"Mums" William S. Schwartz, Yellow Flowers, Cubist, Modern Still Life
By William S. Schwartz
Located in New York, NY
William S. Schwartz
Still Life with Yellow Mums, circa 1950
Signed lower right
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
Provenance:
Private Collection, Massachusetts
William Schwartz was born in Smorgon, Russia, in 1896, one of nine children in a poor family. He studied art at an early age, earning a scholarship at the Vilna Art School in Russia, 1908–12. He immigrated to the United States at age 17 in 1913, living in New York with his sister for eight months and then moving to Omaha, Nebraska, to live with his brother in 1915. Working as a house painter, he turned his attention to art, studying briefly with J. Laurie Wallace at the Kellom School in Omaha before moving to Chicago. He entered the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1916, studying with Ivan Trutnev and Karl A. Buehr, and graduating with honors in life drawing, portraiture, and painting in 1917. He supported himself as a tenor singer in vaudeville, concerts, and opera and received favorable reviews, but he chose to pursue painting instead of singing. His circle of artist friends included important Chicago modernists Aaron Bohrod, Malvin and Ivan Albright, Archibald Motley Jr., and Anthony Angarola...
Category
Mid-20th Century Cubist Still-life Paintings