Walter Sheffer

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Walter S. Sheffer
Sheffer in 1993
BornAugust 7, 1918 (1918-08-07)
Youngsville, Pennsylvania
DiedJuly 14, 2002 (2002-07-15) (aged 83)
Known forPhotography
AwardsNational Council on Aging, 1985

Walter S. Sheffer (August 7, 1918 – July 14, 2002) was an American

Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1945 to work at the studio of John Platz, Milwaukee's main society photographer. When Platz retired, Sheffer inherited his clientele and was able to establish his own "look" and very successful portrait studio by 1953. He also taught advanced portraiture at the Layton School of Art from 1952 to 1970.[1]

Early career

After attending

pictorial style soft focus lenses, and deep shadows in prints. He photographed theater productions extensively for Marquette University from 1955 to 1968 where many of his works are preserved in a photographic archive.[4] Several of his portraits are also held in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum
.

Sheffer photographed Victorian building facades and architectural fragments for the Heritage Milwaukee: The Esthetics of the City exhibition organized by and exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Center April 2-May 10, 1964. Director Tracy Atkinson wrote of Sheffer, "A city is fortunate to have a chronicler with so perceptive an eye. A long-time Milwaukee resident, Sheffer is among that small group of people in love with the face of the city, and he is, in addition, an artist acutely sensitive to its many moods and its slightest changes of expression."[5]

Among his most notable students at the Layton School of Art, where he taught from 1952 to 1970, was photographer/film maker Larry Clark who often named Sheffer as an early artistic influence and once described him as "the society photographer in town, but he was very hip."[6]

Late career

After years of decreased activity due to personal strife in the 1970s and early 1980s, Sheffer gained national attention in the mid-1980s for his "Faces of Aging" photographic series. Thirty-five dramatic black-and-white portraits of his fellow residents at the River Hills East Health Care Center on Milwaukee's east side became an inspiring, travelling exhibition. The display travelled from Milwaukee to Newport Beach, San Diego, Chicago, Washington DC and Seattle. Together with Milwaukee artist Sue Bartfield, who worked with him on the project, he was honored in 1985 by the National Council on Aging in Washington D.C. for this work.[7]

Sheffer remained engaged with art, music, poetry and ideas throughout his life. He often attended gallery and museum openings and presented lectures on his life's work at

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where he once told students: "Photography will change your life. After you photograph, you notice the light and it exposes you to beauty." His circle of friends gathered daily at the Brady Street Pharmacy in Milwaukee to discuss art and recent events. Former Milwaukee Art Museum photography curator Tom Bamberger described Sheffer as "the center of intellectual life" in Milwaukee.[1]
Sheffer continued to photograph friends and maintained a flower garden on the roof top of Christopher Street East Health Care Center until his death.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c James Auer and Fanny White. "Photographer Sheffer helped others to open eyes", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2002, sec. B1-2.
  2. ^ a b Walter Sheffer lecture, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, April 8, 1993
  3. ^ Walter Sheffer lecture, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, April 8, 1993.
  4. ^ Marquette University, http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/projects/players/shefferportrait.html
  5. ^ Tracy Atkinson and Joy Gross Berman. "Heritage-Milwaukee" (Arrow Press, Milwaukee, March 1964) p. 2.
  6. ^ Eleanor Lewis, Darkroom (New York: Lustrum Press, 1944) p. 44.
  7. ^ American Medical Services, Inc., 1985 Annual Report (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), p. 22-23.

Sources

  • James Auer and Fanny White. "Photographer Sheffer helped others to open eyes", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2002.
  • Joy Gross Berman and Tracy Atkinson. "Heritage-Milwaukee", Arrow Press, Milwaukee, March 1964.
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