Details
Title Schussele, Christian
Alternate title Schuessele, Christian
Date 1824-August 21, 1879
Description Christian Shussele, born ca. 1824 in Alsace, France was a premier chromolithographic artist, active in the Philadelphia trade ca. 1851-early 1860s. Schussele, trained as an artist and painter in Strasbourg and Paris, and worked as a chromolithographer for premier French lithographer Godefroy Engelmann before he immigrated to New York aboard the "Jupiter" from Le Havre, France in February 1848. By 1849, Schussele entered the Philadelphia trade and began his long association with Duval. Duval used the artist's skills to expand his business into chromolithography and Schussele delineated some of his earliest chromolithographs, including "P.S. Duval's Colour Printing & Lithographic Establishment [Artisan Building]" (1849) and his plate "Chromo Lithography" in a 1849 U. S. Patent Office Report. Schussele's work for P. S. Duval in the 1850s and early 1860s included certificates, book illustrations, and allegorical prints.
Although active in chromolithography during the 1860s, Schussele focused predominately on painting historical scenes, landscapes, and portraits as well as watercolors. Works include portraits of George Washington and General McClellan, "Men of Progress," the "Woman's Mission," "The Iron Worker," and "Evangeline"; many engraved by his good friend and prominent engraver John Sartain. Schussele was also a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club and Artists' Fund Society as well as exhibited work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1851, he earned a "first premium" for his fine art piece, "Lager Beer Saloon," at the Franklin Institute of American Manufactures.
Schussele's professional success in the 1860s continued despite suffering palsy of the hand since around 1863. In 1868, he taught at the School of Design for Women (i.e., Moore College of Art) and accepted the position of Professor of Drawing and Painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Schussele remained in the position, including the mentoring of Thomas Eakins, until his death in New Jersey on August 21, 1879.
Schussele resided with fellow French artist and lithographer Caspar Muringer shortly after arriving in Philadelphia. His studio, first at 183 North Eighth Street (1850s), then at 253 North Eighth Street (ca. 1860-1865) was also tenanted by Muringer. Schussele married Muringer's daughter Cecilia (ca. 1838-1916) and the couple lived with the Muringers through the 1860s, along with their daughters Eva (b. ca. 1856) and Mary (b. ca. 1862). Presumably after Caspar Muringer's death ca. 1865, the Schusseles and Muringers traveled to France to seek a cure for the palsy that afflicted Schussele's right hand. They returned on the Ville de Paris ship en-route to New York from Le Havre, France in May 1868 and by 1870 the Muringer and Schussele families resided again in Philadelphia, north of Center City (Ward 14).
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
References See Duval, P. S. and Muringer, Caspar
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1850, 1860, 1870
Groce & Wallace, 564-565
Illustrated New Age, August 20, 1863 and May 5, 1865
Johnston, A Sermon Memorial to Christian Schussele (1879)
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Karolik, Collection of American Watercolors & Drawings, 1800-1875 [catalogue] (Boston: MFA, 1962) Vol. I, 269.
New York, 1820-1850 Passenger and Immigration Lists
Peters, 361
Philadelphia Inquirer, October 5, 1865
Sunday Dispatch, August 24, 1879
Passport Applications, 1795-1905
WWWAA, 2944-2945