Theodore William Schempp (1904–1988) was an American artist and art dealer. He dealt in

pre-Columbian art Pre-Columbian art refers to the Visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Americas, visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North America, North, Central America, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European con ...

, and

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

works. He sold to other dealers, institutions and collectors, and collected art in his own right.

Early life

He was the second son of William Frederick Schempp and his wife Della Karstetter of

Brodhead, Wisconsin Brodhead is a city in Green and Rock counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,274 at the 2020 census. In February 2000, the city annexed a portion of land from the Town of Spring Valley in Rock County. History Just south o ...

, born February 10, 1904. His father edited the local newspaper there; and died in 1929. Schempp attended Brodhead High School, and went on to

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, where he studied the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. He graduated B.A. in 1926. He took the Conservatory music course there, to 1927, for the Mus.B. degree. He then moved to Paris, continuing his piano studies under

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his po ...

. He also painted.

Villa Schempp

The Villa Théodore Schempp was built by Marcel Zielinski, a student of

Robert Mallet-Stevens Robert Mallet-Stevens (24 March 1886 – 8 February 1945) was a French architect and designer. Early life Mallet-Stevens was born in Paris. His father and his grandfather were art collectors in Paris and Brussels. His great-uncles were the Be ...

, at 5 rue Gauguet,

14th arrondissement of Paris The 14th arrondissement of Paris ( ), officially named ''arrondissement de l'Observatoire'' (; meaning "arrondissement of the Observatory"; named after the Paris Observatory), is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris, ...

, over the years 1928 to 1931. It was part of a terraced development of

International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

artists' studios at 3, 5 and 7 rue Gauguet. It was for a time in the 1950s the studio of

Hans Hartung Hans Hartung (21 September 1904 – 7 December 1989) was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the Legion d'honneur. Life Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany, into an ...

Art dealer, Paris and New York

In 1937, Schempp abandoned his career in music, and concentrated on dealing in art. He sold two modernist painting at the beginning of the year to

Walter Arensberg Walter Conrad Arensberg (April 4, 1878 – January 29, 1954) was an American art collector, critic and poet. His father was part owner and president of a crucible steel company. He majored in English and philosophy at Harvard University. With his w ...

and his wife Louise. That year also, he sold a 1925 work by

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

to Earl Stendahl.

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

lived in the same area of Paris, with a studio on rue du Douanier; and he and Schempp became friends. Schempp sold a Braque still life from 1943 to

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

, around 1950. Ellen H. Johnson, a friend, wrote that Schempp "frequently traveled to the States, bringing with him fine examples of the current School of Paris". A 1940 exhibition of modern French art at Oberlin College showed works lent by Schempp, and others from the Herron Museum,

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five Coll ...

and the Phillips Memorial Gallery. In the fall of 1941 Schempp was on the West Coast, where he hung an exhibition of

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

at the Stendahl Galleries. Having spent years out of France, Schempp returned soon after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1946

Nicolas de Staël Nicolas de Staël (; January 5, 1914 – March 16, 1955) was a French painter of Russian origin known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting. He also worked with collage, illustration and textiles. Early li ...

took a studio at 7 rue Gauguet, and associated with Braque. At this point he was selling in Paris through Louis Carré. Schempp met de Staël in 1947, and, from about 1950, was his dealer in the United States, selling his works in particular to collectors in the

Mid West The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...

Later life

In 1962 Schempp became dealer for

Claude Garache Claude Garache (1929-2023) is a French artist. He has worked in painting, sculpture, illustration and engraving. His principal subject is the female nude. Much of his work uses a single colour on a monochrome background, very often blood-red on ...

. He died in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

in 1988.

Family

In post-war Paris, Schempp met the artists' model Odile Arnould, and they formed a relationship. Much later, they were married.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schempp, Theodore William 1904 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American pianists American art dealers Artists from Wisconsin