Ada Walter Schulz (1870-1928) “The Peaceful Garden”

 

 

Ada W Shulz was born in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1870. After the death of her father, her family moved to Indianapolis where she attended Shortridge High School. Her art teacher, Roda Selleck, inspired her to pursue art. Ada’s mother decided to move to Chicago so Ada could pursue her art studies at the Art Institute of Chicago with John Vanderpoel and Oliver Pennet Grover. In 1892, she traveled with Vanderpoel's class to Delavan, Wisconsin, where she met her future husband, artist Adolph Shulz. In 1894, she and Adolph traveled to Paris where she studied at the Vitti Academy under Merson and Collin. In 1895, they moved to Germany and worked in their own studios where Ada pursued figure studies, particularly children. They moved back to Delavan after their son, Walter, was born. In 1900, they had read an article about Brown County in the Chicago newspaper. Adolph traveled to Nashville and was so moved with the beauty and unspoiled nature that they began spending their summers painting in Brown County and began spreading the word to other artists about establishing an art colony there. They moved permanently to Brown County in 1917 to live in their home/studio on Cheerful Hill. Ada loved her gardens and the local people and became famous for her paintings of mothers and children in sunlight. She was especially fond of Mary “Grandma” Barnes, whose cabin, flower gardens and animals made a perfect setting for her portraits. They were charter members of the Brown County Art Gallery Association. In 1926, Adolph left the marriage for a younger artist, Alberta. Ada never fully recovered and died two years later.