The Legacy of the Schuler School of Fine Arts
The Schuler School of Fine Arts came into being as a direct result of the life work of two prolific artists: Hans Schuler, Sr. (1874 – 1951) and Jacques Maroger (1884 – 1962). Their respect for the old masters and dedication to excellence became the hallmark of their lives and continues to be the hallmark of the Schuler School of Fine Arts.
Hans Schuler, Sr. was a renowned sculptor who did traditional, monumental work as well as portrait busts memorials, and medallions. All of his work was created in the studio he built in 1906 at 7 E. Lafayette Avenue. Today, this studio houses the Schuler School of Fine Arts. Mr. Schuler’s legacy was continued by his son, sculptor Hans C. Schuler and now by his granddaughter, Francesca Schuler Guerin, and great grandsons, Andy and Hans Guerin.
Jacques Maroger’s quest for the mediums and techniques of the masters of the 16th century continued when he came to the United States and to his teaching position at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
As M. Maroger’s teaching and technical assistant for the next 18 years, Ann Schuler learned and helped to develop these techniques which remain central to the curriculum of the Schuler School of Fine Arts.
As with Hans Schuler, Sr., the legacy of M. Maroger has continued through the teachings of Ann Didusch Schuler, her daughter and grandsons and forms the basis of the painting discipline at the Schuler School of Fine Art.
Known as the Monument Maker, sculptor Hans Schuler, Sr. graduated from the Maryland Institute's Rinehart School of Sculpture, in Baltimore, Maryland. He taught there, was elected to the board in 1925, and served as the Institute's director from 1925 to 1951. Early in his career he was the first American sculptor to win a Salon Gold Medal in Paris (1901). He went on to great success, acquiring numerous awards and commissions throughout the United States. Locally, this great sculptor's monuments, reliefs, and sculpture portraits grace public buildings, streets, universities, and cemeteries throughout Maryland, adjacent states, and the District of Columbia.
Jacques Maroger, a former director of the Laboratory of the Louvre in Paris, president of the Restorers of France, and a recipient of the Legion of Honor, arrived in the United States in 1939. Shortly after, he took a teaching position with the Maryland Institute, bringing with him a passion for the works of the old masters, whose paintings had an inner glow, permanency of color, and freedom of technique rarely found in the oil painting of his day. He longed to rediscover the lost formulas for their painting mediums, and devoted his life to researching and experimenting with their composition. A dedicated art mentor as well as a scientist, Maroger believed that without a firm foundation in drawing, the use of light and shadow, color values, and anatomy, mere knowledge of painting technique was meaningless.