"I found in its convulsive movement and change and drama such a concentration of activity that it became all skies and even the idea of all nature to me... Time was there and motion was there - lands forming, seas disappearing, worlds fragmenting, colors emerging or giving birth to burning shapes..."
- Jon Schueler (on the influence of the Mallaig skyscape)
Jon Schueler, born in 1916 in Milwaukee, began as a B-17 navigator in World War II but was discharged in 1944 due to medical reasons. His fascination with the sky, rooted in his Wisconsin upbringing and wartime experiences, later found expression in his renowned artwork featuring the skies above Mallaig, Scotland.
Schueler transitioned to painting at 29, studying under Clyfford Still and Robert Diebenkorn. Moving to New York in 1951, he immersed himself in Abstract Expressionism, associating with luminaries like Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.
In 1957, he first visited Mallaig, leading to a profound connection with its expressive skies. His artwork, blending Abstract Expressionism and a love for J. M. W. Turner's landscapes, aimed to capture the fleeting nature of the sky.
Schueler's art was an attempt to reveal fundamental human truths through his skyscapes, challenging the non-objective approach of his Abstract Expressionist peers. He exhibited at the Whitney Museum in 1975 and in other prestigious institutions. His memoirs, compiled by his widow Magda Salveson, were published as "The Sound of Sleat: A Painter's Life" in 2000.