Editor's note: The Delaware Art Museum provided
source material to Resource Library for the following article or
essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material,
please contact the Delaware Art Museum directly through either this phone
number or web address:
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,