Ruth Adler Schnee Explained

Ruth Adler Schnee
Birth Name:Ruth Adler
Birth Date:13 May 1923
Birth Place:Frankfurt, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, Weimar Republic
Death Place:Colorado, U.S.
Nationality:American
Education:Harvard University
Alma Mater:Rhode Island School of Design,
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Known For:Contemporary textile design
Style:Mid-Century Modern
Spouse:Edward Schnee

Ruth Adler Schnee (Adler; May 13, 1923 – January 5, 2023) was a German-born American textile designer and interior designer based in Michigan. Schnee was best known for her modern prints and abstract-patterns of organic and geometric forms.[1] She opened the Ruth Adler-Schnee Design Studio with her spouse Edward Schnee in Detroit, which operated until 1960. The studio produced textiles and later branched off into Adler-Schnee Associates home decor, interiors, and furniture.[2]

Biography

Ruth Adler was born on May 13, 1923, in Frankfurt, Weimar Republic Germany, to the German Jewish family of Marie and Joseph Adler.[3] [4] The family later moved to Düsseldorf.[5] In 1937, when she was 14, she went to the Degenerate Art Exhibition, This exhibit was designed by the Nazis to be a criticism of modern art, but it inspired Adler Schnee, particularly the vivid colors of Wassily Kandinsky's paintings. She and her family fled Germany shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938 and before the start of World War II.

They moved to Detroit, where Adler Schnee graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1942.[6] In 1944, she studied under Walter Gropius at Harvard University, after receiving a fellowship to the Harvard University Graduate School of Architecture and Design. In 1945, she received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design. Adler Schnee interned with Raymond Loewy in New York City and she received a master of fine arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1946, becoming one of the first woman to graduate from the school.[7] She also won a Chicago Tribune residential design competition in 1946.[8] She studied architecture with Eliel Saarinen at Cranbrook and it was here she became interested in textile design.

In 1948, she married Edward Schnee,[9] a Yale University graduate in economics and he helped her grow her business. Together they opened the Adler Schnee home store in Detroit.[10]

In 1952, Adler Schnee worked with Buckminster Fuller on the Ford Rotunda by contributing drapery. Her work was also included in the General Motors Technical Center designed by Eero Saarinen and Minoru Yamasaki's World Trade Center (1973–2001) in New York.

Adler Schnee was the subject of a 2010 documentary, directed by Terri Sarris of the University of Michigan.[11]

Adler Schnee was awarded The Kresge Foundation's 2015 Kresge Eminent Artist Award for lifetime achievement in her introduction of post-war modernism to the Detroit area.[12]

Adler Schnee died on January 5, 2023, at the age of 99.[13]

Design aesthetic and textiles

The Chicago Tribune Design for Better Living competition that she won was to design a modern house. Adler Schnee's design was a box of glass and steel, with large windows. Needing draperies for the windows, she sketched out, on the spur of the moment, an abstract pattern. An architectural firm contacted her, wanting to purchase such draperies, but they didn't actually exist.[14] She learned how to silk screen, but it was only after she met her husband that she was able expand her printing operation. At this time, textiles were changing from simply decoration to a way of expressing modern design. She was inspired in her textile design by the natural world (Seedy Weeds, 1953) and the built world (Construction, 1950). As a part of their partnership, her husband named all of her textiles. They started their store, Adler Schnee, shortly after their marriage. It featured Adler Schnee's bold, modern textiles and furniture designed by their friends, Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, and more. Later, they also showcased and sold items from Scandinavian design firms such as Dansk, Marimekko, and Orrefors.

Exhibitions/museum collections

Midcentury modernism started its revival in the early 1990s, and Adler Schnee's work was featured in retrospective shows, including:

Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and The Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Michigan).

The Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research holds the Edward and Ruth Adler Schnee Papers, acquired in 2010. The Cranbrook Art Museum received a large collection of her textiles in 2021 from Adler Schnee and her husband.

Awards[16]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Bernard . Murrye . October 2013 . New Classics: KnollTextiles collaborates with architect and textile designer Ruth Adler Schnee on a healthcare fabric collection . Contract . 54 . 8 . 32 . EBSCOhost.
  2. News: Ruth Adler Schnee - A Selection of Printed Drapery Fabrics . en-US . Cranbrook Art Museum . September 29, 2017.
  3. Web site: Ruth Adler Schnee . September 29, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170930035920/http://www.michiganmodern.org/designers/ruth-adler-schnee . September 30, 2017 . Michigan Modern . Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.
  4. Web site: Knoll Designer Bios, Ruth Adler Schnee . September 29, 2017 . Knoll . en.
  5. News: Stryker . Mark . January 29, 2015 . Design pioneer Ruth Adler Schnee wins $50K Kresge Prize . en . Detroit Free Press . September 29, 2017.
  6. News: Solomon . Judith Harris . September 21, 2017 . Iconic textile designer Ruth Adler Schnee going strong . en . Detroit News . September 29, 2017.
  7. Web site: 2023-01-06 . Cranbrook Mourns the Passing of Ruth Adler Schnee . 2023-01-29 . Cranbrook Academy of Art.
  8. Web site: Smith . Alissa . January 31, 2018 . Ruth Adler Schnee's modern textile designs come to Sangre de Cristo Arts Center . February 6, 2018 . Colorado Springs Independent.
  9. Web site: Modern design pioneer Ruth Adler Schnee reflects on life, career . July 5, 2019 .
  10. Web site: Gay . Cheri Y. . 2011 . Edward and Ruth Adler Schnee Papers, 1828-2009 (Bulk 1942-2009) donated May 17, 2010 . September 29, 2017 . Cranbrook Archives.
  11. News: September 11, 2013 . The Story of Ruth: Textile Legend Ruth Adler Schnee . en-US . Interior Design . September 29, 2017.
  12. News: Waldek . Stefanie . January 31, 2015 . Ruth Adler Schnee Wins the 2015 Kresge Eminent Artist Award . en . . September 29, 2017.
  13. Web site: Ruth Adler Schnee obituary – Visitation & Funeral Information . January 5, 2023. Hebrew Memorial Chapel. January 5, 2023.
  14. News: Green . Penelope . January 17, 2023 . Ruth Adler Schnee, Exuberant Designer of Modernish Textiles, Dies at 99 . B10 . The New York Times . January 21, 2023.
  15. Welter . Volker M. . 2015 . Review of Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism . Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians . 74 . 1 . 131–132 . 10.1525/jsah.2015.74.1.131 . 10.1525/jsah.2015.74.1.131 . 0037-9808.
  16. Book: Gale Biography Online Collection. Gale In Context: Biography . Gale . 2020 . en . Ruth Adler Schnee.