William S. Schwartz Figurative Paintings

Portrait of an Old Man with Cane, by American artist William S. Schwartz, c. 1940, gouache painting, signed l.l, framed. William S. Schwartz (February 23, 1896 – February 10, 1977) was an American artist who lived and worked in Chicago. Schwartz was born in Smorgon in Belarus, then in the Russian Empire in 1896. His parents were Samuel Schwartz and Tauba Reznikoff. At the age of thirteen, he moved to the nearby city of Vilna to attend art school. Four years later, he emigrated to the United States and eventually enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating, he put his art career on hold to concentrate on a budding career as an opera singer. When Schwartz returned to painting, he distinguished himself with dreamy, symbolist works and abstractions that tended to bewilder viewers. He also scandalized conservative audiences with numerous lithographs of nude women. During the Great Depression, Schwartz became an artist on the Federal Art Project (WPA) payroll painting murals. He was one of the seven WPA artists who contributed to a mural at Riccardo's, Schwartz (Music), Malvin Albright (Sculpture), Ivan Alrbight (Drama), Aaron Bohrod (Architecture), Rudolph Weisenborn (Literature), Vincent D’Agostino (Painting), and Ric Riccardo (Dance). In 2002 Chicago philanthropist Seymour H. Persky acquired the murals for his personal collection. Through the WPA, Schwarz received commissions to produce murals in post offices and public spaces. He created his “Americana Series,” a group of four paintings featuring poets, painters, composers and scientists. His Composersdepicts four contemporary musicians, among them, Victor Herbert. The mural was discovered at Glencoe Public Library, IL, in 2007, and include: Americana No. 1 Poets: Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Edgar Allen Poe; Americana No. 2 Painters: Saint Gaudens, Bellows, Sargent, Innes, Whistler and Homer; Americana No. 3 Composers: Herbert, DeKoven, Chadwick, MacDowel; Americana No. 4 Scientists: Thomas Alva Edison, Steinmetz, Alexander Graham Bell...