Robertwhitinger

Temporary working page for the Mathilde Schley biography

Mathilde Schley, author, artist, fashion designer, and business woman lived from 1864 until 1941. As an author, she was interested in the history of the German migration to the US in the 19th century and published two books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles documenting the history, lives, and politics of this German-American community.

Mathilde Georgine Schley
File:MathildeSchley.jpg Portrait provided by her grand-nephew Eugene Meier.
Personal details
Born	(1864-05-14)May 14, 1864 Horicon, Wisconsin
Died	March 20, 1941(1941-03-20) (aged 76) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Profession	Author Artist Fashion Designer

Biography

Early life

• Mathilde Schley was born in Horicon, Wisconsin on May 14, 1864, to German immigrants, Frederick and Johanna Beate Schoen Schley as the first of 13 children.
• She attended school in Mayville and Juneau
• telegraph operator
• drawing instructor in Kansas

Career Development

• started business with sister Lydia in Watertown
• moved business to Milwaukee where they specialized in theatrical costumes for the Davidson and Pabst theaters.
• built and operated "Schley Apartments"
• referred to herself as a "part-time professional artist"
• taught drawing, charcoal, and painting to the youth of Mayville and Milwaukee
• worked as an artist in William Wehner's Panorama Studio in downtown Milwaukee (the Wehner studio later closed down and she decided to go to Kansas and stay with Uncle Henry and Aunt Nelly and the three girls for a couple of years, to "see the world.")
• studied under panoramists Otto von Ernst and Richard Lorenz
• was a member of the Alexander Mueller School in the 1890's
• studied under Dudley Crafts Watson in the 'Teens
• Milwaukee Art School ?
• Milwaukee Art Students League ?
• Learned French in preparation for her first Paris trip

Artistic Genre

• American Impressionist style (Impressionism was a fad in America long after it was dropped in France for Post Impressionism.)
• She applied oil with a knife (possibly influenced by the Milwaukee panoramists).

Collaborators and Correspondents

• Wilhelm Iwan
• William Merchant Richard French, the first director of Art Institute of Chicago
• (list)

Memberships

• Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors, charter member
• Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists in the 1920's and 1930's
• Buffalo Salon of Independent Artists, organized 1923
• Society of Independent Artists(Manhattan)
• Salons of America (Brooklyn)
• Wisconsin No-Jury Society (charter member)

Contributions as an Author

• Deutschamerika (1935)
• Fritz, Pät, Jules und Hänk (1940)

Contributions as an Artist

Paintings List

• (list)

Exhibitions

• New York
• Chicago
• Berlin, Germany
• Cologne, Germany
• Milwaukee Journal Gallery of Art, the only art gallery in USA run by a newspaper
• Dodge County Fair (Wisconsin)
• art shows in Kansas
• Society of Independent Artists
• Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Exhibition

	Horicon,WI 1864-1941 Milwaukee,WI[Marlor SIA]
           1910:Schley,Miss Matilde,house 2,322 15th[MCD 1910]
	WMRF to MGS 7-9-1910(on Eastern Trip w/Drs.Daniel & Elnora Cuddeback Folkmar)
            1912:Schley,Miss Matilde,house 2,322 15th [MCD 1912]
                     Schley,Miss Lydia,house 2,322  15th [MCD 1912]
	WMRF to MGS 1-2-1912;2-8-1912
            1914:Schley,Mathilde G.,h.2,322 15th[1914 MCD]
	84.Summer
	85.Whitefish Bay
	86.Corn Field
	87.In the Conservatory
	88.At Pewaukee Lake
            1915:Schley,Mathilde G h2,322 15th [1915 MCD]
	55.The Rose Garden
	56.Study
	57.The Homestead
	58.By Breezes Swayed
            1917:Schley,Mathilde G h2,322 15th[1917 MCD]
	84. Sketch @ $10.00
            1919:Schley,Matilda G artist r2,322 15th [1919 MCD]
	69.Still Life
	69a.Boat Houses
            1920:Schley,Mathilda h2,322 15th[1920 MCD]
	63.Noon Rest(a.k.a. Mittagsruhe)
            1926:322 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[C N-JSA][MARLOR SIA]
            1927:Who’s Who in Art & Music,res.332 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI,p.258[C N-JSA][MARLOR SIA]
            1928:322 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[C N-JSA][MARLOR SIA][MARLOR SOA]
            1929:322 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[MARLOR SIA]
            1930:322 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[C N-JSA][MARLOR SOA]
            1931:1102 N.15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[1931 MCD]/Sketch Book of Milwaukee,p.188
            1932:1102 N 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[C N-JSA]
            1933:1102 N 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[Greenwich Village Artist Colony,Century of Progress]
            1934:1102 N 15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[C N-JSA][MARLOR SOA]
            1935:1102 N.15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[WP&S 1935 mailing list]
            1936:1102 N.15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[C N-JSA][MARLOR SOA]
            1937:1102 N.15th St.,Milwaukee,WI [WP&S 1937 general mailing list]
            1938:1102 N.15th St.,Milwaukee,WI[MARLOR SIA]

• The Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists

    Horicon,WI May 14, 1864-March 20, 1941 Milwaukee,WI
     l926-322 l5th Street, Milwaukee,WI (Schley Apartments)
        380. Boathouse at Beaver Dam, $l00[ill.]
        38l.  Mittagsruhe ,$l00
     l927-same
        327. Portrait of Friedrich Schley[ill.]
        328. Herbststimmung
     l928["Field’s"]same
        366. Mrs.Toussaint (Mrs.Florence Toussaint,of Milwaukee)
        367. Cutglass Bowl
     l930-same
         l89.  Sophie, $50 (Sophie Charlotte Gaebler,student of Liszt)
         l90.  Summer, $20
     l932-ll02 North l5th, Milwaukee,WI (new number,same location)
        2l0. Im Spreewald, $500 (site photo 8-l6-l928;painted 3-29-l929)
        2ll.  The Bridge, $20
     l934-same
        3ll.   Im Sonnentraum[ill.]
        3l2.  Lehrer Brenner's Kahn, Beaver Dam,Wisconsin
     l936-same
        302. Morgenroth, $50

Contributions as a Fashion Designer

• When writing in her 1899 diary to Paris she sat on the boulevards and described the Paris fashions. She wanted to interview a particular Paris dress maker but learned that the woman was out of town for the summer.