Christopher Shearer

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Christopher High Shearer (born May 18, 1846 in Reading , Berks County , Pennsylvania , † April 29, 1926 there ) was an American landscape painter from the Düsseldorf School .

Life

Shearer, one of nine children of the farmer and craftsman Christopher Shearer (1820-1910) and his wife Catharine, née Diehm (1822-1859), and grandson of German-born shoemaker, tanner, famer and painter Jonathan Scherer (1780-1845) and great-grandson Sergeant Johann Christoph Scherer (1752-1830), who was born in Womrath ( County Sponheim ) and who had taken part in his crossing of the Delaware under George Washington , grew up on a farm near Tuckerton in Berks County. Early on he showed an interest in nature, especially butterflies, moths and beetles, and in drawing and painting. The landscape painters Francis Daniel Devlan (1835–1870) and John Heyl Raser (1824–1901) encouraged him as an adolescent. In 1864 he went public for the first time with a painting. After opening a studio in Reading at the age of 21 and already having some success locally, he traveled to Europe, where he looked around and studied at various art centers in Germany and France, particularly in Paris , Düsseldorf and Munich . In 1876 Shearer made his debut at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia , where he exhibited successfully until 1895. He also took part in the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. In 1878 he traveled to Düsseldorf again and lived there for a year.

In Reading Shearer formed a circle interested in art, for example with Frederick Spang (1834-1891), John Heyl Raser and Edward A. Howell (1848-1924). He taught open air painting on the Schuylkill River and established himself as a central figure in an art movement in Berks County, supported by the Oscar Woerner Art Gallery . Shearer's students were the landscape and animal painter Mary B. Leisz (1876-1935) and the illustrator and wall painter Ralph Dunkelberger (1894-1965).

Shearer helped found the Reading Public Museum in 1913 and convinced its founder friend, entomologist Dr. Levi Walter Scott Mengel (1868–1941) to integrate a picture gallery in this cultural institution, and he acted as its chief curator. The patrons of the museum's collection and picture gallery included Irvin Frances Impink (1882–1962), Henry K. Janssen , Gustav Oberlaender and Ferdinand Thun . In old age Shearer retired to a farm near Stoudt's Ferry Bridge in Bern Township (Berk County), where he ran a farm and a painting studio until his death.

Shearer married Sarah "Sally" D. Fisher (1848-1900), who gave birth to sons Bernard (1869-1937) and Victor (1872-1951), who were also painters. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1876 he married Linda A. Heckendorn (1852-1928) from Maryland . The daughter Amy emerged from this marriage. His brother Edmund Leaser Shearer (1851-1935) was also a painter.

Works (selection)

Landscape with Cattle , 1890s
  • Landscape with Figures , 1876
  • Fetching Water Outside the Walls , 1879
  • Park Scene with Ladies Reading , 1881
  • Landscape with Cattle , 1890s, Reading Public Museum
  • On the Schuylkill River (Am Schuylkill River) , 1895
  • View on the Upper Schuylkill , 1898

literature

  • Emmanuel Bénézit : Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays . Gmünd, Paris 1976, Volume IX, p. 563
  • Peter Falk Hastings: Who was Who in American Art . Sound View Press, Madison (Connecticut) 1985, ISBN 978-0-9320-8700-3 , p. 563

Web links

Commons : Christopher High Shearer  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sgt. John Christopher Shearer , biographical webpage on findagrave.com , accessed January 15, 2017
  2. ↑ Bettina Baumgärtel , Sabine Schroyen, Lydia Immerheiser, Sabine Teichgröb: Directory of foreign artists. Nationality, residence and studies in Düsseldorf . In: Bettina Baumgärtel (Hrsg.): The Düsseldorf School of Painting and its international impact 1819–1918 . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-702-9 , Volume 1, p. 440
  3. ↑ Michael D. Anderson: Reading Public Museum Honors Its Cultural Centennial with Celebrations and Historical Exhibitions , article dated June 4, 2013 on artfixdaily.com , accessed January 15, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Shearer, Christopher
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Shearer, Christopher High (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American landscape painter from the Düsseldorf School
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Reading , Berks County , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1926
Place of death Reading , Berks County , Pennsylvania