Frederick Schnaple
Born in Germany in 1872, Schnaple came to Detroit in the 1880s. His family was part of the late 19th century wave of new immigrants that arrived in Michigan while lumber production was fueling the state’s growth. A designer and landscape painter who traveled extensively around the US and Europe, Schnaple was influenced by the Hague School and the Impressionism movement.
Though he was drawn to the major artistic and cultural centers he visited, he chose to keep his professional home in the same city and state that had welcomed his family during the 1880s. As a result, his work was influenced by the landscapes and techniques he discovered abroad, but also remained deeply connected to the rural Michigan landscape widely featured in his paintings. He repeatedly sought out and celebrated traditional laborers and nostalgic settings even as modernization transformed life in the early twentieth century.
His works were shown posthumously at the Detroit Institute of the Arts in 1948.
