupils.”⁵

The owner of this book was Willis C. Hawley, President of Willamette University from 1893-1902.  In 1897 Hawley was a professor of Political History, Economics, and Political Science, and while at Willamette he studied Law, became a member of the Oregon State Bar and expert on tariff and tax law. The April 1895 edition of The Willamette Collegian describes how Hawley shared his expertise on tariffs with his students:

And the 1897 Willamette University catalog lists the textbooks that professors required for their courses.⁷  One of the texts that Professor Hawley frequently used in his courses was The Tariff History of the United States by Frank William Taussig. ⁸

In 1902, Hawley stepped down as President of Willamette University to prepare for a campaign to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He served in Washington, D.C. as the Representative Oregon’s 1^st Congressional District as a Republican from 1907 to 1933, and is best known for introducing legislation, along with Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, that called for raising tariffs. ¹⁰

“The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was legislation that increased average import tariffs by approximately 20 percent in an attempt to protect American farmers and businesses from foreign competition during the agricultural crisis of the late 1920s…. Some historians believe that the tariff was so high that it elicited foreign economic retaliation against the United States and helped convert what would have been a normal economic downturn in the U.S. economy into a major worldwide depression.” ¹²

To learn more watch this short video: Trade Wars: A Look at the Smoot-Hawley Tariff ¹³

Both Hugo Grotius and Willis C. Hawley loved books, but they are best remembered for their political writings and activities.  Currently the headlines are filled with news about wars challenging International Law and new Trade Wars created by tariffs, issues that Grotius’ and Hawley’s words and experiences could help us to find some solutions. That Hawley owned a rare copy of Grotius’ major work and then donated it to the Willamette University Library is a happy coincidence.  If you would like to see this book for yourself, please contact Doreen Simonsen, dsimonse@willamette.edu to make an appointment

Endnotes:

1. Cleary, Matthew, Edward Jones Corredera, Pablo Nicolas Dufour, Jonathan Nathan, Emanuele Salerno, and Mark Somos. “Hugo Grotius’s De Iure Belli ac Pacis: A Report on the Worldwide Census of the Seventh Edition (1646).” Grotiana 44, no. 1 (2023): 154-180.

2. Kingma, Marja, “Two Women, a Lawyer and a Book Chest” British Library European Studies Blog.  19 April 2021.  https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2021/04/two-women-a-lawyer-and-a-book-chest.html.

3. Devetak, Richard. “Grotius, Hugo.” In The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace. : Oxford University Press, 2010. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195334685.001.0001/acref-9780195334685-e-296.

4. Duhem Brothers. “Chain & Hardy’s Parlor Book Store, Books, Stationery, Pictures, and Fancy Goods, 414 Larimer Street, Denver, Col.” Denver Public Library Special Collections, x-18530, https://digital.denverlibrary.org/nodes/view/1059480

5.“The Seventeenth Century Hands Down One of Its Literary Gems to a Prominent Salemite.”  Oregon Daily Statesman. Saturday, November 20, 1897.

6. Local and Personal” The Willamette Collegian. Vol. VI, No. 7, April 1895, p. 12.

7. Fifty-Fourth Year Book of the Willamette University for the Year 1897-8 with Announcement and Curricula for 1898-9: pp. 45-46.

8. Taussig, F. W. (Frank William). The Tariff History of the United States : A Series of Essays. New York ; G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1888.

9. “Willamette’s Representative in Congress: Hawley Leaves Willamette.” Weekly Willamette Collegian, Vol. XVIII, No 16. February 6, 1907.

10. Carlson, Luke. ” Willis Hawley (1864-1941).” The Oregon Encyclopedia. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/hawley_willis/. Accessed May 2, 2025.

11. Rep. W.C. Hawley, Reed Smoot, 4/11/29. , 1929. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016843632/

12. “Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1930).” In Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, 2nd ed., edited by Thomas Riggs, 1219. Vol. 3. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2015. Gale In Context: U.S. History (accessed May 2, 2025). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3611000828/UHIC?u=s8887317&sid=summon&xid=b6439b7e.

13. “Trade Wars: A Look at the Smoot-Hawley Tariff,” posted on June 18, 2019, by CFR Education, YouTube, 4 min., 29 sec., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4CvLu8HA7I

See Also:

Grotius, Hugo. Hvgonis Grotii De ivre belli ac pacis libri tres, in quibus jus naturæ & gentium, item juris publici præcipua explicantur. Editio nova cum annotatis auctoris, ex postrema ejus ante obitum cura multo nunc auctior. Accesserunt & annotata in Epistolam Pauli ad Philemonem. Amsterdami: apud Iohannem Blaev, 1646.

Grotius, Hugo. The Rights of War and Peace. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, Incorporated, 2005. Accessed May 1, 2025. ProQuest Ebook Central.