Rudolph Frederick Schaeffer (June 26, 1886 – March 5, 1988) an American arts educator and artist connected to the Arts and Crafts movement. He was the founder of the

Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design or Rudolph Schaeffer School of Rhythmo-Chromatic Design (1924 – 1984) was an art school located in San Francisco, California, best known for its courses in color and interior design. The school was founded by ar ...

, a school that was based in San Francisco and produced designers, architects, interior decorators, teachers and colorists for more than 50 years. He was one of many pioneers in the study of color field, and has been credited with establishing the city of San Francisco as an International design center.

Early life

Born on June 26, 1886, in

Clare, Michigan Clare is a city mostly in Clare County, Michigan, Clare County in the U.S. State of Michigan. A small portion of the city extends south into Isabella County, Michigan, Isabella County. The population was 3,254 at the 2020 United States census, 20 ...

, to Mary Hirzel and German immigrant and

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

, Julius Schaeffer. He attended the Thomas Normal Training School in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, after finishing high school. The school specialized in art, music and manual arts.

Career

By 1910 he moved to California and started teaching at the Throop Polytechnic Elementary School in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, working with Ernest A. Batchelder. In 1914 the United States Commission of Education selected Schaeffer as one of twenty five American educators to move to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

to learn more about the study of color, design, and craft and how it was being taught in public, industrial, and trade schools. During his time in Munich,

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out and caused delays in his return to the United States due to a shortage of boats and family issues. Upon his returned in 1915 he found work teaching at the School of California Arts and Crafts (now called

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...

or CCA) with Fredrick Meyer. And it was here at CCA he developed new curriculum to teach color theory for a class called "Design and Color", utilizing techniques he learned with Ralph Johonnot in Europe. In 1917, he started teaching at California School of Fine Arts (now called San Francisco Art Institute) and continued teaching his class, "Design and Color". In 1924, he opened his own art school in San Francisco's Chinatown, originally named the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Rhythmo-Chromatic Design. The school later changed names and locations over the years. Schaeffer was greatly influenced by Japanese aesthetics, philosophy and design and in the 1920s he was teaching these principals.

Death

He died March 5, 1988, in his home in San Francisco at age 101.

References

External links

The Rudolph Schaeffer Papers 1880–1994
from the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffer, Rudolph 1886 births 1988 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians American art educators People from San Francisco Artists from San Francisco American interior designers California College of the Arts faculty San Francisco Art Institute faculty People from Clare, Michigan Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design faculty American people of German descent