Christian Schussele was a French-born American painter and teacher. For many years he worked in Philadelphia, was active in local art affairs, and was president of the Artists' Fund Society.
Background
Christian was born on April 16, 1826 in Guebviller, Haut Rhin, Alsace, while that province was French, the son of a baker of good standing.
As a child he spent much time drawing and painting, adorning the walls and doors of his attic at home with copies of pictures seen in the churches of his native village. At the age of fifteen, although entirely self-taught, he was painting portraits of his neighbors.
Education
In 1841 Schussele was sent to Strasbourg to enter the art academy, where he studied the practice of lithography. He studied under Adolphe Yvon and Paul Delaroche 1842-1848.
Career
In 1843 Schussele went to Paris, where he worked at first under Paul Delaroche and then with Englemann and Graf. Subsequently he entered the studio of Yvon, painter of battle scenes at Versailles, and was commissioned to make drawings from the pictures at the Versailles gallery for elaborate chromolithographic reproductions. The revolution of 1848, however, put an end to his contract, and turned the young painter's thoughts toward the United States.
In Philadelphia he first worked at chromolithography, supplementing such employment with designing for wood engravers, but his real interest lay in painting. In the spring of 1851 he completed a picture entitled "The Artist's Recreation" which was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
A year later came "Clear the Track, " a coasting scene, purchased by the president of the Academy. In 1854 this picture was engraved by John Sartain for the Art Union of Philadelphia, thus establishing Schussele's reputation and popularizing his work.
Many of Schussele's works were further popularized through Sartain's engravings. Schussele and his friend Schmolze, who decorated the ceiling of the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
In 1863 he was attacked by scrivener's palsy in the right hand; he completed "Home on Furlough" and "McClellan at Antietam" during that year, but with difficulty. Two years later the disease had so progressed that he found painting painful and sought a cure in Europe. He visited his native place and at Paris underwent an unsuccessful operation.
In 1868 he returned to Philadelphia, courageously facing his limitations. Nothing daunted by his physical handicap, he continued to paint, and was unanimously elected to fill the newly established chair of drawing and painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a post which he held until his death. His physical condition made it impossible for him to execute many canvases, but he completed "Queen Esther Denouncing Haman to Ahasuerus" in 1869 and "The Alsatian Fair" in 1870.
He died in the country home of his son-in-law, John Crump, at Merchantville, New Jersey.
Achievements
Membership
Schussele was a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Connections
While in Paris Schussele had met Cecilia Muringer, the young daughter of an Alsatian lithographer who resided in Philadelphia, and it was to that city Schussele directed his steps upon his arrival in America. He soon married the youthful Cecilia, by whom he had two daughters.