rdfs:comment | - Bernard O. Gruenke, Sr. More than forty years after Conrad Schmitt began his journey to becoming a national leader in the decorative arts, a young man in nearby Sheboygan, Wisconsin, named Bernard O. Gruenke, started down a similar path. At sixteen, he was encouraged in the pursuit of art by Miss Marie Kohler, of the bath fixtures company. She provided him with a scholarship in 1929 that introduced him to Corcoran Art School in Washington, D.C. But, like those of Conrad Schmitt, his German-immigrant parents resisted his desire to pursue art. When Bernard left to attend Corcoran in 1934, he was not even allowed to take his own meager savings with him.
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abstract | - Bernard O. Gruenke, Sr. More than forty years after Conrad Schmitt began his journey to becoming a national leader in the decorative arts, a young man in nearby Sheboygan, Wisconsin, named Bernard O. Gruenke, started down a similar path. At sixteen, he was encouraged in the pursuit of art by Miss Marie Kohler, of the bath fixtures company. She provided him with a scholarship in 1929 that introduced him to Corcoran Art School in Washington, D.C. But, like those of Conrad Schmitt, his German-immigrant parents resisted his desire to pursue art. When Bernard left to attend Corcoran in 1934, he was not even allowed to take his own meager savings with him. Bernard worked as a sign-painter by day and studied portrait painting at Corcoran Art School at night. He also studied art privately in Philadelphia under Caesar Riccardi, a former student of the well-respected artist and teacher, Robert Henri. Eventually, he returned home to Wisconsin. On October 28, 1936, Bernard O. Gruenke went to Conrad Schmitt Studios, then on Prospect Avenue in Milwaukee, to discuss employment. Conrad and Rupert Schmitt told him, "We can get the Italian and the German art professors a dime a dozen, why should we hire the American boys who know nothing?" At 6:00 AM the next morning, Bernard was waiting on the doorstep. When Rupert Schmitt arrived, he reprimanded Bernard for not listening. “Mr. Schmitt, whether you like it or not, I’ve made up my mind," Bernard said. "This is my home. Whether you pay me or not, I’m going to work here.” Bernard soon was working as an artist and salesman, traveling and decorating from Maine to Mexico. In the late 1940s, he became Rupert Schmitt’s partner and then purchased the company from the Schmitt estate after Rupert’s death in 1951. A few years earlier, in 1949, Bernard had made his first trip to Europe, and it forever changed his career. During his visit, he had made a point of seeing both the great artwork of the past as well as the newer, more progressive designs. In art, this meant new materials--in particular, some of the early dalle de verre or slab glass, from France. Produced in inch-thick slabs, the dalle de verre presented a whole new medium to the American art glass community. Bernard first experimented with dalle de verre, also called faceted glass, at his home, cutting and chopping the glass to shape, casting with cement and exploring internal reinforcement. He produced what was probably the first faceted glass window in the U.S. in his garage in 1949, Christ on a Rainbow (see photo on page 51). Bernard introduced the new glass form to many areas of the country. Dalle de verre artwork complemented the style of architecture that was proliferating in post-war America. Bernard’s original panels toured the country, demonstrating this novel window medium. Years later, after many additional projects and further glass experimentation, Bernard O. Gruenke was named a Fellow in the Stained Glass Association of America and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. Throughout his career, he also served in many capacities for this century-old organization that upholds art and safety standards for the industry. “Senior,” as he is called in the Studio to distinguish him from his son, turned 90 in 2003. He remains a passionate advocate for the arts.
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