Howard B. Schleeter

Howard B. Schleeter was born in 1903 in Buffalo, New York. He studied at Albright Art School in New York and later moved to New Mexico in 1929; he was married a year later. Howard struggled in his early career as a painter but was able to get occasional work in commercial art. During 1936-1942 Schleeter received commissions from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WAP art program. In 1954 he was included in a young artist’s exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. He taught classes at the University of New Mexico from 1950-1951 and 1954.

Schleeter’s work was shown extensively during his lifetime in the U.S. and internationally. Today his work is included in the collections of several prominent institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Dallas Museum of Art, the de Young Museum and the Museum of New Mexico.

Later in life he struggled with Parkinson’s disease but his passion to paint was still strong. Howard taught himself to paint with his other hand and eventually used his teeth to paint as his disease worsened. He died in Placitas, NM in 1976.