Rudolph Frederick Schaeffer (June 26, 1886 – March 5, 1988) an American arts educator and artist connected to the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

. He was the founder of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, a school that was based in San Francisco and produced designers, architects, interior decorators, teachers and colorists for more than 50 years. He was one of many pioneers in the study of color field, and has been credited with establishing the city of San Francisco as an International design center.

Early life

Born on June 26, 1886, in

Clare, Michigan Clare is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located near the center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, the city is located mostly in Clare County, while a small portion extends south into Isabella County. The city had a population of 3,254 at t ...

, to Mary Hirzel and German immigrant and

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...

, Julius Schaeffer. He attended the Thomas Normal Training School in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, after finishing high school. The school specialized in art, music and manual arts.

Career

By 1910 he moved to California and started teaching at the Throop Polytechnic Elementary School in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

, working with Ernest A. Batchelder. In 1914 the United States Commission of Education selected Schaeffer as one of twenty five American educators to move to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

to learn more about the study of color, design, and craft and how it was being taught in public, industrial, and trade schools. During his time in Munich,

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out and caused delays in his return to the United States due to a shortage of boats and family issues. Upon his returned in 1915 he found work teaching at the School of California Arts and Crafts (now called

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

or CCA) with Fredrick Meyer. And it was here at CCA he developed new curriculum to teach

color theory Color theory, or more specifically traditional color theory, is a historical body of knowledge describing the behavior of colors, namely in color mixing, color contrast effects, color harmony, color schemes and color symbolism. Modern color th ...

for a class called "Design and Color", utilizing techniques he learned with Ralph Johonnot in Europe. In 1917, he started teaching at California School of Fine Arts (now called

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

) and continued teaching his class, "Design and Color". In 1924, he opened his own art school in San Francisco's Chinatown, originally named the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Rhythmo-Chromatic Design. The school later changed names and locations over the years. Schaeffer was greatly influenced by Japanese aesthetics, philosophy and design and in the 1920s he was teaching these principals.

Death

He died March 5, 1988, in his home in San Francisco at age 101.

References

External links

The Rudolph Schaeffer Papers 1880–1994
from the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffer, Rudolph 1886 births 1988 deaths American men centenarians American art educators People from San Francisco Artists from San Francisco American interior designers California College of the Arts faculty San Francisco Art Institute faculty People from Clare, Michigan Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design faculty American people of German descent