Henry Ernest Schnakenberg’sThe Avenue (Fifth Avenue, New York) sold for $5,398 at Freeman’s | Hindman A Lasting Legacy: The Estate of Michael Mennello auction on Feb. 21, 2024 in Palm Beach, Fla. Schnakenberg was born and raised in New York City and was very much inspired by his surroundings. A realist painter, he prominently featured Central Park along with other New York City landmarks in his works. Later in his career, the subject of his landscapes was often the New England rustic countryside.
Initially an insurance salesman at his father’s firm, Schnakenberg was inspired to become an artist after viewing the 1913 Armory Show in New York; his exposure to European Modernism at that show served as a life changing experience for him. He went on to study at the Art Students League in New York but briefly took a break from art to serve in the Army Medical Corps during World War I. After his discharge in 1919, Schnakenberg quickly returned to art, regularly exhibiting his works while also teaching at the Art Students League.
Lauded for his superb attention to detail, his work has been on display at several museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to teaching and painting, Schnakenberg also wrote essays and served as a critic for art magazines.
Whether you’re content with your career or perhaps, like Schnakenberg, have a second calling as an artist, this month’s issue has you covered with both our annual Insurance Committee Report and Special Report on Art, Auctions & Antiques.
Some of our other favorites, from Freeman’s | Hindman A Lasting Legacy: The Estate of Michael Mennello auction on Feb. 21, 2024 in Palm Beach, Fla., appear throughout this issue.