A Passion for Nature: The Art of William E. Scheele

October 15, 2008 through January 11, 2009
Fawick Gallery

Sponsored by The Louise H. and David S. Ingalls Foundation

The late William E. Scheele contributed tremendously to The Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the city of Cleveland during his life. A new Museum exhibition highlights one of these legacies: his art.

William E. Scheele contributed to the Museum and Cleveland on many different levels over the course of three decades: as Museum director, conservation activist, newspaper columnist and magazine editor. But he left a considerable artistic legacy as well.

Throughout his life, Scheele delighted in drawing and painting. The exhibition A Passion for Nature: The Art of William E. Scheele showcases the incredible body of work that Scheele amassed and recounts his life's story.

Artwork in the exhibition, arranged chronologically, starts with his school years. Scheele learned art from teachers Jean and Paul Ulen at West Tech High School and Henry Keller, Frank Wilcox and Paul Travis at the Cleveland School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art).

While still a student, Scheele volunteered at the Museum and eventually was hired as an exhibits preparator. A stint in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II interrupted his academic and career plans.

Back in Cleveland, Scheele finished his schooling and resumed work at the Museum, this time as head of the Exhibitions Department. In 1949, impressed by his vision for the Museum's future, the institution's board of trustees offered him the job of director.

Under Scheele's leadership, the Museum moved from its original Euclid Avenue location to University Circle. He worked to make the institution a vital part of the University Circle community and a natural history museum unique in its time. "He made it a walk through the evolution of the planet," remembers his son, William G. Scheele. "He brought in native plants and other outdoor features, and those evolved into Perkins."

During this period of his life, Scheele's art focused on topics related to Ohio wildlife and Museum-related subjects. He often depicted birds and other animals. "My Dad could do so much to evoke the feeling of an animal just with a couple of lines," his son recalls.

Scheele started a quarterly Museum magazine, The Explorer, that became the membership magazine for a group of Midwest museums. He wrote and illustrated many of its articles. Several examples are included in the exhibition. At the same time, he was writing and illustrating a weekly column on Cleveland's natural history for The Cleveland Press.

Between 1954 and 1963, he wrote and illustrated seven books on natural history, which will be on display. These were intended for a young audience, and as the decades passed Scheele frequently heard from people who considered the books their inspiration to pursue careers in science.

Scheele was a voice for issues related to the natural world during the early days of the contemporary environmental movement. He brought influential scientists and thinkers such as Rachel Carson and David Brower to speak at the Museum. Concerned about changes to the land locally, he acquired the first parcel of land in what is today the Natural Areas Program.

In 1972, when Scheele left the Museum to head the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C., a reporter for The Cleveland Press wrote, "For nearly a quarter of a century, William E. Scheele has been the local prophet, expounding the beauties of nature and warning us about the evils we are doing to our surroundings." His efforts and ideas helped shape the Museum into the institution it is today.