Yesterday’s New York Times carried the obituary of Daniel Kramer. The man Rolling Stone once called “the photographer most associated with Bob Dylan” died last month, at 91.
The story noted that Kramer shot (among many other photos) the cover for Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” album.
That classic photo has a Westport connection.
Among other items scattered on a table, it shows a record called “The Folk Blues of Eric von Schmidt.”
Von Schmidt — a Staples High School graduate, and son of famed painter/ illustrator Harold von Schmidt — followed a stint in the Army with a Fulbright scholarship to study art in Florence.
But he was also a musician. In 1957 he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and fell in with the coffeehouse scene. He influenced Tom Rush, then Dylan. According to Wikipedia, he and von Schmidt “traded harmonica licks, drank red wine and played croquet.”
Eric von Schmidt, in his folk days.
Dylan gave von Schmidt a shout-out on his first album, for teaching him “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down.”
That relationship may be how von Schmidt’s magazine cover landed on one of the most famous album covers in music history.
The album on the cover of “Bringing It All Back Home.”
Von Schmidt later segued into a career as a full-time artist. He painted enormous, compelling scenes, including the Civil War and Custer’s Last Stand, in the Evergreen Avenue studio where his father once painted.
He died in 2007, after tragically losing his larynx to cancer.
But Eric von Schmidt’s art lives on. His magnificent “Birth of the Blues” — seven works, showing the broad scope of American music, including jazz and folk — hangs in the auditorium foyer of Staples High School.
Every day students and staff pass by, without even noticing the brilliant art.
At every event there, many others walk right by it too.
What a shame.
Waiting in the Staples High School lobby for a Players’ show. The painting is part of “Birth of the Blues” by Eric von Schmidt. (Photo copyright Lynn U. Miller)
When he finished his paintings, Von Schmidt was in talks to donate the works to the Smithsonian Museum.
Instead, he chose his alma mater.
He was bringing it all back home.
Eric von Schmidt, with “Storming the Alamo.” (Photo by George R. Janecek)
The shooks were very close to the von Schmidt’s whole family. Being very young my dad and I would drop by on the weekends and chat with this incredible talented and famous family but Eric(Ric) as some would call him had such a diversified talent you were mesmerized as he talked about his extremely large paintings and listen to his signing. I will absolutely cherish knowing Ric and family.
Von Scmidt is cited and quoted extensively in Anthony Scaduto’s seminal 1971 biography “Bob Dylan”.
The last time I attended a play at Staples I walked by some of the incredible art that is hanging in the halls . Really astounding work. I wondered the same thing as to whether anyone notices it. Actually amazing too that it hasn’t been ever vandalized.
Wonder if the art department might organize art appreciation tours for the students so they can appreciate what this town has. History teachers could use the Civil War pieces to connect the art to the times. I know too there is a vast collection of work stored as well as work at the town hall.
Just an old guy talking. Probably when I was in high school I would have passed it by too with my eyes on the girls in the hallways.
Amazing- I myself have walked by that painting numerous times!
Will make sure to look at it closely next time I am there. With all these famous Staples graduates, maybe Staples could offer a class on the history of its alumni!
I can’t believe that I don’t remember seeing this. Wonderful to hear about it now.
I remember and knew Eric well when I worked at Max’s Art Supplies from 1985 to 2014. He died in 2007 but before that time, I did all of his canvas stretching and one time he needed 3 large canvases stretched very quickly. When I called him and told him they were done the next day he could not believe they were ready so soon. He walked in to pick them up and was carrying a mailing tube and handed it to me when I carried the canvases out to his car. When I got back in the shop I opened the tube and he gave me a personalized print of his paint “The Storming of The Alamo” with his lyrics to the song he wrote “The Alamo”. His personalized note to me was, For Jay (Who saved my tush big time) yr. buddy Eric Von Schmidt Aug, ’02
I now have that framed and hanging in the back of the shop at Rockwell in Westport. He was also part of the photo I am in that was taken in 2006 in front of Max’s that replicates the original Big Picture. Eric was a great guy and I think of him every time I look at the framed print.
The image reproduced doesn’t seem to be Schmidt’s. His style is much different, and Yale has his “Here Fell Custer” in its digital collections. The same Yale image appears in the National Park Service’s pamphlet from the battlefield, so I would assume that is the correct one? The scene in the blog appears in a couple of other places on the internet, but is not attributed to Schmidt.
https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2016550
I knew Ric for much of his life. Our parents were friends. Most artists change styles over time or work in different styles at the same time. I can vouch for all the paintings shown here being his. I even have a painting that I find hard to believe is his.
By the way, Von is part of his name – it’s not his name with just Schmidt.
Point taken on style. But doesn’t it look like the image here is signed by someone named “Michael” (I can’t enlarge enough to make out the whole name)? In any case, the other “Here Fell Custer,” which is surely Schmidt’s, is much more interesting…
I’m checking on it …
Thank you Dan, for bringing to light another great piece of Westport history. The work of the multi-talented Eric Von Schmidt does not go unnoticed by many of us…and that includes the great paintings at Staples, his music iconography w Farina and Dylan 🎶 (lol…a must listen), and his great cover art on the terrific POSITIVELY 4th STREET, which is must reading for anybody who loved that early Dylan/Baez/Farina scene. The cover is perfect…with a nod to Toulouse Lautrec!
What a multi-talented, under recognized genius Eric was…even back then in the day. I remember his music from the hey day of The Village folk music era. His great work was kinda taken for granted…even then. Thanks for another glimpse and reminder of this great artiste.
Thank you, Dan, for shining a light on these incredible works!
The seven large-scale paintings of the Giants of the Blues series, by Eric von Schmidt, which are displayed outside the Staples High School Auditorium are on long-term loan to the Westport Public Art Collections (WestPAC).
The series features group portraits of American musicians that chronicle the rich history of American jazz, folk, and blues music from 1920 through the early 1960s, including Blues Women (1996), Blues Piano Players (2004), Tent Show Fantasy (2002), Beale’s Street, The Walk (2002), Texas Blues Men (1995), Cambridge Tapestry (2003), and Delta Dawn (2002).
Westport Public Art Collections includes nearly 2,000 artworks displayed throughout our schools and public buildings. To learn more about the collections, please visit westportarts.org.
Please join Friends of WestPAC for Art in Bloom, a cocktail party and silent art auction to support collections’ care, Thursday, June 6, 7-9pm, Westport Woman’s Club. Tickets available at friends.westpac@gmail.com!