Local heritage artist Howard Schroeder will be honored at the Peninsula Gallery this April with a special exhibition featuring 40+ original paintings of varying styles, mediums, and subjects. In partnership with the late artist’s family, “Howard Schroeder: A Retrospective” assembles a rich compilation of work that will excite collectors, inspire artists, and enthuse all audiences in between. The show will only be on display from April 5-27, and proceeds from all sales will benefit the Howard Schroeder Memorial Art Scholarship.

 

    An opening reception will be held on Saturday, April 5, from 5 to 6:30 pm, which is free and open to everyone. Join the gallery staff and members of the Schroeder family for an evening of fine art and complimentary food and drink.

 

    Howard Schroeder (1910-1995) is best known for capturing the changing face of southern Delaware from the 1940s to the 1990s. A commercial artist from New York City, Schroeder was stationed at Lewes' Fort Miles during the Second World War. He fell in love with the area and made it his home for the rest of his life. Lewes, and other nearby fishing villages, became his dominant subject. Using such media as watercolor, oil, pen and ink, charcoal, and pencil, Schroeder illustrated the region’s evolution from quiet commercial ports to bustling vacation communities, in the process documenting a vanishing way of life. As a teacher, Schroeder traveled the Delmarva Peninsula, offering art instruction from Smyrna to Seaford to Salisbury. From the mid-1940s to the late-1970s, he sold art supplies, gifts, and his own work at The Art Age, his Rehoboth Beach shop.

 

    From abstracts and portraits to still lives and water scenes, the pieces featured in this exhibition showcase the vast subject matter Schroeder painted throughout his life. Many of the paintings depict places and people in and around the local area, such as creations made during the Rehoboth Art League’s Open Sketch Group and woodcut prints of Lewes streets. The collection also includes international landscapes from Spain and Italy, images of maritime boats, and unique pastel and oil portraitures.

 

    The Howard Schroeder Memorial Art Scholarship was initiated in 1996 with a two-fold mission: 1) to offer a scholarship to a senior at Cape Henlopen High School who intends to study the visual arts in college, and 2) to honor the memory of local, award-winning artist – Howard Schroeder. It was envisioned that the scholarship would help encourage the pursuit of the visual arts at the post-secondary level. The scholarship is awarded based on the recommendation of the members of the Art Department at Cape Henlopen. The initial scholarship, 29 years ago, was $250. As the cost of a college education has increased significantly, the family of Howard Schroeder is now intending to offer the scholarship at $1,000. Anyone interested in donating to the foundation can write a check made payable to “The Howard Schroeder Memorial Art Scholarship.”