Who doesn’t have an appreciation for an artist’s handmade Christmas card, or one displaying their artwork?
My grandfather, Warren R. Schmitz, who ran the Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964) from 1938-1964 received Christmas cards from artists who were either associated with the company or family friends, including Harvey Stief, Walter Sinz, and Charles Reiffel. Here are a few examples of the wonderful artwork on cards he received from them in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Another amazing life drawing session, and this time with a ‘Parrots’ theme with Macaws, Cockatoos and Parakeets with the special online event produced by The Henley on Thames School of Art and Oakley and Crew. Birds were shown flying, landing, sitting on perches, walking on the ground, and an unexpected trick at the session end, and was held on November 27, 2020.
Below are highlights of my drawings from the session.
There are more online animal life drawing sessions scheduled for December 2020, featuring Wild Mountain Gorillas, Draft Horses, and Reindeer at www.thehenleyschoolofart.com/online-classes. Artists are welcome to join!
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Incredible live drawing session with ‘Birds of Prey’ theme. Beautiful Owls (Dark Breasted Barn Owl, Little Owl, and Long-Eared Owl), Harris Hawk and Peregrine Falcon with event produced by The Henley on Thames School of Art and Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre (handler Sadie) via Zoom. Great lighting, camera work, and props, held on October 30, 2020.
Below are highlights of my drawings from the session.
There are more online animal life drawing sessions scheduled for November and December 2020, featuring Longhorn Cattle, Fjord Horse, Raccoons, Kinkajou, and Coati, Parrots, and Wild Mountain Gorillas at https://www.thehenleyschoolofart.com/online-classes. Artists are welcome to join!
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Schmitz-Horning Company, a well-established Cleveland wall covering printing firm, 1905-1964, had a patent granted in 1906, from the United States Patent Office, for the printed frieze for walls. It was signed by co-owners Hugo M. Schmitz I (my great-grandfather, 1867-1938), president, artist and lithographer, and William Horning, artist and lithographer, along with Warren R. Cox, head salesman.
Printed frieze for walls patent granted to the Schmitz-Horning Co., 1906, sheet 1. Photo: Google Patents
Printed frieze for walls patent granted to the Schmitz-Horning Co., 1906, sheet 2. Photo: Google Patents
Because of Covid-19, it has been safer to stay at home. As an artist, the art life drawing groups that I once attended have not met since early March, 2020. A couple of the groups have moved to Zoom or Facebook Live. I have found dozens of additional art groups online, both out of state and out of the country. I have been fortunate enough to stay busy with these drawing sessions, while meeting people, and fulfilling the sense of community that I seek in addition to improving my drawing skills. The life models have their own remote cameras and setups at their homes or studios, and these sessions have brought people together from all over the world.
I am especially impressed with the talent, professionalism, athleticism, and creativity of the models. Additionally, the organizations have been offering theme-inspired live drawing sessions on Zoom. In the past couple weeks I participated in a Picasso’s Vollard Suite inspired session featuring models Andrew Crayford @andrewcrayford1 and Annie Mae @amlifemodel both of London, a two-day live performance by Juliano Hollivard @julianohollivard of Brazil with constant movement by the model with lighting, music, poetry, video, props and masks, and most recently a session in the style of Matisse, the Odalisques, with model Valentina Rock @valentinarocklondon. Another group simply draws each other’s portraits. Most of them I discovered on Instagram, and there are many more yet to be discovered.
Some of my favorite (online) life drawing groups during the pandemic, on Instagram:
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Matisse, the Odalisques, theme with model Valentina Rock, by the collaboration of Adrian Dutton Life Drawing and Madhouse Studios, watercolor and ink by Janet Dodrill.
An ink drawing by Janet Dodrill of Juliano Hollivard’s Day Two, The Sacred, performance life drawing session through The Renaissance Workshop.
The Cooper Hewitt Design Museum of the Smithsonian Institution features a collection of Schmitz-Horning Company wallpaper.
Schmitz-Horning Co., a Cleveland wallpaper and mural manufacturing firm, was in business from 1905 to 1964. Cooper Hewitt was gifted 111 wallpaper rolls in a variety of patterns by the Wallpaper Council, Inc. of New York City in 1960, and they spotlight specific papers in different areas of their site.
Here are some of Cooper Hewitt’s links that feature Schmitz-Horning wallpaper.
THE OUTSIDE COMES INSIDE, 2017 https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2017/12/17/the-outside-comes-inside/
Learn about the 1913-1914 Schmitz-Horning Co. catalog in the Cooper Hewitt Design Library and features and qualities of the friezes, and about Smithsonian libraries’ Adopt-a-Book-Program, for books that need support for preservation treatment.
The Garden of the Gods, No. 362, wall frieze, Schmitz-Horning Co. 1912 catalog, from the painting by Henry G. Keller
American artist Henry G. Keller (1869-1949) designed works for Cleveland’s Schmitz-Horning Company, a wallpaper manufacturer. A frieze, which appeared in a 1912 catalog (from our Schmitz family archive), The Garden of the Gods (the gateway, with Pike’s Peak in the distance), No. 362, was from the painting by Henry Keller. The pattern was made-up of a sequence of six sections, 36 inches wide by 15 feet repeat. These wall decorations had unlimited uses, as the catalog states, in both residences and public places such as hotels, restaurants, theaters and club rooms.
Henry Keller, ca. 1920 (source: Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)
I am in the process of researching the painting, and will update this post with anything I discover.
Henry Keller was born the same year as my great-grandfather, Hugo Max Schmitz, co-founder and president of Schmitz-Horning, which was founded in 1905. Based on that, Mr. Keller must have been in between the ages of 36 and 45 when the wall frieze was manufactured.
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A 1907 nursery rhyme book, named The Rhyme of a Run (Published by Blackie & Sons Ltd., London), featured lovely illustrations by Florence S. Harrison of England. She was a prominent art nouveau-style children’s book illustrator of the times.
Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964) of Cleveland, Ohio offered the illustrations (copyrighted 1911), along with other well-know, nursery rhymes of the time, in high quality color lithographic wall murals in an early catalog of wallpaper and friezes.
These are beautifully-rendered and printed lithographs and they were published with agreement with the H.M. Caldwell Co. (1896-1914), a publishing company in New York and Boston. I do not know if which skilled Schmitz-Horning artist reproduced the illustrations onto lithographic plates.
Luckily, we had this shown below set in the family. They were used by a cousin who used them when she taught in the classroom. She had them laminated which helped to preserve them. It is the only know set in our (Schmitz) family.
The catalog description reads:
The Rhyme of a Run (Copyrighted 1911)
A series of six panels from The Rhyme of a Run. A fascinating decoration for the nursery, showing the downfall of the little boy that stole the plums.
Published by special arrangement with the H.M. Caldwell Co.
Six panels to the set, each eleven by twenty-eight inches. Sold only by the set.
The book, The Rhyme of a Run, which contains the complete set of these rhymes illustrated in colors, can be obtained from your local bookseller or from the publishers, the H.M. Caldwell Co., New York and Boston.
Schmitz-Horning Co. Panoramic Friezes Wall Decorations catalog, page 34. Published by special arrangement with the H.M. Caldwell Co., 1911, New York and Boston
Schmitz-Horning Co. color lithograph wall mural, catalog no. 45
Schmitz-Horning Co. color lithograph wall mural, catalog no. 46
Schmitz-Horning Co. color lithograph wall mural, catalog no. 47
Schmitz-Horning Co. color lithograph wall mural, catalog no. 48
Schmitz-Horning Co. color lithograph wall mural, catalog no. 49
Schmitz-Horning Co. color lithograph wall mural, catalog no. 50
Above photos: Schmitz family archives
The Rhyme of a Run, book cover, Published by Blackie & Sons Ltd., London, 1907
The Rhyme of a Run, book illustration, 1907
The Rhyme of a Run, book illustration, 1907
The Rhyme of a Run, book illustration, 1907
Above photo credits: Jonkers.com (cover) and Etsy/enmauricebooks
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Chinese Floral wallpaper pattern blue color in a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
By Janet Dodrill
Growing up in the Schmitz family, our house was lined with Schmitz-Horning Company wallpaper! The company was co-founded by my great grandfather, Hugo M. Schmitz I, in 1905, who served as president. After his death in 1938 the company was run by his son and my grandfather, Warren R. Schmitz, until it closed about 1964.
My parents bought the family house from my grandparents, and it had Schmitz-Horning wallpaper in almost every room. Additionally, many family friends and extended family also displayed the company’s wallpaper in their homes. It was high quality and the patterns were beautiful.
After we purchased the house from my grandparents, we remodeled. It was the 1960s and we wanted a more modern look. Luckily my dad took a few interior photographs before all the wallpaper was stripped and removed.
Recently, I was going through one of my grandmother’s photo albums and found a few more shots of the wallpaper she had captured in the homes of friends and family, mostly in the 1940s. Here are a few photos from the albums with their corresponding catalog page.
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Chinese Floral, Schmitz-Horning Company wallpaper pattern, from a Schmitz family photo album.
Chinese Floral wallpaper pattern in a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
Westchester Hunt, Schmitz-Horning Company wallpaper pattern, from a Schmitz family photo album.
Schmitz-Horning Company catalog cover showing the Westchester Hunt scenic pattern.
Westchester Hunt wallpaper pattern in a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
Westchester Hunt Kro-Mura(TM) wallpaper schematic from a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
Old Dominion, Schmitz-Horning Company wall mural, from a family photo, with Warren R. Schmitz pictured on the left.
Old Dominion, scenic wall paper manufactured by Schmitz-Horning Company.
Old Dominion scenic wallpaper detail by Schmitz-Horning Company.
Schmitz-Horning Company scenic wallpaper similar to the Elysia pattern, from a Schmitz family photo album.
Elysia scenic wallpaper pattern in a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
World Map, Schmitz-Horning Company scenic wallpaper pattern, from a family photo.
World Map, one sheet wallpaper pattern in a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
Ming Floral, Schmitz-Horning Company scenic wall covering, from a Schmitz family photo.
Ming Floral scenic wall paper panel detail from a Schmitz-Horning Company catalog.
Posted by janetdodrill 
