ILLINOIS HISTORICAL ART PROJECT
FLORA SCHOFIELD
FLORA SCHOFIELD was born in Chicago, and studied in Chicago and Paris. Her outstanding teachers were Albert Gleizes, Andre Lhote and F. Leger. She has painted in various parts of the United States and in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, is a member of the Chicago Society of Artists, 10 Artists (Chicago), the Provincetown Art Association and the New York Society of Women Artists, and has exhibited in the Carnegie International, the Detroit, Cleveland, Brooklyn and Boston museums, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Abroad she has exhibited in the Salon d'Automne, Salon des Independents and Sur Independents. One-artist exhibitions of her work have been held at the Art Institute of Chicago and Gallerie Carmine in Paris. She was awarded the Jules Bower prize for landscape in 1929 and the Harry Frank prize for figure composition in 1931.
I consider that making art local is stupid. Art is universal. I am a Chicago artist only because I live in Chicago. For me, construction and organization of the picture are the most important, and the representational element is always secondary. Of course, I find form and color and line in the exterior world. But my business as a painter is to utilize these as I see fit for the creation of my painting. I am asked, is this a contribution to society? I answer that it is a contribution to art, which is enough. The trouble with most artists today is that they over-intellectualize. They want to be this kind of artist and that kind of artist. I say, learn your technique; and if you are an artist the rest will take care of itself. The importance of good drawing cannot be overemphasized. If the so-called modern movement in art has meant anything, it has taught the importance of good drawing. But by good drawing I do not mean photographic drawing. I mean sensitive drawing, where any liberty can be taken with natural forms and lines provided they are thoroughly conscious. The same holds true for color, which is part of form and integrated into the whole work. What I abominate most is a painting where the various elements are diffuse. For me, that immediately marks the painter who does not know his business. If you don't understand that, take a look at Giotto or Rubens. More recently, Cezanne, a great painter, has taught us the same lessons. Now, is this typically Chicagoan, or American? Anybody who sees nationalism or localism in art is dumb. As long as human beings remain what they are-and that will be longer than I care to discuss-art will be the same everywhere. Flora Schofield.