Christian von Schneidau (1893-1976) is a California Impressionist artist whose paintings depicted life in Los Angeles during the Roaring Twenties. Von Schneidau was born to a noble family in Ljungy, Kalmar County, Sweden, on March 24, 1893. The Von Schneidau family encouraged their young son's artistic talents and eventually emigrated to Minnesota. There, the young Christian von Schneidau would go on to attend the Art Institute of Chicago. While attending the Institute, von Schneidau befriended future Impressionist artists Theodore Lukits, Charles Hawthorne, and Richard E. Miller. Upon completing his education in 1916, von Schneidau traveled westward and settled in Los Angeles, California, in 1917. 

 

           In Los Angeles, von Schneidau became a regular contributor to the California Art Club and opened the Von Schneidau School of Fine Art. For most of his artistic career, he worked on portraits and landscapes, as well as teaching aspiring artists. In 1938, von Schneidau married one of his pupils, Signe Larson Nelson, and established the Scandinavian-American Art Society, which he presided over for the rest of his life. 

 

           Von Schneidau specializes in Impressionist landscapes of California’s wilderness. His paintings depict forests, mountains, and beaches with vivid, contrasting warm and cool watercolors.