About three years ago I joined a Friday night portrait sketch group, The Pretentious Cleveland Portrait Artists. The website is at www.literarycafeartists.com and the weekly model sessions can be found at the blog link. The group (formerly known as The Pretentious Tremont Artists of the Literary Cafe) was founded in 2005 by Tim Herron and Brian Pierce, who wanted to practice portrait drawing and drew bar patrons late every Friday night at the Literary Cafe in Tremont, Ohio. Over that past 15 years the group has grown. It is unique that it pays the model for their time with the finished portraits! Though the original meeting location has changed, the group has still been open to all for both drawing and public viewing while the artists work.
Since March 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic and stay at home orders, the group was able to move to an online streaming platform, thanks to the help of seasoned arts interviewer, Roger Miller, of Tues@7 on Facebook and YouTube, managing production for the first 12 weeks. This has enabled even a broader reach of artists to join in the weekly drawing session, beyond the Cleveland area. Artists then send in their portraits to give the model.
Around April of 2020, Tim Herron was interested in drawing portraits of doctors and nurses as a thank you for their service on the frontlines of battling the Coronavirus. Several artists around the world were making the news at the time involved in similar projects. Through his network of models, artists, and friends and their connections, he started receiving photographs and selfies of healthcare workers from different locations and hospital systems, including MetroHealth Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic. He opened up the project for any artists in his Friday group that wanted to participate.
So far (as of March 23, 2021), 18 artists have participated in this “Doctors and Nurses in Covid 19 Times” project, creating 155 original portraits, which are showcased on the group’s website at www.literarycafeartists.com/doctors-and-nurses-in-covid-19-times.
I personally have produced 28 portraits for the project to-date, and will continue to do more. It’s great practice and I enjoy being part of a group of artists working together. I have an individual webpage on the group’s site at www.literarycafeartists.com/janet-dodrill, where they can be viewed under my general portrait gallery. We are following along with the idea of giving the portraits to the models, in this case the doctors and nurses.
MetroHealth Hospital in Cleveland currently has an exhibit in their lobby, since last fall, of their portraits, which is visible to the public when they visit for their Covid vaccines. Linda Jackson at MetroHealth organized photos and exhibit. They also produced a video on the project, Local Artists Honor Frontline Health Care Workers.
As a result of posting some of my doctors and nurses portraits on instagram (@janetdodrill), I have been asked to tag these works for a curated North American exhibit using hashtag #portraitsforcovidheroes for inclusion in the project by Jules Smith @jules_smith_artist and @portratisforcovidheroes.
Thank you, to all healthcare workers helping to battle this virus in this pandemic and save lives. You are true heroes.
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Snippets of portraits of doctors and nurses on the frontlines by Janet Dodrill.
Snippets of portraits of doctors and nurses on the frontlines by Janet Dodrill.
Portraits of Covid frontline healthcare workers exhibit at MetroHealth Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio (photo by Roger Miller).
Portraits of Covid frontline healthcare workers exhibit at MetroHealth Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio (photo by Roger Miller).
Cleveland, Ohio wallpaper manufacturer, Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964), designed and produced beautiful high quality wall murals and panoramics for homes and institutions. Here is a selection of just of few landscape designs from their 1941-1942 catalog, “Scenic and Sectional Wall Paper.”
The company produced large-scale chromolithographs and was maker to Kro-Mura, San-Kro-Mura, and Venwood wallpaper brands.
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Treasure Island, no. 8044 natural coloring on rachelle, five sections each 40″ wide by 80″ high, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
The Woodland, no. 367, two sheets each 36″ high by 60″ wide, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
The Heron, no. 608, natural on off-white ground, two section each 40 inches wide by 60 inches high, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
The Forest, no. 601, two sections each 40″ wide by 60″ high, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Sierras, no. 363, three sheets each 36″ high by 60″ wide, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Ming Floral, no. 8036, turquoise ground, four sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Larkspur, no. 8020, pastel colors on light yellow, three sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Elysia, no. 8032, pastel colors on old ivory, five sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Die Niederlaender, no. 410, two sheets each 40″ high by 60″ wide, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Chinese Floral, no. 80733, full color on wedgewood, four sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Chinese Embroidery, no. 808014, pastel colors on ivory grass cloth ground, two sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Schmitz-Horning Co. 1941-1942 catalog, Scenic and Sectional Wall Paper.
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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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.
Wells Fargo was a scenic wallpaper pattern manufactured by the Schmitz-Horning Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The pattern can be seen in the late 1950s company line and catalog, Murals of America. It was available in two ink color options and two paper colors choices, pattern numbers 77411, 77412, 77421, and 77422.
The Cleveland History Center of Western Reserve Historical Society has a complete set of this pattern in their collection. Another pattern in the same style and color schemes and by the same artist, was called Anchor Inn. It was considered a companion to Wells Fargo and could be used in the same room if ordered in the same run.
Recently, someone in Pennsylvania contacted me who purchased the Wells Fargo wall mural set from an auction in New Jersey, still in the original box.
Paul A. Meunier, an artist at Schmitz-Horning in the 1930s, who became president of Cleveland’s R.E. May, Inc. (lithographic plate company), had a personal collection of lithographs, and in a 1960s company catalog photo taken in the office, a framed version of the Wells Fargo mural can be seen hanging on the wall.
Specifications (Murals of America catalog):
A washable scenic paper in four sections each 40″ wide by 80″ high. It is a self-finishing “vignette” style mural. The wings L & R are printed on one section which must be cut apart. Lowest point of design starts 6″ from bottom of the paper and extends 45″ high, leaving 29″ of background above highest clouds. Background sections are available to file in at ends, top, and bottom of the mural.
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Schmitz-Horning Company’s Anchor Inn scenic wall mural pattern, no. 77311, a companion paper by the same artist and using the same color schemes.
A photograph of the Wells Fargo pattern in Schmitz-Horning Company’s Murals of America catalog. Catalog description: Wells Fargo is a self-finishing vignette 12′ 8″ in length. It will cut down for shorter walls or will center nicely on much longer walls. There is excellent detail in this mural of a frontier town.
Wells Fargo mural hanging in the offices of R.E. May, Inc. litho plate company as shown in this photo from a 1960s catalog. (Source: remay.com)
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