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With brush and pen, Herbert Fall
recreated scenes of the past in the Miami Valley. Until his death in 1974,
the Butler County artist, who lived in Madison township, painted from
memory and extensive historical research, hundreds of pictures. Born in
1891, Fall, a descendant of Miami Valley pioneers, traced his origins in
the valley back to a great-great grandfather, Christian Fall, who migrated
to Greenbush in Preble County at the beginning of the 19th Century. His
maternal ancestory was the noted Schenck line which included the founder
of Franklin, and a Civil War General, who was a friend of Lincoln.
Fall's first painting, which he made as a student at the old Red Buck
School on Greentree Road in Warren County, was put on exhibit at a
Farmers' Institute meeting at Monroe in 1900. It won first prize. He
continued his art education at the Chicago Art Institute and the Art
Academy at Cincinnati, where he studied under such noted American artists
as Duveneck, Meaken, Hopkins and Wessel. He became a medical art
illustrator, rising to the top of that field. He drew 500 illustrations
for the text, Atlas of Human Anatomy, written by Dr. Roger Crafts,
College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati. The book is used in medical
education in colleges of almost 40 nations.
His nostalgic paintings and sketches of life in the Miami Valley are found
throughout the area. His illustrations are used in two Ohio texts, used by
children throughout the state. Mr. Fall now lies among the Elk Creek hills
that he loved so much in a little country cemetery at Miltonville. Some of
his sketches were used to illustrate this book.
The historical etchings of the early Miami Valley are reproduced from
Henry Howe's monumental book on Ohio, many were sketched by the historian
himself. Various groups have granted permission to reproduce particular
illustrations. The Middletown Historical Society appreciates this
cooperation.
These paintings and
more can be found at the Middletown Historical Society |
