| Schmucker enrolled in drawing from 1896-97, and still life painting from 1898-99, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1900, he exhibited two watercolors, Lilith and Twlight, in the 69th annual exhibition of the academy. He then went on to study at the Howard Pyle Institute at Drexel from 1899-1900. Schmucker was influenced by Pyle, but established his own independent style of painting. Another artist who influenced his work was Aubrey Beardsley, an important English art nouveau artist. Schmucker's work for the Detroit Publishing Company was created near the end of the art nouveau period, c1910. Schmucker was one of the uncommon American Art Nouveau artists and his style reflects a transition from the early art nouveau of Beardsley to a more modern and realistic style suggested by Pyle. |
 | Pyle's early work reveals a preoccupation with medieval themes, courtly love, and the bold use of rich colors. Although influenced by the English Pre-Raphaelite painters of the mid-19th century and the early art nouveau movement in Europe, Howard Pyle was dedicated to the creation of a native American art form "that would stun Europe by its vigor." Schmucker was influenced by Pyle both as a teacher and an artist, yet he developed his own unique and individual style of painting. Most of Pyle's students followed his realistic style, but two in particular - Maxfield Parrish and Samuel Schmucker - incorporated elements of fantasy into their images. Parrish enjoyed a highly successful and prolific career as an illustrator. His work included posters and magazine covers, and he painted nearly to the end of his life in 1966. Schmucker did most of his work in the smaller postcard format and died in 1921 at the young age of 42 without realizing wide-spread recognition in his lifetime. His work is of the very highest quality and Schmucker deserves to be recognized as an important American artist. along side the better known artists of his time. |
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