This weekend, I was saddened to learn of the passing of a true "Renaissance" man, Eric Von Schmidt. Our town was quite fortunate that he and his illustrious family settled here many years ago.
Eric Von Schmidt was a remarkable artist, author, composer, folk musician, and illustrator. His artistic pursuits, which may have come from his father, the renowned painter Harold Von Schmidt, encompassed both art and music. As the New York Times obituary noted, he became interested in the blues in the late 1940's, studied art in Florence, and eventually moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts which had become a hot spot for folk music. He spread his enthusiasm for American traditional music by performing songs written by Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. Moreover, he shared his eclectic folk music collection with young rising talents like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Tom Rush. He later wrote about those Cambridge years in his award-winning book Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years.
The town of Westport recognized his achievements in the the visual arts with the Westport Heritage Award on September 22, 2002. On October 23, 2004, he was honored with a concert by his musical peers including Paul Geremia, John Hammond, and Mark Naftalin. Concomitantly, the Westport Historical Society exhibited his series of paintings "Giants of the Blues" which reflected his dual lifelong interests. It is quite fitting that these paintings now adorn the walls of the new Staples High School.
The Library invites you to check out his folk music collections Baby, Let Me Lay It On You and Living on the Trail. His children's book illustrations include Sid Fleischman's Chancy and the Grand Rascal, Humbug Mountain, Mr. Mysterious & Company, and The Ghost on Saturday Night.