Morrison County Influentials: 26-30

Last week’s Morrison County Influentials:

21. George Harting. Artist and photographer. George Harting was born in 1877 in Little Falls, Minnesota, where his parents owned the Harting & Sons Furniture Store. In 1890, Harting & Sons was chosen to oversee the building of the Little Falls City Hall. George attended the Minneapolis Art School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was known for his skill at drawing. His illustrations appeared in the following national magazines: Vogue, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Broadway Magazine, The Circle Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, The Woman’s Home Companion, House & Garden, and Browning’s Magazine. His photographs appeared in Camera Craft, a highly influential photography publication. Brother of Lloyd Harting.

22. Lloyd Harting. Artist. Born in Little Falls, Minnesota, in 1901, Lloyd Harting was one of the Art Directors on the Disney cartoon, Bambi. Lloyd worked for the advertising agency, Brown & Bigelow, and for 20th Century Fox Film Co. Studio. Brother of George Harting.

23. Christian Von Schneidau. Painter. Born in Sweden in 1893, Christian Von Schneidau moved to the Little Falls area with his parents while he was still a teenager. Von Schneidau’s painting of M. M. Williams (see below for this week’s list of Morrison County Influentials) earned him second place at the State Art Society’s show in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Von Schneidau eventually moved to California where he became an important figure in the California Impressionist movement.

24. Don Merrick. Painter. Born in 1929 in Crosby, Minnesota, Don Merrick grew up in Little Falls and graduated from the Little Falls High School. Merrick illustrated the 1946 and 1947 Little Falls High School yearbooks. In the 1950s Merrick was painting in abstract expressionist and surrealist styles. In the 1960s he completed a series of architectural paintings which were later destroyed in a gallery fire. Afer a nine year hiatus from painting following the fire, Merrick created his “Paintings of Real People” series, which focused on depicting people in their working environments. Merrick’s work was exhibited throughout the United States in numerous one-person shows.

25. Lee Mero. Successful commercial artist and illustrator of Christmas greeting cards. Lee Mero was a younger brother of Dr. Frank H. Mero, a prominent dentist in Little Falls around the 1900s. Lee, who was born in 1885 in Ortonville, Minnesota, frequently visited Morrison County and became well known in the Little Falls area. Mero studied art and illustration at the Minneapolis School of Art and later at the Chase School of Art in New York City, both schools which Little Falls artist George W. Harting also attended. Lee won both first and third prizes at the 1918 Minnesota State Fair art exhibit. Merrick worked briefly for the Chas. D. Frey Advertising Co. in Chicago, Illinois, where he designed ads for Coca-Cola. After his return to Minneapolis, he became head of the art department of the George Buzza Company (later Buzza-Cardoza Co.) where he worked on poem cards and posters. Around this time he began to concentrate on Christmas greeting cards. Merrick was a longtime contributor to the Augsburg Publishing House’s famous annual Christmas publication. (For more information on Lee Mero, see the article by Bruce Mellor https://morrisoncountyhistory.org/?page_id=380).

Next week’s Morrison County Influentials are listed below.

26. S. M. Putnam.

27. Nathan Richardson.

28. M. M. Williams.

29. C. B. Buckman.

30. Peter Roy.

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