While looking for additional information pertaining to Thomas G. Moses’ Kansas exhibit at the 1911 Chicago Land Show, I came across an interesting article about a panorama painted for the Omaha Land show that opened in the Omaha Coliseum on October 16, 1911. It was the artist that caught my eye, a new name for me. As I researched his history and artistic philosophy, it prompted me to include him in the storyline. Arts education for children and its benefits for society are not a new concept, individuals have been fighting for the inclusion of art classes in American public schools for over a century. What my generation once took for granted, daily arts classes, metallurgy, or woodworking, is not necessarily part of out children’s academic experience anymore.
Here is the article published in the “Daily Bee” that initially brought George L. Schreiber to my attention (“Vale depicted in Panorama,” Omaha, Nebraska, 11 October 1911, page 5):
“One of the first big exhibits for the Omaha Land Show which opens in the Coliseum next Monday arrived from Salem, Ore. The displays are representative of eight counties in the Willamette valley.
A novel and interesting feature will be the panoramic painting depicting the characteristics of the fertile land in the valley. The panorama was painted by George L. Schrieber, who is already here to install the big canvas. As a painting it is a work of art and it is bound to attract much attention. Electrical effects to show the variation of the light from the break of day until sundown will make the canvas all the more realistic. W. T. Groves, who will have charge of the soil products display from Willamette valley, has arrived in Omaha and is awaiting the arrival of the exhibit. He will display fruits, grasses, forage and garden products, demonstrating the wide diversity of crops raised in his section of the country. In addition to the exhibit there will be a lecturer here to give illustrated talks on the Willamette valley.”
In additional to this grand painting, the article continued, “The Bolster-Trowbridge Company has announced that it will give away a carload of grape juice to the visitors at the Land Show. The liquor will come from California, where the company has large interests. The wines made in California are regarded highly among connoisseurs and the Trowbridge-Bolster booth at the Land show will no doubt be found every attractive to many visitors.”
Of Schrieber’s work, “The Statesman Journal” reported “a representative of the Kansas City exposition was enthusiastic in his praises of the display and was very anxious to have the same exhibition at Kansas City” (Salem, Oregon, 7 Nov. 1911, page 1). There was a Land Show in Kansas City the following year.
Little is known of Schreiber, beyond a dozen newspaper article that provide a peak into his life in Chicago, and later, Salem, Oregon. Although few, the story is compelling and tells of his passion to teach art. In January 1894, Schreiber taught semi-weekly courses on the history of art at the Chicago Art Institute( Inter ocean, 24, Dec. 1893, page 15), His classes were held at the Newberry Library Center, using Mrs. D. K. Pearson’s collection of Braun photographs. For the Columbian Exposition, Schreiber was selected to do the painted decor for the Children’s Building, illustrating the decorative movement in education (Chicago Tribune, 11, February 1893, page 9). What is fascinating is that Schreiber’s work was directed by a committee of kindergarteners.
In 1896, Schreiber was on the advisory committee of artists, alongside James William Pattison and Caroline D. Wade for the juries of selection and admission to the Chicago Institute of Art (Chicago Tribune, 26 July 1896, page 42). The following year, he exhibited several pieces at the annual exhibition of the Cosmopolitan Club held in conjunction with the chrysanthemum show at Battery D. He showed a large number of works combining the figures of children in landscapes. The “Chicago Tribune” reported that Schreiber also exhibited “a portrait of himself, a figure of a mother caressing her child, and a fantasy of a Japanese girl surrounded by chrysanthemums” (7 Nov. 1897, 43).
It was his participation in the 1900 national conference for the Mothers’ League in Chicago that caught my eye, however. Schreiber was one of the featured speakers for the event and his topic was “What Shall Art Mean to the Child?” (The Saint Paul Globe, 22 July 1900, page 21). For the remainder of his life, Schreiber was an advocate for art, giving many lectures on the benefits of art, not only on children, but also the life of the community. His passion for arts education brought him to the public schools in Salem, Oregon.
By 1911, Mr. George L. Schreiber was listed as the supervisor of drawing in the Salem public schools (The Capital Journal, Salem Oregon, 22 Sept, 1911, page 5). His assistant was Miss Virginia May Mann and the two were quite a pair, enriching the lives of the area’s children. “The Capital Journal” reported that Salem is “probably the only city in the state which the pupils are not required to buy textbooks in drawing, the teacher himself being the textbook. The school board furnishes the drawing paper, clay, charcoal, and materials for basketry, and the pupils buy their own watercolors at the bookstores. Drawing is one of the most practical and useful studies in the public schools, and one in which the pupils are becoming more interested.” In addition to drawing, the pupils of the grammar grades were taught sewing and woodwork, the former to the girls of the seventh and eight grades, and the latter to the boys of these grades.
In a 1912 article, Professor George L. Schreiber delivered an address to the men of the “Salem Six O’clock Club.” His talk explored the influence of art and the effect it has on the life of the community. The speech is really quite wonderful, especially with Schreiber’s primary point being, “The child or the man who has once opened his eyes to beauty is safe to trust because he thereby becomes a caretaker.” I believe that the sentiment holds true today, especially when you look at the individuals who are attacking the necessity of art in public education or any sort of funding for the arts. In 1912, Schreiber also addressed the beautification of public spaces, public parks and the corresponding result of civic pride in one’s environment; artistic endeavors enrich a community and bring individuals together. Schreiber’s closing remarks in the “Salem Six O’Clock Club” speech stressed, “If we have faith in our community, let us then invest it with our faith and clothe it with beauty, and, in the years to come, when our heirs shall possess it they will say, ‘Our fathers have builded well; they have given us a fair inheritance.”
We live in a time when the arts are a constant target. Will our children and grandchildren feel that we have given them a “fair inheritance.” I hope so.
To be continued…
