John Schoenherr
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Short description|American illustrator}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = John Schoenherr
| image = John Schoenherr.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = John Carl Schoenherr
| birth_date = {{birth date|1935|7|5|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = New York City, New York
| death_date = {{death date and age |2010|4|8|1935|7|5|mf=yes}}
| death_place = Easton, Pennsylvania, USA
| occupation = Illustrator
| nationality = American
| period = 1958–2007
| genre = Science fiction, children's picture books
| subject = Wildlife
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
- Hugo Award (1965)
- Caldecott Medal (1988)
}}
| spouse = Judith Grey
| parents =
| children = Ian, Jenny
}}
John Carl Schoenherr (July 5, 1935 – April 8, 2010) was an American illustrator. He won the 1988 Caldecott Medal for U.S. children's book illustration, recognizing Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, which recounts the story of the first time a father takes his youngest child on a traditional outing to spot an owl. He was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015.
Personal life
Schoenherr was born July 5, 1935, in New York City (Manhattan) and raised in Queens, "in a German-speaking household in a polyglot community", where he used drawings to communicate with speakers of other languages. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School,{{cite web |url=http://www.embracingthechild.org/aschoenherr.html |title=Biography – John Schoenherr |website=EmbracingtheChild.org |access-date=November 2, 2007 |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929152628/http://www.embracingthechild.org/aschoenherr.html |url-status=usurped }} and studied art at the Art Students League of New York with Will Barnet and at Pratt Institute.
Schoenherr was a resident of Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.{{cite news |last=Adelson |first=Fred B. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E1D9153BF93AA35752C0A9669C8B63 |title=ART; Children's Page Turners to Linger Over |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 9, 2000 |access-date=December 9, 2007 |quote=
Both Richard Egielski of Milford and John Schoenherr of Delaware Township (near Stockton) are represented by illustrations from books aimed at ages 4 to 8, the youngest group. |archive-date=March 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312155953/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/09/nyregion/art-children-s-page-turners-to-linger-over.html |url-status=live }} He died on April 8, 2010, of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Career
Schoenherr may be known best as the original illustrator of the dust jacket art of Dune,{{cite web |url=http://omnireboot.com/2013/dune/ |title=Dune: The Most Important Science Fiction Art Ever |work=Omni Reboot |first=Jeff |last=Love |date=August 16, 2013 |access-date=October 31, 2014 |archive-date=October 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031041641/http://omnireboot.com/2013/dune/ |url-status=dead }} a 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert that inaugurated a book series and media franchise. He had previously illustrated the serializations of the novel in Analog, an endeavor which secured him a 1965 Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist.{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1965-hugo-awards/ |title=1965 Hugo Awards |publisher=The Hugo Awards (thehugoawards.org) |access-date=October 31, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507072916/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1965-hugo-awards/ |archive-date=May 7, 2011 }} He later did the art for the Analog serialization of Herbert's Children of Dune. In 1978 Berkley Books published The Illustrated Dune, an edition of Dune with 33 black-and-white sketch drawings and 8 full color paintings by Schoenherr. Herbert wrote in 1980 that though he had not spoken to Schoenherr prior to the artist creating the paintings, the author was surprised to find that the artwork appeared exactly as he had imagined its fictional subjects, including sandworms, Baron Harkonnen and the Sardaukar.{{cite web |last=Herbert|first=Frank|url=http://www.frankherbert.org/news/genesis.html |title=Dune Genesis|access-date=October 31, 2014 |publisher=Reprinted with permission at FrankHerbert.org |work=Omni |date=July 1980 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107220342/http://www.frankherbert.org/news/genesis.html |archive-date=January 7, 2012}}
Schoenherr was also very well known as a wildlife artist and children's book illustrator, with over forty books to his credit. Most of his black-and-white illustration work used the scratchboard technique, and he was long known as the only commercial artist who specialized in it. His paintings were often egg tempera, another unusual medium. Schoenherr also completed paintings for NASA.{{cite book |last=DeVore |first=Howard |author-link=Howard DeVore |title=A History of the Hugo, Nebula and International Fantasy Awards 1951–1986 |location=Dearborn, Michigan |publisher=The Misfit Press |year=1987 |page=18}}{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Ron |author-link=Ron Miller (artist and author) |title=Space Art: A Starlog Photo Guidebook |location=New York |publisher=Starlog Press |year=1976 |page=179}}{{cite book |last=DiFate |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent DiFate |title=DiFate's Catalog of Science Fiction Hardware |url=https://archive.org/details/difatescatalogof00difa |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Workman Publishers |year=1980}} Schoenherr's knowledge of zoology was very useful in creating alien creatures. He was a member of the American Society of Mammalogists, the Society of Animal Artists, and the Society of Illustrators.
Beginning in the 1960s, Schoenherr created numerous science fiction illustrations, in addition to artwork in other genres.{{cite book |last=DiFate |first=Vincent |chapter=Science Fiction Art: Some Contemporary Science Fiction Illustrators |title=The Science Fiction Reference Book |editor-first=Marshall B |editor-last=Tymn |location=San Bernardino |publisher=The Borgo Press |year=1981 |page=51}} Among the books he illustrated are The Wolfling and Rascal by Sterling North, the latter a Newbery Honor Book. Under John W. Campbell, Jr. and Ben Bova at Analog, he also illustrated the first Dragonriders of Pern stories by Anne McCaffrey, the 1967/1968 novellas "Weyr Search" and "Dragonrider" (each featured on one Analog cover as well) that were subsequently developed as the novel Dragonflight. Schoenherr's July 1975 cover for Analog has been cited as influential in the designs for the Star Wars character Chewbacca.{{cite web |url=http://binarybonsai.com/2010/09/18/george-lucas-stole-chewbacca-but-its-okay/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808131550/http://binarybonsai.com/blog/george-lucas-stole-chewbacca-but-its-okay |title=George Lucas stole Chewbacca, but it's Okay |first=Michael |last=Heilemann |date=September 18, 2010 |publisher=Binary Bonsai |archive-date=August 8, 2013 |access-date=July 17, 2015}} He also worked for paperback and hardcover science fiction publishers like Ace Books and Doubleday.
Awards
- 1965 Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist
- 1988 Caldecott Medal for Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
- 2015 Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
References
{{Reflist |25em |refs=
{{cite news |title=John Schoenherr, Children's Book Illustrator, Dies at 74 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/arts/15schoenherr.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 15, 2010 |access-date=April 15, 2010 |first=Margalit |last=Fox |archive-date=September 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906152041/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/arts/15schoenherr.html |url-status=live }}
{{cite news |url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/06/2014-science-fiction-hall-of-fame-inductees-and-fundraiser#sthash.uwR4dGzo.dpuf |title=2015 SF&F Hall of Fame Inductees & James Gunn Fundraiser |date=June 12, 2015 |access-date=July 17, 2015 |work=Locus |archive-date=July 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715053238/http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/06/2014-science-fiction-hall-of-fame-inductees-and-fundraiser#sthash.uwR4dGzo.dpuf |url-status=live }}
{{isfdb series|11825|Dune Universe}}
{{isfdb series|482|Dragonriders of Pern}}
}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170929152628/http://www.embracingthechild.org/aschoenherr.html John Schoenherr]}} at Embracing the Child — curriculum vitae
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20011006055911/http://www.spanierman.com/schoenherrbio.htm John Schoenherr biography] at Spanierman Gallery (archived 2001-10-06)
- {{isfdb name|1393}}
- [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2010/04/08/in-memory-of-the-great-bear-of-locktown/ "In Memory of the Great Bear of Locktown"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412145300/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2010/04/08/in-memory-of-the-great-bear-of-locktown/ |date=April 12, 2010 }} (Discover, April 8, 2010)
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180802220513/http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/schoenherr.html John Schoenherr]}} at JVJ Classic Illustrator Biographies
- {{LCAuth|n79074333|John Schoenherr|48|}}
- {{Gutenberg author | id=25396| name=John Schoenherr}}
{{Portal bar |Children's literature |Science fiction |Visual arts }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenher, John}}
Category:American children's book illustrators
Category:Analog Science Fiction and Fact people
Category:American animal artists
Category:Caldecott Medal winners
Category:Hugo Award–winning artists
Category:People from Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Category:American science fiction artists