Violet Schoenberg, Lafayette Street Bridge, Tampa, oil on canvas, 20 by 24 inches. Signed lower right.
As a young woman of 24, in the summer of 1918 Violet Schoenberg represented St. Charles, Missouri in the 7th Annual two-mile swim race on the Missouri River. After studying art at the Lindenwood College (now Lindenwood University in St. Charles) Schoenberg spent two years in San Diego, California studying art with Harry C. Best (famous for his paintings of Yosemite National Park and as the father-in-law of Ansel Adams), she opened a studio at 2nd and Adams Streets in St. Charles.
Schoenberg raised prize winning bantam chickens. Her paintings of champion chickens were exhibited at Greater St. Louis Poultry shows and used for identification plates at the St. Louis Zoo. In 1935 she began painting the historic buildings of St. Charles, the first state capital of Missouri, including the home where Daniel Boone died. In 1937 her painting of Man o’ War won first prize at the Kentucky State Fair. During World War II she went to work as the first woman attendant ever employed at the St. Louis Zoo. She listed in the St. Louis directory as a “Zoo artist.” She established an Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Antiques in St. Charles, inviting area artists to participate. A reproduction of one of her paintings appeared in the January 1952 issue of Holiday Magazine.
On one of her first trips to Florida In 1923, she exhibited at the Fort Myers Fair, at the Orlando Public Library, and in Miami Beach with the Tropical League of Fine Arts. She returned to Florida in 1933 and joined the Daytona Beach Art League. Schoenberg set up an easel on the Daytona Beach Speedway (at that time on the beach) and painted the ocean; her painting was selected to represent Daytona at the Florida Federation of Arts Annual exhibit.
Violet Schoenberg, Royal Poinciana in Plant Park, oil on canvas 22 by 27 inches. Signed lower left.
Schoenberg, now Violet Schoenberg Bolt, began coming to Tampa in for the winter season in 1944. The Tampa Tribune (December 21, 1947): “Mrs. Schoenberg has visited Tampa for the past three winters and through a rare combination of talents in painting, singing, antique restoration, and best of all, in the quality of a radiant personality that has made hundreds of friends. …she has turned her apartment at 105 Parker St., into something of an art gallery, museum, and workshop…Her painting of landscapes, portraits, marines and of historical points have carried her over the entire state. While in Tampa she has painted numerous pictures including a landscape of Plant Park with the Lafayette St. bridge in the background. She is seriously considering making Tampa a permanent base.”
Schoenberg moved to Tampa permanently in 1948, joining the Tampa Art Institute and the Art Club of St. Petersburg. When she died a retrospective exhibit of “antique paintings” by Schoenberg opened at the Tampa Art Salon on East Broadway on April 1,1964 with 30 of her paintings, including a Shoebill Stork, published in the Tampa Tribune, March 29, 1964.
Born: 1894, St. Charles, Missouri. Died: November 27, 1963, Tampa, Florida. Education: Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Missouri; With H. C. Best in San Diego, California. Membership: Tropical League of Fine Arts, Miami Beach; Daytona Beach Art League, 1933; Florida Federation of Art; American League of Professional Artists; Society of Independent Artists; St. Louis Art League; Art Club of St. Petersburg; Tampa Art Institute. Exhibits: Ft. Myers Fair, 1923, 1st prize for a painting of the Carnegie Estate; Orlando Public Library, 1924; Tropical League of Fine Arts, Miami Beach, 1924; Kentucky State Frair, 1937, first prize for Man o’ War; Grand Central Place Art exhibit, May 1938, paintings of bird life; Society of Independent Artist, Hall of Art, 24 West 40th St. New York City, August 1943, an oil Fairy Glen; Art Club of St. Petersburg, December 1948; Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, 1952; Florida Federation of Art, 27th Annual circuit, 1953-54; St. Augustine, Palette and Brush Gallery, Aviles Street, January 1954, one woman exhibit; Art Club of St. Petersburg, March 1956, Villa Zoryado-Spanish Castle; Art Club of St. Petersburg, Members’ Jury Show, January 1957, On the Mississippi.
