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Frank E. Schoonover: An Artist for All Seasons

November 22, 2008 - February 1, 2009

 

The Delaware Art Museum presents Frank E. Schoonover: An Artist for All Seasons, featuring over 25 paintings from every period of Schoonover's career, on view November 22, 2008 - February 1, 2009. Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972) is recognized as one of the most beloved and prolific illustrators of his time. His contribution to American illustration spanned over 40 years and included more than 2,200 illustrations. His work appeared in most of the popular periodicals in the first half of the 20th century, including Harper's, Scribner's, Saturday Evening Post, American Boy, Country Gentleman, and Colliers, as well as in over 150 books, particularly children's classics and contemporary fiction. (right: Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), Blackbeard in Smoke and Flame, 1922, from "Blackbeard the Buccaneer," by Ralph D. Paine, in The American Boy, August 1922, Oil on canvas. Collection of B. Walker Lee. Daybook #1121)

This retrospective exhibition is mounted to celebrate the publication of the first comprehensive catalogue of Schoonover's work. Frank E. Schoonover: An Artist for All Seasons includes works from private collections, some of which have never been exhibited in public, as well as one from the Wilmington Trust Company's Schoonover collection. Major paintings by Schoonover from the Delaware Art Museum's collection, including Hopalong Takes Command (1905) and Hans Brinker (1924), will be on view in nearby galleries.

Born in Oxford, New Jersey, in 1877, Schoonover attended Drexel Institute in Philadelphia where he studied with the American illustrator and Wilmington-native Howard Pyle. Pyle also invited the young artist to attend his summer school in Chadds Ford -- an honor bestowed upon only the most promising students. With Pyle's help, Schoonover initiated his career in 1899 with four paintings for the book Jersey Boy in the Revolution. The first of these paintings, Nearer and Nearer They Approached (1899), is included in the exhibition.

After settling in Wilmington in 1900, Schoonover traveled widely in the United States and Canada, acquiring a unique perspective and a rich reservoir of experiences, which he incorporated into many works. He was later recognized as an expert on the indigenous tribes of the Hudson Bay area. When the popularity of illustration waned in the 1940s, Schoonover turned to landscapes and commissions, including designs for magnificent stained glass windows. One of the works in the exhibition is a preliminary watercolor cartoon that Schoonover composed for one of 13 stained-glass windows that he designed for Wilmington's Immanuel Church, Highlands.

The Delaware Art Museum is one of the few museums in the country with a major collection of American illustration, so visitors to this exhibition will be able to view Schoonover's work in the context of illustrations by his teacher, Howard Pyle, and his peers, including N. C. Wyeth, Stanley Arthurs, Gayle Hoskins, and Maxfield Parrish. Furthermore, Frank E. Schoonover was one of the founders of the Museum, along with Louisa d'Andelot du Pont Copeland, George Perkins Bissell, and Stanley Arthurs. Known originally as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, the Museum was incorporated in 1912 specifically to preserve and exhibit the art of Howard Pyle and continue his commitment to art education. Schoonover served as a Trustee from 1912 through 1969, and was made an Honorary Trustee in 1970.

Frank E. Schoonover: An Artist for All Seasons was organized by Louise Schoonover Smith, Guest Curator of the exhibition, President of the Frank E. Schoonover Fund, Inc., and granddaughter of the artist.

 

(above: Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), Evangeline, 1908, from The Children's Longfellow, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908), Oil on canvas, Collection of John R. Schoonover. Daybook #318)

 

About the Catalogue

Written by John R. Schoonover and Louise Schoonover Smith with LeeAnn Dean, and jointly published by Oak Knoll Press and the Frank E. Schoonover Fund, Inc., the two-volume, slip-cased Frank E. Schoonover Catalogue Raisonné embodies Schoonover's entire oeuvre, from his earliest sketches to his last easel paintings. The book is chronologically organized with the numeration based on Schoonover's daybook entries. Over 3,000 images are included, many in full color, along with a detailed biography and accompanying time line, chronology, information about Schoonover's models and students, lists of exhibitions and the magazines he illustrated, three bibliographies, and three indices. The catalogue raisonné is comprehensive in scope and will stand as the pre-eminent record of Schoonover, his life, and his work.

 

(above: Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), Chief of the Kootenais, 1927, from "Red Crow's Brother," by James Willard Schultz in The American Boy, November 1927, Oil on canvas. Collection of Phyllis and Norman Aerenson. Daybook #1565)

 

(above: Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), Boy and Flamingo, 1921, from The Swiss Family Robinson, by David Wyss (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1921, Oil on canvas. Private Collection. Daybook #1017)

 

Wall text from the exhibition

Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972) was one of the most beloved and prolific illustrators of his time. Over the course of 40 years he produced 2,200 illustrations which appeared in most of the popular periodicals of the early 20th century, as well as in over 150 books. This retrospective exhibition celebrates the publication of the first comprehensive catalog of Schoonover's work.
 
Born in Oxford, New Jersey, Schoonover attended Drexel Institute in Philadelphia where he studied illustration with Howard Pyle. Pyle invited Schoonover to attend his special summer school in Chadds Ford-an honor bestowed upon only his most promising students.
 
After settling in Wilmington in 1900, Schoonover traveled widely in the United States and Canada, acquiring a rich reservoir of experiences, which he incorporated into many works. When the popularity of illustration waned in the 1940s, Schoonover turned to landscapes and commissions, including designs for magnificent stained-glass windows.
 
Frank E. Schoonover was one of the founders of the Delaware Art Museum. Known originally as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, the Museum was incorporated in 1912 specifically to preserve and exhibit the art of Howard Pyle and continue his commitment to art education. Schoonover served as a Trustee from 1912 through 1969, and was made an Honorary Trustee in 1970.
 
Frank E. Schoonover: An Artist for All Seasons was organized by Louise Schoonover Smith, Guest Curator of the exhibition, President of the Frank E. Schoonover Fund, Inc., and granddaughter of the artist.

 

(above: Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), The Fairy Book, 1922, from The Fairy Book, by Dinah Maria Mulock (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922), Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), Oil on canvas. Collection of Don and Martha DeWees. Daybook #1107)

 

Object labels from the exhibition

 
Nearer and Nearer They Approached, 1899, from A Jersey Boy in the Revolution, by Everett T. Tomlinson (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1899)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on academy board
Collection of Suzanne and Joel Sugg
Daybook #1
 
Schoonover's teacher and mentor, Howard Pyle, gave him his first commission -- four black and white oil illustrations for the book A Jersey Boy in the Revolution. This painting was both the first of these images in the book and also the first illustration for which Schoonover was ever paid. After that event on August 7, 1899, Schoonover began the first of eight daybooks in which he listed both his illustrations and works in other genres that he subsequently created. The last number is #2510.
 
 
By the Poplar Spring, 1903, from The Deliverance: A Romance of the Virginia Tobacco Fields, by Ellen Glasgow (New York: Doubleday Page & Co., 1904)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on illustration board
Anonymous
Daybook #186
 
Created for a romantic novel set in tobacco country, Schoonover's painting captured the words of the author: "she looked down and slowly turned the pages, her head bent over the book, her long lashes shading the faint flush in her cheeks. Over her white dress fell a delicate lacework from the young poplar leaves, flecked here and there with pale drops of sunshine which filtered through the thickly clustered boughs." Schoonover's delicate touch reveals the sweetness of the moment. Typical of illustrations, this painting reflects the story just before the dénouement -- a furtive kiss under the poplars.
 
 
Train Scene, 1899
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Charcoal and oil pastel on paper
Anonymous
 
Schoonover had a fondness for trains, which he took daily from his home in Trenton, New Jersey, to study illustration at the Drexel Institute. To stop the express train, he often flagged it down by it waving a flag on a stick. In this student drawing, Schoonover constructed the image of the train and track diagonally across the page, emphasizing the speed and force of the machine. In the left foreground space, the bent backs of the men working on the train tracks are further compressed by the masterful form of the train bisecting the space.
 
 
The Chase, 1902, from "Andrew's Railroad Raid, An Incident of the Union Campaign of 1862 in the West -- The Personal Narrative of a Survivor," by Jacob Parrott and Frank C. Dougherty, in McClure's Magazine, September 1903
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Charcoal on illustration board
Private Collection
Daybook #80
 
Drawn just a few years after Train Scene, Schoonover echoes his earlier student work with The Chase, also known as The General. The refinement of his drafting skills is now clearly evident. The diagonal of the racing train is placed closer to the picture plane, making us feel as though the train is almost upon us as it moves menacingly forward. Schoonover displayed his deft talent with charcoal as he created a stark contrast between the white puffs of steam and the dark smoke trailing behind the train.
 
 
Girls in Knitting Mill, 1902, from "Children of the Coal Shadows," by Francis H. Nichols, in McClure's Magazine, February 1903
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Charcoal on board
Collection of Diane and Andy McGrellis
Daybook #149
 
In 1902, McClure's commissioned the 'muckraking' journalist Francis H. Nichols to report on the working and living conditions in the coal counties of Pennsylvania. Schoonover was chosen to create the illustrations to accompany the article. Focusing on the children forced to work in the mills and mines, Schoonover poignantly revealed the need for reform.
 
The following year, Schoonover traveled to Scranton and lived with a coal miner's family. He visited the mines and environs, taking extensive photographs and executing several drawings.
 
 
An Impromptu, 1908, from "The Judgment of the Steerage," by Lewis E. MacBrayne, in Harper's Monthly Magazine, September 1908
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Charcoal and watercolor on paper
Collection of Lee Ann and Gary Dean
Daybook #342a
 
In 1908, Harper's Monthly Magazine commissioned Schoonover to create illustrations to accompany an exposé on the treatment of immigrants sailing in steerage to and from New York City. To aid the artist in seeing the situation, Harper & Brothers arranged permits allowing Schoonover to take a cutter out to an incoming ship in order to make sketches and take photos of those in steerage. One of the 13 images created for the article, this whimsical drawing of the immigrant accordion player offered insight into the leisure time of the immigrants.
 
 
Eelip's Wedding, 1908, from "Eelip's Double Wedding: A Story of Athabasca," by Hulbert Footner, in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, January 1909
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Anonymous
Daybook #343
 
The rustle of the clothes and the lively music can be heard in this image of dancing at a wedding in the early Hudson Bay Canadian life. Schoonover's extended trips to the Hudson Bay region in 1903-04 and 1911, gave him first-hand knowledge of everyday life among the inhabitants.
 
 
Evangeline, 1908, from The Children's Longfellow, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of John R. Schoonover
Daybook #318
 
When Schoonover was commissioned to create an illustration for the poem "Evangeline," he chose to focus the image of the beautiful daughter serenely standing by the village gate. Her sad countenance and the symbolic crucifix in the background seem to signify the events that await her.
 
 
Girls Working on "Swifts," 1910, from "A Woman in the Pennsylvania Silk-Mills: The Conservation of Our Young Womanhood," by Florence Lucas Sanville, in Harper's Monthly Magazine, April 1910
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Charcoal and watercolor on paper
Private Collection
Daybook #405
 
Schoonover spent a week in December 1909 in Scranton gathering material for illustrations for an article about the area's silk mills. A "swift" is a reel for winding yarn or thread. The alternate title describes the scene: "A Moment of Conversation in the Foreman's Absence." By showing how young and beautiful the girls were who did these jobs in his images, Schoonover later said that he "got into a bit of trouble."
 
 
Slowly the Spaniards Gained, 1917, from With Cortes the Conqueror, by Virginia Watson (Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1917)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of The Kelly Collection of American Illustration
Daybook #803
 
Schoonover was asked to make nine large oil paintings and 18 pen and ink drawings for With Cortes the Conqueror. While moments of intense action were more difficult to render, Schoonover often chose them for their visual interest. In this painting, Schoonover convincingly relates the tension, congestion, and confusion of battle.
 
 
Boy and Flamingo, 1921, from The Swiss Family Robinson, by David Wyss (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1921)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Daybook #1017
 
Swiss Family Robinson, first published in 1812, is about a Swiss family shipwrecked in the East Indies during their travels to Australia. Written by a Swiss pastor, it was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world, and self-reliance. While the story includes a wild ride on a large ostrich, Schoonover chose to represent the bird with this oversized flamingo, thus adding artist's license and the brilliant color contrasted with the dark trees. This book was one of a number of classic adventure stories that Harper & Brothers republished, many with cover images by Schoonover.
 
 
Pirates Coming Through Charleston, 1922, from "Blackbeard the Buccaneer," by Ralph D. Paine, in The American Boy, March 1922
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of Don and Martha DeWees
Daybook #1094
 
Blackbeard, otherwise thought to have been known as Edward Teach, was a British privateer. Eventually Teach turned to piracy. His chief claim to fame was his blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, in the spring of 1718. On one of the ships Blackbeard captured, he held a group of prominent Charlestonians hostage for ransom. In the end, Blackbeard and his crew escaped to North Carolina where he finally met his death off the coast of Ocracoke in a battle with royal troops.
 
This strong painting of determined pirates is one of 15 oil paintings created by Schoonover for Paine's serialized story of the pirate.
 
 
The Fairy Book, 1922, from The Fairy Book, by Dinah Maria Mulock (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of Don and Martha DeWees
Daybook #1107
 
Dinah Mulock was an English novelist who specialized in fiction for children.
The Fairy Book includes a collection of classic fairy tales like "Cinderella" and "Beauty and the Beast." Schoonover's cover renders an image from the "Story of John Dietrich," the retelling of a Scandinavian folktale about a boy who has listened to the stories about the little people and in a ruse finds the tale to be true. The artist records the moment that John is being led through the little peoples' underground city, sunlight shining through the unseen glass doors and coruscating off the bejeweled walls.
 
 
Trapper with Christmas Tree, 1923, cover for The Popular Magazine, December 1923
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Daybook #1264
 
Although painted nearly 20 years after Schoonover's winter trip to Canada, this image reflects the influence the Canadian North had on the artist. While there, Schoonover made sketches and took notes and photos of his experiences. Schoonover brought the toboggan seen here back with him from Canada, and it can still be seen in his studio in Wilmington, Delaware.
 
 
Blackbeard in Smoke and Flame, 1922, from "Blackbeard the Buccaneer," by Ralph D. Paine, in The American Boy, August 1922
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of B. Walker Lee
Daybook #1121
 
Schoonover's graphic representation supports lurid descriptions of the pirate Blackbeard as a terrifying man. He is said to have deliberately cultivated his fearsome image in order to keep his crew in their place and to encourage his victims to surrender without a fight. While at sea, Blackbeard devised challenges for his crew. In this scene, Blackbeard stands in a ring of burning pots as part of a challenge to his crew to see who could withstand breathing the noxious fumes the longest. The last man standing, Blackbeard, won.
 
 
Tom Brown's School Days, 1911, from Tom Brown's School Days, by Thomas Hughes (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1911)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of the Wilmington Trust Company
Daybook #1031
 
Tom Brown's School Days was the first of the great school stories, a genre still popular with teenage readers. The problems of fitting in and dealing with bullies had a sense of reality that made it appealing to a young audience when it was first published in 1857. Schoonover's energetic painting captures the spirited life within the book's covers. The artist used his son, Cortlandt, as the model for the boy in the coach.
 
 
The Spirit of the Old Colonists, 1924, from Washington, by Lucy Foster Madison (Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1925)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of Mollie Lynch Vardell
Daybook #1316
 
Washington was the fourth book Schoonover was commissioned to illustrate for Lucy Foster Madison's works specializing in historical fiction. In this image from the biography of George Washington, the bravery and determination of the colonists fighting for their lives and country during the American Revolutionary War is clearly evident on their faces. Surrounded by the smoke generated by the guns of the time and led by Washington on horseback (seen through the mist), the militia pushes headlong into battle.
 
Cleaning Up the Cotton Fields, 1927, from "Silver Fleece," by Jack Bethea, in Country Gentleman, September 1927
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of Nancy Lynch Steele
Daybook #1553
 
Country Gentleman was one of Schoonover's most constant employers. The magazine focused largely on rural and agricultural subject matter. This was also reflected in the fiction they published and, of course, in Schoonover's illustrations. With this painting, Schoonover addresses the reality of slavery in the south during the mid-1800s, as he shows slaves cleaning the fields and ditches.
 
 
Chief of the Kootenais, 1927, from "Red Crow's Brother," by James Willard Schultz in The American Boy, November 1927
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of Phyllis and Norman Aerenson
Daybook #1565
 
Schoonover was frequently called on to create illustrations for stories by James Willard Schultz published in American Boy. Many of these illustrations were also republished when the serialized stories were published as books. Schultz's stories were quite true to life because at the age of 18, in 1877, the author travelled from his home to the Montana Territory and eventually lived with the Blackfeet Indians.
 
My Canoe Is All My Good, 1932, from "My Canoe Is All My Good," by Constance Lindsay Skinner, in Junior Red Cross Journal, April 1933
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Anonymous
Daybook #1926
 
Constance Lindsay Skinner, a Canadian-born author, wrote about this painting created to accompany her story: "When Schoonover draws a canoe, he draws both a canoe and a dream." While Schoonover's background in this painting is colorful but indistinct, the very stillness of the Native American and his canoe anchor the image and invite us to share its calm.
 
 
Life of Christ -- Right Chancel Window, 1937
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Ink and watercolor on paper
Private Collection
Daybook #2168
 
This study is one of the designs for the 13 stained-glass windows designed for the Immanuel Church, Highlands, in Wilmington, Delaware. The windows shown here depict three scenes from the life of Christ: working in his father's carpenter shop; learning from early teachers; and his baptism by John the Baptist.
 
 
The Home of the Three Frogs, 1943
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on panel
Private Collection
Daybook #2322
 
This whimsical landscape, Home of the Three Frogs, was painted near the artist's summer home in Bushkill, Pennsylvania. Schoonover's view of the lily pads floating gently on the water intrigues us as we search for those frogs. However, the search is futile. Apparently, the frogs are beneath the lily pads.
 
 
Abe Catherson Pursues Masten Across the Desert, 1916 for The Range Boss by Charles Alden Seltzer (Chicago, A.C. McClurg & Co., 1916)
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Daybook #727
 
Schoonover produced this illustration for a western adventure story by Charles Alden Seltzer (1875-1942). Like Schoonover, Seltzer made trips west for the experiences he transformed into his pulp western stories. The Range Boss is a typical action-packed western adventure for which Schoonover captures a desperate chase across the plains. Masten rides recklessly, trying to outdistance his relentless pursuer, Abe Catherson. Masten's feelings are reflected in the caption: "The grim, relentless figure behind him grew grotesque and gigantic in his thoughts." In 1923 Schoonover sold this action image again to be used for the December cover of Western Story Magazine.
 
 
Garden Across Spring Run at Bushkill House, 1936
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of John R. Schoonover
Daybook #2147
 
This view of the Schoonover's summer home in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, looks across the Little Bushkill River River towards the large vegetable and flower garden and the back of the house. Schoonover was a seasoned gardener, and diagrams of his planting plans can be found in the Frank E. Schoonover Collection in the Delaware Art Museum's Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives. The artist, also a fisherman, canoed and caught trout in this river, as well as the Delaware River nearby.
 
 
The Valley and Mountains from "Mad Bensley Farm" Road, 1944
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of Mary and Hank Davis
Daybook #2361
 
This view, from the Bensley Farm located in the hills between Bushkill and Dingman's Ferry in Pike County, Pennsylvania, shows Egypt Mills Valley in the foreground and New Jersey's Kittatinny Mountains in the background. Schoonover's alternate title, Land of His Fathers, is a tribute to his ancestors who settled Pike County in the 1700s.
 
 
The Bend of the Delaware, 1945
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas
Collection of John J. Hartley
Daybook #2392
 
From 1914 to 1955, Schoonover spent most of May through October at the family's summer home in Bushkill, Pennsylvania. As illustration work waned, he began painting more landscapes of scenes around Bushkill in the late 1930's, with the majority rendered in the 1940's. This area of the Delaware River was his favorite spot to canoe, paint, and fish. This scene depicts a view along the Delaware River, looking across from Pennsylvania to the New Jersey side of the river. Across the river behind the point at the bend of the river is Sandy Beach, where Schoonover often ferried his family to swim and picnic.
 
 
Alapocas Woods 1959, 1959
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Oil on canvas board
Collection of Tom and Mary Croft
Daybook #2501
 
Schoonover taught art in his Rodney Street studios from 1942 until 1968. From time to time, he took his art students to various places in Alapocas Run State Park, located along the northern side of the Brandywine River just minutes from downtown Wilmington -- also known as Alapocas Woods -- to sketch landscapes. As his students worked, Schoonover painted as well. This is one of the examples of his increasingly impressionistic style as he painted landscapes through 1965.
 
 
1st Daybook, beginning 1899
Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972)
 
Frank E. Schoonover Collection, Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, Delaware Art Museum

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