Arthur Schneider, oil on canvas, 21.5 by 26 inches. Signed lower right
A native of Cleveland, for seventeen years, until his death in 1942, Arthur Schneider made his winter home in Tampa. He was the founder of the Cleveland School of Design and the Cleveland Art Club which later became the Cleveland Museum. Schneider was known as Cleveland’s first etcher. He had no formal art education but was a protégé of A. M. Willard, famous for his painting, The Spirit of 76. When, on the evening of November 15, 1932, the Tampa Art Institute held an elaborate dinner to honor Walter P. Fuller the developer of the Jungle area of St. Petersburg, and his wife Eve Alsman Fuller who was three times president of the Florida Federation of Art, Arthur Schneider and Tampa artist Asa Cassidy were speakers on the program.
The Tampa Tribune (April 28, 1940) published a half page story about Schneider’s adventures while traveling as an artist in Morocco. Many Muslims believed it was wrong to make images of people. Schneider subsequently painted in a tent peering out through slits. He feared for his life when he was called before the Sultan only to be informed, he had been named Court Painter and commissioned to teach the Sultan’s son Mulai Add-El Aziz to paint. After Schneider’s death the Tampa Art Institute held a memorial exhibit of his work at the Municipal Auditorium.
Arthur Schneider, oil on canvas 20 by 24 inches.
Born: September 16, 1865, Madison, Wisconsin. Died: February 7, 1942, Tampa, Florida. Membership: Tampa Art Institute; Florida Federation of Art; Salmagundi Club. Exhibits: South Florida Fair, Tampa, February 1933, honorable mention, professional for Wharf Scene; Federal Art Project, Florida State Fair, Tampa, June 1937, scenes of Tampa: Sea Wall Construction, Peter O. Knight Field, Tourist Camp, Davis Island Bridge; Federal Art Project, Art League of Manatee County, National Art Week, November 1937; Florida Federation of Art, All Florida Show, Palm Beach, 1938, Along the Creek; Tampa Civic Art Commission, At Tampa Y.M.C.A, September 1939, Boats and Still Life; Clearwater Art Museum, December 1941.
