Artist John Schoenherr died 8 April 2010. Born in New York City on 5 July 1935, he won a Newbery Honor for illustrating Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era by Sterling North (1963), the Hugo for best artist in 1965, and a Caldecott Medal for illustrating Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon (1988).
Schoenherr graduated from New York’s Stuyvesant High School, intent on becoming a biologist. But then turned to art, and studied at The Art Students League of New York and at Pratt Institute. He garnered acclaim as a science fiction illustrator, children’s book illustrator, and wildlife artist, and frequently worked in scratchboard.
Illustrating for Analog under John W. Campbell Jr. and Ben Bova, he illustrated the original serialization of Frank Herbert’s Dune and the cover illos for Anne McCaffrey’s “Weyr Search” and “Dragonrider” (which later became the first Dragonriders of Pern novel).
Discover blogger Carl Zimmer, who met Schoenherr through his son, children’s book author and illustration Ian, announced his death in this post.
Kirk Snavely has a long, in-depth review of Schoenherr and his life’s work, along with a great sampling of his work, on this page. And a full CV is available on this page.
Schoenherr is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Judith Gray, his son Ian, and his daughter Jennifer.