"Swimming Hole, Post Cover"   Lot no. 4877

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By Mead Schaeffer (American- 1898-1980)

1949
20.75" x 17.25", 27" x 22"
oil and pencil on paperboard
Signed Lower Left

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The Saturday Evening Post, June 25, 1949, cover illustration.

Page 3 of the Post states:

Long ago, that dam behind which the East Arlington, Vermont, lads are swimming in Mead Schaeffer's painting made a pond from which ice was cut to store in the icehouse at the right of the picture. Presently George Hughes, another Post cover artist, acquired this pleasant acreage and lived in a house off-picture at the left. He also acquired a crisis; the old dam was crumbling and the pond was so shallow that the unhappy boys couldn't risk their lives in it. So Hughes sank money in the "swimmin' hole," rebuilding the dam in the interest of community aquatics. By and by he moved away to some still lovelier Vermont scenery. Then it occurred to neighbor Schaeffer to sell the dam to the Post. Economics are queer things, Hughes feels.

 



Explore related art collections: Saturday Evening Post Covers / Children / 1940s / $50,000-$100,000 / Magazine Covers / Beach/Summer

See all original artwork by Mead Schaeffer

ABOUT THE ARTIST

 

The work of Mead Schaeffer divides itself into two periods. The early one deals with romantic, swashbuckling and theatrical subjects. The second, although still strong and dramatic, is based on authentic, factual themes and is more reportorial.

   Born in Freedom Plains, New York, he studied at Pratt Institute, and got advice from Harvey Dunn and Dean Cornwell. A brilliant student, he was illustrating for major magazines while still in his twenties and had begun a series of sixteen illustrated classics for Dodd, Mead, including The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, Typee and Moby Dick. Eventually, he wanted to deal with contemporary subjects that he could personally observe and learn about.

    With this objective, Schaeffer began to paint covers for The Saturday Evening Post, which by 1940 was featuring themes of Americana. The Post’s artists traveled to various parts of the country to find regional material with national appeal. Schaeffer made an extended trip to the West with his friend and fellow-artist Norman Rockwell. From this and other trips, many fine covers resulted.

   During World War II, Mead painted a notable series of Post covers of American soldiers representing various branches of the service. The paintings were done with the full approval and cooperation of the United States military authorities, who provided all the facilities. In researching the pictures, Schaeffer rode abroad a submarine, a Coast Guard patrol boat and various aircraft. Later, under the sponsorship of the Post, the paintings were exhibited in more than ninety cities in the United States and Canada in promoting the war effort. They are now part of the permanent collection of the USAA, an association of military officers, former officers and their families, in San Antonio, Texas.

   In other exhibitions, Schaeffer won the Salmagundi Club’s Shaw Prize in 1930, and a Gold Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1944.