By Janet Dodrill
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.
Copyright article and images. All rights reserved. Not to be used without permission.
Resources:
Photo, Henry Keller, ca. 1920 / unidentified photographer. Henry G. Keller papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/images/detail/henry-keller-6384
Schmitz Family Archives
Detail, The Garden of the Gods, frieze, Schmitz-Horning Co., chromolithograph
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