Howard Schroeder: A Retrospective exhibition to open April 5

The Peninsula Gallery announced Howard Schroeder: A Retrospective will open with a reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 5. 

In partnership with the late artist’s family, the exhibition assembles a rich compilation of more than 40 original paintings of varying styles, mediums and subjects. Howard Schroeder (1910-1995) is best known for capturing the changing face of southern Delaware from the 1940s to the 1990s.

A commercial artist originally from New York City, Schroeder was stationed at Lewes' Fort Miles during World War II. He fell in love with the area and made it his home for the rest of his life. Lewes and other nearby fishing villages became his dominant subject.

Using such media as watercolor, oil, pen and ink, charcoal and pencil, Schroeder illustrated the region’s evolution from quiet commercial ports to bustling vacation communities, in the process documenting a vanishing way of life. As a teacher, Schroeder traveled the Delmarva Peninsula, offering art instruction from Smyrna to Seaford to Salisbury. From the mid-1940s to the late 1970s, he sold art supplies, gifts and his own work at The Art Age, his Rehoboth Beach shop.

From abstracts and portraits to still lifes and water scenes, the pieces featured in this exhibition showcase the vast subject matter Schroeder painted throughout his life. Many of the paintings depict places and people in and around the local area, such as creations made during the Rehoboth Art League’s Open Sketch Group and woodcut prints of Lewes streets. The collection also includes international landscapes from Spain and Italy, images of maritime boats, and unique pastel and oil portraits.

Proceeds will benefit the Howard Schroeder Memorial Art Scholarship fund.

Works from the show can be previewed at peninsula-gallery.com. The show continues through Sunday, April 27. 

The gallery is located in the Village Shoppes at the Beacon Inn, 520 East Savannah Road, Lewes.