Frederic B. Schell was born in Philadelphia in 1838 and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1862 Fred B. Schell became a Special Artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News, a New York newspaper. In 1863, Frank Leslie assigned him to General Ulysses S. Grant’s army at Vicksburg. Grant was a U.S. general and commander of the Union armies during the late years of the American Civil War. Schell's work is well known in the States. Fred was brought out to New Zealand to produce views for Garran's THE PICTURESQUE ATLAS OF AUSTRALASIA. This three volume set was made to mark 100 years of Australia’s settlement. He was active in Australia and New Zealand from 1886-1889. Died in the States in 1902, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Schell, Jr. in 1992 donated Fred's work to the Akron Art Museum, Ohio, including a beautiful watercolour painting Mt. Cook, Hooker River after a storm. Inscribed in pencil, LR, "Mt. Cook/ Hooker River after a storm/ Mar. 25/87". Inscribed on reverse in pen, "33". Watercolors such as this one were on-site studies, which would later be translated into wood engravings to illustrate volumes for armchair travelers. Volume II is online and contains the South Canterbury etchings. Frederic Boley Schell Jr. died 1 September 1993 Sarasota, Florida.
Schell, Frederick B. Battle Unit Name: 19th Regiment,
Pennsylvania Infantry (3 months, 1861). Side: Union.
Company: C.
Soldier's Rank In: Private. Soldier's Rank Out: Private. This regiment was
organized at Philadelphia and mustered April 27, 1861. It mustered out August
29, 1861.
Breakwater, Timaru, Lake
Pukaki, Hooker Valley, avalanche, Mt Cook ranger, Mt. Cook,
Ascent of the Hochstetter Dome, the Hooker River 25
March 1887.
Ascent of the Hochstetter Dome [March 1883]. [Drawn by] F. Schell [Melbourne, Picturesque Atlas Publishing Company, 1886]. The ascent was made on 27 March 1883 by Robert and Anne von Lendenfeld, with Harry Dew, a New Zealand porter. The picture is based on a drawing by von Lendenfeld - compare a similar drawing by von Lendenfeld of the sun setting from the summit of the Dome in PA1-f-081, p.1 ATL.
Lake Tekapo with the Lake Tekapo Station
homestead. Can you name the peaks? Lake Tekapo,
view from Cowan's Hill now obscured by the trees. The etching was almost
definitely done from Cowan's Hill of course things have changed a lot over the
years the trees of course were not there when this was done. Photographs taken
July 2015 from where the artist would have sat in March 1887 and a couple of
others from further up Cowan's to show the actual near same mountain vista that
is in this picture. In the artists picture from right to left Mt Erebus, then
the Godley Valley, Godley Peaks/The Mistake, Middle Gorge, Hells Gates, and the
Cass Valley then there should be Mt Stephens, Mt John. Leading to the Left again
the Main Divide. Mt John is not all that accurate. Above Middle Gorge is what
looks like to me the artist has put what looks like Tasman and Cook they are not
visible from this area. Cook is visible but only the very top from Half way up
the lake on the eastern side and situated at the Head of the Cass Valley not
Middle Gorge.
The foreground is now known as the Lake Tekapo Regional Park
as a 12 year old boy George helped each Arbor Day to plant Radiata Pine as the
area was very sandy and barren. Tekapo Station as it was known in this picture
is fairly accurate with the Homestead on the small peninsular with a small
causeway on the main land foreground can be seen yards and there was a woolshed.
Cook shop, dip and a few other small buildings and remains of most of these
buildings were still there in the mid 50s just after the Lake was raised. In the
photograph George took this morning of the Mountain Vista
(156) from the top of Cowan's Hill from
right to left, Mt Erebus, Godley Valley, The Mistake, Middle Gorge, Hells Gates,
Cass Valley, Mt John, and Mt Stephens behind. As you can see below there are now
a lot of trees. In (165) the lake is very low
at the moment, 705.0 m, 25 July 2015, and you can see the small peninsular still
there which had the Tekapo Station Homestead on it. In
(149) with the highway now just like in
that picture this would not be far from where the artist sat, of course minus
the trees. Photos and info courtesy of George Empson, 25
July 2015. In 2009 the consented minimum control
level for Lake Tekapo [pdf] is 701.8 m.
However, from 1 October to the following 31 March the effective minimum control
level is 704.1m.
Photo taken in front of the Church of the Good Shepherd,
Nov. 2009 by G.W.
Where
is this location? Mackenzie Plains and coach of
five. That image is really hard to pick, especially when so many artistic
liberties have been taken. Apart from Cook sort of looking like Cook, the rest
don't even really look as they should. But I think what really throws
things out is the front ranges, which I can't place from any position! I guess
the best bet is the Braemar area?
a. I would be pretty sure this has been done from where the main road, SH8, now
crosses the Irishman's Creek, 15 km from Tekapo, 42 km from Twizel. Why !
Because I can pick out the gap in the Old Man where it cuts through then appears
to show Mt. Stevenson slightly right of a line to Mt Cook. The horse and
carriage also add to my belief. D.M. July 2015
Past Balmoral station, across the Fork Stream, Irishman's Creek, and the Mary burn we go, through Simon's Pass and Dover Pass, and then, shortly after one o'clock, we sight Lake Pukaki.
b. The Braemar Road right through to the homestead
also looks the probable location, but not too near the lake for obvious
reasons. As there is a stage coach in the picture it’s the only one that
fits...there is no other road nor ever was other than Braemar. Drawn by Fred. B.
Schell. I see sheep that have been shorn so probably a November scene but
Schell arrived in Otago in March 1887 he was up at Mt. Cook on 25 March 1887 so
could be March 1887 but the sheep don't look like woollies. The coach is heading
back to Fairlie. At a quick glance from right to left looks like Tasman, Cook,
La Perouse, not sure on middle peak, then Footstool, Sefton with the Sealy Range
to the left and taken from roughly the Braemar Rd, area heading to Lake Pukaki. Sefton, is the 4th highest peak in the Southern Alps, not quite right but going
by the rest I would say that is the area. Samuel Butler described the peak in
1860. "It rose towering in a massy parallelogram, far above all the others. It
is well worth any amount of climbing to see. No one can mistake it. The moment
it comes into sight the exclamation is, 'That is Mount Cook!' - not 'That must be
Mount Cook!' The Mount Cook Coaching Service began in 1886 after a
syndicate of businessmen had built Mount Cook's first "Hermitage Hotel"
appointing Mr. F. Huddleston as its manager. Some four years later the
enterprise was taken over by E. Rutherford and the brothers Rhodes who also held
a mail contract for the district. The firm ran a local tourist brake carriage
which carried 12 passengers on scenic tours around the Mt. Cook area. They also
had several horse teams; a three horse, a four-in-hand, a 'pick-axe' team of
five horses and a carriage and six-in-hand. The sketch shows a three horse team
but maybe it is a five, with two horses in the back. Point to Mt. Cook in
1888. The Fork Stream cutting is on the Braemar Road.
Timaru Herald, 16 July 1885, Page 8
On the 13th (Saturday) left Tekapo hotel on our way to Mount Cook by Pukaki
Ferry, passing Balmoral station four miles from the ferry, while eight miles
further on we passed the Wolds and Irishman Creek stations. Ten miles more and
we arrived at Simon's Pass about 12 p.m., and were kindly invited to dinner by
Mr Matheson. After dinner we started for Pukaki. A four miles drive brought us
to Dover's Pass, after going through which we came in view of Lake Pukaki and
Mount Cook in the distance. It was a clear day, and we considered it one of the
most beautiful views of the Mackenzie country. Arrived at Pukaki Ferry, which is
four miles from Dover's Pass, at 4.30 p.m. We cannot congratulate the Mackenzie
County Council on the condition of that part of the road between Simon's Pass
and Pukaki Ferry. If they would only take the rocks off the road it would make
it great deal better for travellers. It is at present a splendid one for
wheelwrights and blacksmiths. No doubt there will be an alteration before next
season. Mr W. Lowe and Miss Lowe made us very comfortable at Pukaki on Sunday.
From the Braemar Rd.
Samuel Butler said in 1860 "Scenery is not Scenery - it is
"Country" - if it is good for sheep, it is beautiful, magnificent and all the
rest of it; if not, it is not worth looking at."
Schell was in Auckland in 1886.
Otago Witness, 4 March 1887, Page 9
Mr F. B. Schell, who has charge of the art department of "Picturesque
Australasia" — a work which is in course of preparation by the Picturesque Atlas
Company of Philadelphia — arrived in Dunedin by the Wairarapa on
Tuesday, and has commenced work on the sketches of this part of the colony which
it is intended to reproduce in the work. Mr Schell will make a complete tour of
the colony, and will take a large number of sketches, it being the intention of
the publishers to give New Zealand illustrations a large share of the book. One
of the principal artists (Mr Schell) is now engaged in taking sketches in
Dunedin and vicinity.
Evening Post, 20 April 1887, Page 2
Frederic B. Schell, of Philadelphia, the manager of the art department of the of
the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, arrived in Auckland on Friday, by
the Rotorua, via West Coast, for the purpose of sketching the features of
interest in and about Auckland. Mr Schell has already spent several months in
New Zealand, and visited all points of interest in the South Island, including
the West Coast Sounds, the Lake District, Mount Cook, Dunedin and Christchurch.
Mr Schell reached Wellington from Christchurch via the West Coast road to
Hokitika through the famous Otira Gorge, via Greymouth, Westport, and the
goldmining regions in the vicinity of Reefton, thence via the Buller Valley to
Nelson, The publishers of Picturesque Australasia are fully impressed
with the importance of New Zealand and its pictorial capabilities, and it is
their intention to devote a large portion of the work to thorough illustration
of this colony. he company has already expended but from the large list of
subscribers the success of the Atlas is already assured.
A
Picturesque atlas of Australasia, three volumes, published in Sydney,
Melbourne, London, Springfield, Mass., Picturesque Atlas Publishing Co.,
1886-1889. Edited by Andrew Garran; illustrated under the supervision of
Frederic B. Schell, assisted by leading colonial and American artists.
Historical review of New Zealand / by R.A.A. Sherrin. Descriptive sketch of New
Zealand / by J.M. Geddis: p. 987-1210, v. 3. It was conceived and financed by
American publishers under the name of the Picturesque Atlas Publishing Co
Limited, Sydney and Melbourne. It's ambitious aims of using the best artists,
the best paper, the finest printing engraving techniques and for it to be the
most comprehensive survey of Australia's colonial history ensured that it
inevitably was doomed to be a financial failure.
New Zealand Herald, 3 May 1887, Page 4
A large and handsome book now being published in Sydney, by an American company,
entitled "A Picturesque Atlas of Australasia." It is being published in parts at
5s each, and got up in the best style of the printer's and engraver's art. To
produce the work the requisite printing machinery, a staff of twelve first-class
engravers, artists who have been engaged upon the best works turned out in
America, together with staff of painters, etc., were obtained from America, and
have been for some, time engaged upon the work they have undertaken. The numbers
produced are ample testimony of the class of book which this Atlas will be when
completed. Mr. Frederic B. Schell, artist, is at present in Auckland on a
sketching tour for this work. Mr. Schell is the manager of the art department.
He has been for some time in the South Island, and is well pleased with the
scenery he has already witnessed. He states that though New Zealand is among the
smallest of the colonies which will be illustrated in the work now in progress,
is likely to have considerably more than its full share of the illustrations
when the work is completed. The Australian scenery is tame compared with what
Mr. Schell has viewed in New Zealand.
Hawke's Bay Herald, 23 October 1888, Page 3
As Mr Schell says, "It would nowadays be an absurdity for a publisher to appeal
to the people through the pages of a periodical without illustrations."
Timaru Breakwater
Auckland Star, 17 August 1887, Page 2 "THE PICTURESQUE ATLAS OF
AUSTRALASIA."
This is the title of the most superb and voluminous work that has ever been
projected in connection with the Australasian colonies. It is a most costly and
pretentious project, upward of L60,000 having been already expended upon it, and
the services of the very best men having been secured for its various
departments. It is being issued in monthly parts of imperial folio size, and is
printed upon thick glazed paper in the most elegant style of typographical art,
while its illustrations (engravings in wood from sketches made on the spot) are
so profuse that there is scarcely a page, without one, and many pages contain
several of them. The work is being edited by Andrew Garran, M.A., LLD;. the Art
Department is under the direction of F. B. Schell, of Philadelphia, U.S.,
assisted by a corps of colonial artists; the engraving is being done by Horace
Baker (late of New York) and George F. Andrew of Boston, while the topographical
department is in the able hands of D. MacDonald, C.E., M.G.S.A. Twelve monthly
numbers have so far been issued to the subscribers, the price being 5s each, so
that this magnificent work is placed within the reach of the humblest. It will
be a veritable encyclopaedia of information with respect to New South Wales,
Victoria, New Zealand, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania,
Fiji, New Guinea, and Melanesia. The first nine numbers deal exhaustively with
New South Wales, both from a literary and from a pictorial point of view. The
letterpress is further supplemented by maps of a political, topographical, and
more strictly scientific character.
Timaru Herald, 6 July 1887
Unclaimed letters await the following persons at the Post Office Timaru: F.
Schell
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Artist: Unknown
New Zealand 1878-1882
Album of 359 albumen photographs
Sheet: 36 x 27 cm (14 3/16 x 10 5/8 in.) (each)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick B. Schell, Jr. in 1976
Culture: New Zealand
Period: 19th century
Classification: Works on Paper - Manuscripts and documents
Status: By appointment
