Christian von Schneidau (1893–1976) was a well known

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

portrait painter who was recognized for his paintings of Hollywood stars and the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

elite. During the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the U ...

he painted

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

and other figures from the film industry as well as a number of outdoor figures done in the classic

American Impressionist American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose b ...

manner. Von Schneideau was born in

Ljungby Ljungby () is the central locality of Ljungby Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 15,785 inhabitants in 2015. Ljungby was instituted in 1829 as a ''köping'', or ''market town'', and did not become a municipality of its own when the fir ...

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. Geo ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

1893, with the name Bror Christian Valdemar Von Schneidau, but went by the shortened Christian von Schneidau. In addition to his portraiture, von Schneidau was also a landscape painter and a private teacher who passed on the French principles of instruction, which he learned at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

to his students. Von Schneidau was also the founder of the Scandinavian-American Art Society in 1938 and served as its president for many years. He was also an active member of the

California Art Club The California Art Club (CAC) is one of the oldest and most active arts organizations in California. Founded in December 1909, it celebrated its centennial in 2009 and into the spring of 2010. The California Art Club originally evolved out of The ...

Childhood and education in Chicago

Christian von Schneidau was born to Waldemar and Sophie von Schneidau. His father's family was a noble one and many of his ancestors had served in the Swedish government. His father was a horse breeder and therefore von Schneidau grew up on a large estate. As with most painters, he showed his artistic talents at an early age and received encouragement and private lessons. The von Schneidau family emigrated to America, and like many Scandinavians, they settled in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He won a scholarship to study at the

, which was the largest art school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He received a formal, French Beaux-Arts style education at the Art Institute. While there, he shared a studio with a younger artist,

Theodore Lukits Theodore Nikolai Lukits (November 26, 1897 – January 20, 1992) was a Romanian American portrait and landscape painter. His initial fame came from his portraits of glamorous actresses of the silent film era, but since his death, his Asian-inspir ...

, whom he would be linked to and remain friends with for the rest of his life. The pair shared an interest in figurative painting while many of their contemporaries were landscape painters. They would both paint film stars as well as painting figures in natural light, and they both studied with

Richard E. Miller Richard E. Miller (March 22, 1875 – January 23, 1943) was an American Impressionist painter and a member of the Giverny Colony of American Impressionists. Miller was primarily a figurative painter, known for his paintings of women posing lang ...

and Charles Hawthorne. He won the John Quincy Adams Traveling Scholarship at the Art Institute in 1916, but because

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

was at war, he used the funds to finance his art studies in the east and to travel west to

Von Schneidau in California

Von Schneidau moved to California in 1917 and immediately became part of the artistic life of his chosen home. He exhibited his painting of Joan de Arc at the

's annual exhibit in 1918 and a portrait of the gallery owner Joseph Kanst the following year. Once in California, he was influenced by the high-key work of the

California Plein-Air Painting The terms California Impressionism and California Plein-Air Painting describe the large movement of 20th century California artists who worked out of doors (''en plein air''), directly from nature in California, United States. Their work became pop ...

movement. He then met the

Richard E. Miller who had been a member of the Giverny School and began to paint vigorously brushed landscapes as well as figurative works. Von Schneidau decided he needed further study, especially in painting figures out of doors, so he spent six months of 1920 studying with

Charles Hawthorne Charles Webster Hawthorne (January 8, 1872 – November 29, 1930) was an American portrait and genre painter and a noted teacher who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. He was born in Lodi, Illinois, and his parents returned to Main ...

(1872–1930) and Richard E. Miller (1875–1943) in the art colony of Provincetown, Massachusetts. When he returned from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, he worked up a large number of paintings from his sketches, and in February 1921, had a solo exhibit at Kanst Gallery in

, titled 'Portraits, Figures, and Landscapes by C. von Schenidau.' Some of these new works- high key portraits with a decorative appearance- are strongly reminiscent of the works of

Decorative Impressionism Decorative Impressionism is an art historical term that is credited to the art writer Christian Brinton, who first used it in 1911. Brinton titled an article on the American expatriate painter Frederick Carl Frieseke, one of the members of the f ...

, which his teachers Miller and Buehr began to experiment with in

Giverny Giverny () is a commune in the northern French department of Eure.Commune de Giverny (27285)< ...

, France.

Book and catalog references

*Morseburg, Jeffrey, ''Christian von Schneidau: 1893-1976,'' Unpublished Essay, 2010 *Ask Art Online Database, ''The Artists Bluebook,''Dunbier, Lonnie Pearson, 2005 *Davenport, Ray, ''Davenport's Art Reference,'' 2005 *Pyle, Amy, Spanierman Gallery Catalog, 'Re-Emerging American Artists: Art for the New Collector,' 2004 *Hughes, Edan Milton, ''Artists in California: 1786-1940,'' 2002 *Falk, Peter Hastings, ''Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975,'' 1999 *Gerdts, William; South, Will, ''California Impressionism,'' 1998 *'Southwest Art,' ''The Red Book,'' 1993 *Falk, Peter Hastings, The Annual Exhibition Record of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1990 *Hughes, Edan Milton, ''Artists in California, 1786–1940,'' 1989 *Stern, Jean; Fleischer, Morton; Dominik, Janet, ''Masterworks of California Impressionism,'' 1986 *Dominik, Janet, ''Christian Von Schneidau,'' Petersen Publishing Company, 1986 *Opitz, Glenn, 'American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers,' ''Mantle Fielding's Dictionary,'' 1986 *Falk, Peter Hastings, ''Who was Who in American Art: Artists Active Between 1898-1947,'' 1985 *Dawdy, Doris, ''Artists of the American West: A Biographical Dictionary,'' 1985 *Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall, ''Southern California Art,'' 1984 *Westphal, Ruth Lilly, ''Plein Air Painters of California: The Southland,'' 1982 *Opitz, Glenn, ''Dictionary of American Artists,'' 1982 *Frey, Joseph, ''Art and Artists: Desert Art Center,'' 1965 *Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge, ''Index of Artists: International Biographical,'' 1935

Periodical references

*Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1921 *Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1925 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneidau, Christian Von 1893 births 1976 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters American Impressionist painters Painters from California American people of Swedish descent 20th-century American male artists

Childhood and education in Chicago

Von Schneidau in California

See also

Book and catalog references

Periodical references