SCHLIENGER, Oscar

Oskar Schlienger born in Basel, Switzerland, 1905 Studied art in Switzerland studying portraiture.

Moved to Canada in 1930 first settling in Montreal were he met and married Suzanne Brunet.

During the 1930s Oscar met Leonard Brooks who mentored Oscar in landscape painting. Later Oscar taught himself watercolour painting.

1939 Oscar was in charge of Murals for Canada at the Worlds Fair in Chicago.

During the war he lived in Toronto and he did war cartoons for the Globe and Mail through 1942 and 1943. He did these cartoons as his war effort since he could not join the army. And he felt because of his name people often thought he was German and he wanted to show he wasn't sympathetic to Germany during the war.

He worked as a commercial artist while he lived in Toronto until 1945 or thereabouts.

He and Suzanne moved first to Lakefield, Ontario and then to Peterborough and lived there until Suzanne died in 1970.

Oskar taught at the Haliburton School of Fine Arts, Mary Schnider's School of Fine Arts and Sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough. As well he travelled in his little VW bug to Cobalt, Timmins and Deep River to teach.

After Suzanne died Oscar moved to Bancroft, Ontario where he lived until his death in 1991.