Ferdinand Louis Schlemmer
| male | 1892-1947 |
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Era:
20th Century |
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Life city:
Crawfordsville, IN |
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| Teachers: Hawthorne H.M. Walcott |
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| Styles: Landscapes Paintings Portraits |
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Ferinand Louis Schlemmer, better known as “Fritz”, was born to Otto and Louise Schlemmer in Crawfordsville, Indiana on September 26, 1892. Also a graduate of Crawfordsville High School, he is hence very much associated with the town. He was a husband to Bernice Deane, whom he married in 1924, and a father to one daughter. He attended Wabash College for one year from 1910-1911 but went on to enroll in the Chicago Art Institute where he spent six years. His last two years at the institute were spent as a graduate instructor. Also during this time, he spent three summers at the Saugatuck School of Art on Lake Michigan. In 1917 he was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. army and went on to serve in France until 1919, where he stayed later to study art for a short time. Afterward, he spent time doing ‘society portraits’ in Florida. These came to be in demand so much so that he could not execute all that were asked of him. With that, Schlemmer became best known for his portrait work. After his return to Crawfordsville in 1923, his career reached its height throughout the late twenties and into the thirties. He worked and taught classes in his studio, designed murals, carried out commissions, and judged art shows. He was a member of the Hoosier Salon and was honored at the Paris Salon. From the years of 1939 to 1947 he served as the first Artist-in-Residence at Wabash College. Continuing to work with waves of success and decline (in the thirties), he died in 1947 at the age of fifty-four. IMA Library Artist Files
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