Article: Special Focus - Western Art Rodeo Portraits
by Mark Bedor, June 2003 Cowboys & Indians Magazine
In his vivid paintings, Charles Schridde Celebrates Today's cowboys
He worked his way up from childhood poverry to a million-dollar home in Palm Springs. He's climbed to the mountaintop in two careers, first as a commercial illustrator and later as one of Detroit's top automobile photographers. You'd think a man like that might want to kick back and take it easy. But just like the rodeo cowboys that are the subjects of his paintings, Charles Schridde enjoys a good challenge.
You may have seen his work. Schridde's portraits of such rodeo champions as Ty Murray have been used on posters and programs by the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The state of Washington is promoting its fair and rodeo with his art. Persimmon Hill, the magazine of The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, has featured his work on its cover. Collectors are paying $25,000 for Schridde's originals. A national wallpaper manufacturer has licensed his paintings for use, and there's talk of his art gracing a major ad campaign for a popular pickup truck. What sets this artist apart is his focus on action scenes of today's cowboys and Indians. "Most of Western art is historical - illustrations of something that happened a hundred years ago" he says. "What I want to do is paint the cowboy and Indian as they are now"
And he's not interested in
just average characters - Schridde wants
to paint the hero. "When
I was a kid, cowboys were my heroes," he
says. "Maybe that's why I'm focusing on
the rodeo - a place where you can see today's
cowboy heroes." Schridde's work puts the
viewer inside the arena, face to face with
wildeyed bulls, airborne riders, bucking broncos,
bull doggers, and courageous rodeo clowns.
The artist also paints the modern-day Indian
chiefs and dancers he meets at powwows.
The paintings are realistic but not photographic, a style Schridde calls "Western impressionism:' In them, you can see the influences of not only Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington but also Vincent van Gogh. Like Russell, Schridde often captures a dangerous split second in the life of a cowboy, such as a bull rider about to endure a hard landing. Similar to Remington, Schridde pays little attention to realistic details of the background. His backgrounds, though, are where you'll see the guiding hand of van Gogh, with swirling strokes of vibrant color accentuating the action.
Schridde's paintings rivet one's attention
to the dramatic conflict between man and beast
in the rodeo ring. But there's a quieter side
to this artist as well, which can be found
in his portrayals of cowboy life outside the
arena, with horse and rider set against the
beautiful Western landscape.
What's most remarkable about Schridde, though, is that he began to devote himself to fine art full time just five years ago after spending the bulk of his career as a commercial illustrator and photographer. The talent has always been there. Schridde's uncles were all creative, and his father was an amateur painter. He died young, and Schridde grew up poor but won a scholarship to Chicago's Art Institute at the age of 14.
After serving in the military for two years during World War II, Schridde returned to civilian life and landed in the world of commercial illustration, creating ads for the big car companies that appeared in magazines like Life and Look. When the ad agencies transitioned from drawings to photographs, Schridde followed suit, landing a job with a major photography studio and quickly learning the technical aspects of the medium. His art background served him well. "As an artist, I already knew how to light a subject and compose a scene, so the only thing I really had to learn was how to use a camera" he says.
Within two years he was photographing a national ad campaign for Chevrolet, and before long he was again at the top of his profession. He photographed the Delorean, shot Robert Redford with a Chevy truck on the set of Jeremiah Johnson, and did General Chuck Yeager's Corvette campaign. The photographs he created for auto brochures and magazine ads earned him as much as $1 million a year.
Although he was based in Detroit, Schridde did most of his photo shoots in the West, where the weather was reliable and the scenery beautiful As he spent more time in the region, the idea of leaving commercial photography and heading West to paint began to take hold. Finally, he decided the moment was right. "I was successful financially, and I figured it was time to do what I wanted to do," he says.
An encounter with former rodeo star Bob Estes reignited his boyhood interest in cowboys. He began painting them, and his third career was under way. Today, his eyes light up when he reveals a bit about his artistic process. "I like to be in the sun. I like to look at the colors;' says Schridde. "I study the shadows and the reflection of the sun and try to exaggerate them in my paintings. That's what the impressionists did, they exaggerated the color."
In addition to his original Western paintings, Schridde also markets more affordable reproductions. He's published a book on his work as well Schridde is a guy who is happy with what he's doing and just can't get enough of it. "It's hard to put into words what painting means to me," he says. "It's very relaxing for me to paint. If I feel good, I want to paint. If I feel bad, I want to paint. I get a thrill out of every new painting I do."
And there's much more he wants to do - new techniques, new subjects. His latest work is of a stagecoach along the rim of the Grand Canyon. Schridde once photographed a pickup in the same spot for an ad campaign. He hopes his new works may secure an invitation to one of the major Western art shows he has yet to be a part of, as he is disappointed that his work has thus far been overlooked by the shows. But Schridde finds solace in the fact that his hero van Gogh was never invited to the big shows of his time. And he admits that, at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. He's doing what he loves.
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