Leo Schutzman Art
American, Russian, 1878-1962
Leo (Kyle) Schutzman (1878?-1962) developed a reputation in New York in
the 1950s as the ‘Jewish Grandma Moses.’ The characterization was particularly
appropriate. Both artists only took up painting in a serious way in their old age
after retiring from work. They also shared a popular aesthetic style then known as
‘primitivism’ or ‘naive art,’ far from the abstract expressionism that was the art
critic’s darling at the time.
Schutzman was born Leo Kyle in Russia around 1878. His father died when
he was 3 years old and he immigrated to England in his teens, where he remained
for 9 years. When he moved to the United States in 1905, he took the name
Schutzman after a German family who was renting to his nephew, Louis Kyle.
In New York City, Schutzman worked in the Jewish-dominated clothing
industry, producing underwear as well as lace and embroidery. He founded the
Victory Undergarment Company and the business was successful enough to
provide for his family until he retired at about age 74.
After retirement, Schutzman took art courses at the Brooklyn Museum and
began painting. He often depicted scenes of Jewish religious life that he
remembered from childhood in Russia. His work seemed the very definition of
‘naive art’ as it was personified by Grandma Moses in the 1950s. His clumsy
human figures sometimes had no features at all, or were portrayed with just a slash
for the mouth and two dots for the eyes. He had only the vaguest sense of
perspective and often used dissonant colors in unusual places.
Schutzman had his first one-man show in 1958, when he was 80 years old, at
The Contemporaries gallery (992 Madison Ave.). His optimistic primitivism was
popular in the United States in the 1950s as was his backstory; an immigrant who
had succeeded as an entrepreneur in the capitalist system before affirming the
democratic individualist creed that everyone had talents and could accomplish
something at any age. He was soon socializing at parties with people like
heiress/artist Gloria Vanderbilt. One of his ‘non-Jewish’ works depicting a winter
carnival was chosen in 1962 for the United Nations Children’s Fund Christmas
Card Collection.
When Grandma Moses died in 1961, naive art began to lose popularity
Schutzman was living in Glendale Queens when he died at age 83 in 1962 and his
reputation soon disappeared. In 1986, two of his paintings were acquired by the
Jewish Museum in New York City. One of them, “The Wedding,” (c. 1960) was an
iconic portrait of an Ashkenazic wedding. It has been reproduced by the Jewish
Museum on popular stationery, and has appeared in popular books such as The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism.to
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Artist: Leo Schutzman
"Simchat Torah in the Synagogue, " Leo Schutzman, Jewish Folk Art
By Leo Schutzman
Located in New York, NY
Leo Schutzman (1878 - 1962)
Simchat Torah in the Synagogue, circa 1958
Oil on canvas
40 x 36 inches
Signed lower left
Provenance:
The Contemporaries Gal...
Category
1950s Folk Art Leo Schutzman Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
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