The New Hope Art Colony: Walter E. Schofield, WWI

"Summer's Pageant" by Walter E. Schofield

"Walter E. Schofield joined the British Army in 1915 as a private soldier in the twenty-fourth Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. The artist justified entering the fighting of the First World War in a letter to Robert Henri:

'At my time one does not as a rule take up the soldier's profession but it was not love that forced me on - but the strong desire to do what I could to prevent Germany goose-stepping over the world and help force her out of France.'

In 1916 Schofield received a commission from the Royal Artillery through his friend Julius Olsson. He went to France as a second lieutenant in the artillery, took part in the battle of the Somme, accompanied the Army of the Occupation to Cologne and was promoted to the rank of captain. Although Schofield adapted to army life better than most artists, the war was still a cause of despair. On 21 October 1916, he wrote to the director of the Corcoran Gallery:

'Believe me boy that your letter was more than just welcome. Like a voice from the pleasant days of old when you and I walked the streets of Washington together...how far off they seem. And it is good to hear that picture shows are still going and that I once painted! Could you see me now! I'm a bloom'n Captain now in the Royal Artillery and have charge of air defenses of a most important place... How I want to paint! If I could just smell paint it would do me good! I have painted the guns under my command most artistically for disguising purposes - and that was a comfort.'

During the war the artist only painted one landscape, but he retired from the army with the rank of major."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Pennsylvania Impressionists" by Thomas Folk.)