Manfred Schwartz, Polish born American (1909 - 1970)

Manfred Schwartz was born in Lodz, Poland on November 11, 1909. He studied in Paris, France at the Sorbonne, and at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. It was in Paris where he met and associated with some of the great masters of the 20th century, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, with whom he formed a special friendship. Manfred continued his studies in New York City at the Art Students League and at the National Academy of Design. He studied with Charles Hawthorne, John Sloan, and George Bridgemen, and exhibited with Edward Hopper, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Andrew Wyeth.

From 1931 through 1934, Manfred Schwartz owned and directed an art gallery at 144 West 13th Street in New York City where he exhibited his own work as well as work by his contemporaries.

Although he considered himself an artist first and foremost, Manfred Schwartz had a well-rounded life. An accomplished musician, Manfred Schwartz played the cello and the piano. He was also a gifted writer, a wordsmith who was known to be a magnificent conversationalist. With this circle of artist and art dealer friends he often talked through the night, taking up the occasional chess game.

Henri Matisse was forty years Manfred’s senior and already a famous artist when the two artists met. Matisse took Schwartz under his wing and advised him to go to Étretat, France for the light and inspiration. It was advise that would soon make Manfred Schwartz the toast of New York City’s art world.

Manfred’s time spent in Étretat was the beginning of a highly sought after body of work. His unique style and breathtaking color compositions were exhibited and sold by art galleries in New York City and in Paris. His art was purchased for the permanent collections of some of the most prestigious art museums in the world including the Guggenheim and the Whitney.

“It takes so long to become one’s self.” This was one of the last things Manfred Schwartz said to his son Paul Waldo Schwartz. In his lifetime Manfred Schwartz created a sensational body of work in oil, pastel, and in a series of hand pulled stone lithographs. His career as a professional artist spanned fifty years and encompassed three major artistic periods. His earliest paintings, portraits and still lifes, were created and exhibited in the 1930s. His use of color was subdued, preferring umbers and grays to the vivid colors he used in later years. In 1940, he began to paint more abstract figures, and by the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s he created a series of limited edition hand pulled stone lithographs at the famed Mourlot Studios in Paris, France.

He was not an old man when he died, but Manfred Schwartz did live to enjoy a fruitful and respected art career. Manfred Schwartz passed away at the age of 61. He was one of the most successful living artists in New York City and was at the time of his death under contract to Knoedler Gallery. The Knoedler held two posthumous exhibits. The Rhode Island School of Design and the Whitney Museum both gave retrospective exhibitions shortly after Manfred passed.

Click for larger images and information:

Flamenco Dancers hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper	Celestial hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper
Judgment of Paris hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper	Frog at Étretat hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper
Étretat hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper	Étretat hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper
Medrano Clown with Flower hand pulled stone lithograph on Arches paper	Trampolinists original pastel on paper