Reed, Walt. Harold Von Schmidt Draws and Paints the Old West
Item #8055
230 p.; 4to; gilt-stamped brown morocco over red buckram; slipcase with leather cover label; b&w and color reproductions from the artists work throughout; separate 7" tall bronze of grizzly mounted on marble pedestal. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Press, [1972]. Limited Edition. This special edition, signed by the author Walt Reed and by Harold Von Schmidt, was issued jointly with Mr. Von Schmidt's first (and only) sculpture, The Startled Grizzly. The book and the bronze, limited to only 104 copies, are both no. 35. Born in Alameda, California in 1893, orphaned at five, Von Schmidt was raised by his grandfather, a forty-niner, and an aunt who encouraged art studies. He studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts (1912-13) and the San Francisco Art Institute (1915-18) where he was an art director associated with Maynard Dixon. In 1924 Von Schmidt moved to New York to study at the Grand Central Art School, where he was influenced by Harvey Dunn's emphasis on the dramatic in the tradition of Dunn's mentor, Howard Pyle. Von Schmidt became a leading magazine illustrator appearing often in Saturday Evening Post for 20 years. As a teacher he founded the Famous Artists School in Westport, Connecticut. In recognition of his accomplishments, Von Schmidt received the 1960 commission to design the postage stamp commemorating the Pony Express. After 50 years at the easel, the artist found himself unable to paint as a result of a painful fall and decided to try sculpture, applying the same search for perfection between the "pose" as apprehended in nature and his inner vision. In his only sculpture, it is the moment of a grizzly's rising to his haunches in response to danger. Fine condition in like slipcase. |
