Samuel Loren Schmucker-His Life and Work

This website is dedicated to Samuel L. Schmucker, one of the most successful postcard artists of all time.

He was born on 20 February, 1879, in Reading, Pennsyvania.

Samuel Schmucker had polio as a child and the consequence of his illnes was a crippled hand. His right, dominant hand was squeezed in a claw-like position which bother him fo the rest of his life but never stopped him from following his dream of becmoing an artist. His huge talent got him an enrollement at famous Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied drawing and still-life painting. He also honed his skills at Howard Pyle's Institute.

One of several Schmucker's specialties was his persistant use of the same model: Katharine Rice. They have met when she was studying at Pennsylvania Academy and married around 1906. Another Katharine influenced him as well: Katharine Vaughn Holden. Katharine Vaughn Holden was a fashion artist whose women faces and poses made great impact especially on his early works.

There were also influences from his teachers and eminent artists. While Samuel Schmucker's style is considered as unique, many critics put him somewhere between Aubrey Beardsley's and Gustav Klimt's Art Nouveau and Howard Pyle's realism.