JOHN SCHOENHERR (b. 1935, New York City)

A painter who views his depictions of wildlife as a means of communicating his personal response to the natural world, John Schoenherr approaches his subject matter with awe, wonder, and respect.� His portrayals of mammals and birds underscore his gifts as a draftsman, his keen sense of compositional design, and his masterful handling of light.� Indeed, Schoenherr�s images of wildlife are powerful, beautiful, and highly dramatic;� as he has stated: �What I try to get in my paintings is a presence, so that something inside the frame comes to exist by itself.�[1]

Schoenherr grew up in Queens, a borough of New York known for its ethnic diversity.� The son of a Hungarian mother and a German father, he spoke German at home.� As a child, he used drawing as a means of communicating with his Chinese, Italian and Greek friends.� He went on to depict animals encountered on trips to the Adirondack mountains and in the fields and meadows of his then-undeveloped Queens neighborhood.� As a boy, he also explored local caves, eventually becoming a climber and spelunker, an activity that gave him an understanding of rock formations and the tactility of stone--aspects of landscape that he would utilize in his future paintings.� At the age of thirteen, Schoenherr attended Saturday classes at the Art Students League in New York, producing etchings, drypoints, and lithographs under the guidance of the painter Will Barnet.� He also made frequent visits to art and natural history museums in New York, as well as to local zoos.

Schoenherr considered becoming a biologist; however, his urge to draw was stronger.� He subsequently attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, working under a coterie of noted painters and illustrators that included John Groth, Stanley Meltzoff, Frederico Castell�n and Fritz Eichenberg.� After graduating in 1956, he established a career as an illustrator.� Throughout the 1960s and much of the 1970s, he illustrated over forty books, including Sterling North�s Rascal (1963), Jean Craighead George�s Julie of the Wolves (1971) and Frank Herbert�s Dune (1977), in addition to producing covers for Reader�s Digest and Astounding Science Fiction.�

Schoenherr turned his attention to easel painting in the late seventies.� Working in a realist manner, he frequently depicts solitary animals or birds in stark, unforested settings ranging from desolate mountainsides to quiet waterways and dusky marshes.� His compositions often feature strong diagonals, richly textured paint surfaces, and a broad, Impressionistic handling of the landscape elements; indeed, his emphasis on pictorial concerns stems from a desire to put art before subject matter.[2] Schoenherr has traveled extensively, making research trips throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico and Alaska, as well as visits to Canada and Iran.� In recent years, he has often drawn inspiration from the birds and animals who inhabit his twenty-four acre wooded property in rural New Jersey.

A member of the American Society of Mammalogists and the Society of Animal Artists, Schoenherr has exhibited his paintings throughout the United States.� He has continued his activity as an illustrator as well, winning the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1988 for his work in Owl Moon.� He has also written and illustrated two children�s books.� A major retrospective of his work, John Schoenherr: Beyond the Edge and Deep Within, was held at the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, New Jersey, in 1997.

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