Palmer Schoppe Figurative Paintings

THE WHITE CLOWN OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED C.1960 28 X 28 INCHES Palmer Schoppe 1912-2001 Schoppe was born in Woods Cross, Utah on April 2, 19...

Palmer Schoppe was born on April 2, 1912 to parents who managed his grandfather's orchards and alfalfa fields in Woods Cross, Utah. He was praised early on for his natural artistic aptitude and determined to pursue the career of an artist. Encouraged by his parents to obtain an academic degree he attended UCLA and Yale for a period of time before enrolling at the Art Student's League of New York. He was compelled by the paintings of Jean Charlot, an artist and instructor at the League, but soon grew disillusioned by the strict compositional theories of instructors Charlot and Thomas Hart Benton. However, Schoppe's artistic talents prevailed over his lack of formal training and he was hired by the Chouinard Institute and Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s as a drawing instructor. Outside of teaching, he worked on his personal artistic endeavors and like many artists of the time focused on figurative subject matter. Schoppe's early travels in the low country of South Carolina; Harlem, New York and Los Angeles, California informed his paintings as he captured the regional life of manual laborers, musicians, circus performers, sun bathers and surfers. Schoppe once stated that, "It seems fairly certain that my work is not 'art about art', but art that is a reaction to a given stimulus. These are 'subject' pictures in that they are definitely in response to a certain place, type of people, cultures and customs". Following a period of service in World War II, Palmer Schoppe returned to teaching at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. He became increasingly disillusioned by the changing focus of the art world in the 1950s, when "the' drip' , the' blot', and the' isms' had taken over". He stated that, "it was difficult for the figurative painter to exhibit and I retired from the scene." However, a new artistic outlet presented itself when Schoppe began working as a muralist and architectural sculptor for the architect Aurthur Froelich, who designed race tracks and club houses around the country. This led to a proliferation of mural projects ranging from restaurants to scores of hotels and casinos, such as the Aladdin Hotel, Las Vegas; Circus-Circus, Las Vegas; the Queen Mary ship...

SIDE SHOW OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED C.1990 27 X 18 INCHES Palmer Schoppe 1912-2001 Schoppe was born in Woods Cross, Utah on April 2, 1912, Palmer Schoppe moved with his family to southern California in 1920 and settled in Santa Monica. Artistically inclined, he began painting when quite young. He was educated at UCLA and, following one year in the Merchant Marines, he attended Yale School of Fine Arts and the ASL in NYC. After returning to Los Angeles in 1934, he produced lithographs and abstract watercolors of the black people of South Carolina's low country and jazz musicians. Schoppe taught at the Disney Studio Training School (1934-37), Chouinard Art Institute (1935-42), Art Center School (1945-53), and USC Film Dept (1954-76). Palmer Schoppe was one of the group of artists who participated in the cultural flowering of the 1920s through 1940 that is called the Charleston Renaissance. In his choice of subjects and of media (lithographs and paintings) Schoppe contributed to a nationwide interest in Lowcountry life and culture. Schoppe visited Charleston and nearby sea islands in 1934. He was an acquaintance of Dubose Heyward, Alfred Hutty...