- 1916
- Born September 12, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Parents, George Arnold and Clara (nee Haase) Schueler.
Childhood and adolescence in Milwaukee where his father is a distributor of Hood tires.
- 1934-1940
- Studies at the University of Wisconsin. B.A. in Economics (1938).
M.A. in English Literature (1940).
- 1940-1941
- Works for the New Haven Evening Register.
- 1941-1944
- Summer at the Breadloaf School of English as a scholarship student. Plans to be a writer. In
September, joins the Air Corps of the United States Army. Basic training in the US. Marries Jane
Elton, August 1942. (Divorced 1952.) Deployed, November 1942, to Molesworth, England. B17 navigator,
303rd Bomber Group, 427th Squadron. Missions over France and
Germany. Spring of 1943, Assistant Command Navigator, 8th Bomber Command. 1st Lieutenant.
Hospitalized. Medical retirement 1944.
- 1944-1947
- Living in Los Angeles. Tries to write a book on his war experience, but meanwhile, articles for
magazines, radio announcing jobs, and a scheme to set up a night club where Anita O' Day would be
the principal singer. Builds a house in Topanga Canyon. Two children were born.
- 1945
- Schueler and his wife sign up for a portrait painting class with David Lax in Los Angeles.
- 1947-1948
- Moves, with the family, to San Francisco, California, where he teaches English Literature at the University of San Francisco.
- 1948-1951
- Summer of 1948 at the California School of Fine Arts (latterly
the San Francisco Art Institute.) Decides to sign on full-time for the fall semester. Particularly
respects Clyfford Still, but also studies under Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, and Hassel Smith.
Mark Rothko taught there summer semester of 1949.
- 1951
- In August, moves to New York. Clyfford Still introduces him to his friends; visits Rothko's studio;
meets Newman, Kline, Reinhardt, etc.
- 1951-1962
- Based in New York. Marries Joellen Hall Todd, Oct 1956. (Divorced March 10, 1959.)
- 1957
- In September sails for Britain and sets up a studio in Mallaig, a small fishing village in Scotland.
- 1958
- Leaves Mallaig in March. Visits Italy before finding a studio in the Parisian suburb of Clamart and
then Arcueil.
- 1959
- Returns in January to his studio in New York.
- 1960-1962
- Teaches at Yale Summer School, Norfolk 1960 and 1961. Visiting artist at Yale University School of Art, New Haven 1960-62. Lives in
Guilford, CT, fall of 1960 to early summer 1961.
- 1962
- Marries Judy Dearing, Jan 27. (Divorced April 25.)
- 1963-1967
- Visiting artist at the Maryland Institute.
- 1964
- June 20, marries Mary Rogers. (Annulled May 5, 1965.)
- 1965
- Summer in Galileo, Majorca, writing.
- 1967-Jan 1970
- Based in Chester, CT.
- 1968-1969
- Head of Graduate and Undergraduate Painting and Sculpture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
- 1970
- Travels to Scotland and finds a studio in Mallaig.
- 1970-1975
- Based entirely in Mallaig.
- 1971
- Films of Scotland produced a half-hour documentary film on Schueler.
- 1972
- Spends three months in Paris, writing.
- 1975
- Moves back to New York. Keeps the studio in Mallaig for the rest of his life. Most years spends
three months in Mallaig.
- 1976
- July 29, marries Magda Salvesen.
- 1981
- The Talbot Rice Art Centre, University of Edinburgh, becomes his studio and exhibition space
for 6 weeks while he paints enormous paintings.
- 1992
- August 5, dies in New York.
- 1999
- Publication of The Sound of Sleat: A Painter's Life, Picador
USA; republished 2023