William S. Schwartz May 11, 2007

William S. Schwartz
Second Exhibition from The William S. Schwartz Estate Collection
Opening Reception Friday, May 11, 2007 from 7-10pm
On View May 11 - May 26, 2007

Corey Helford Gallery is pleased to present the Second Exhibition from The William S. Schwartz Estate Collection. The show will feature a variety of oil paintings, including a 1926 self-portrait of the artist as well as a series of portraits in pastels from the 1924 and 1925 International Watercolor Shows at the Art Institute of Chicago. The William S. Schwartz Estate Collection has remained within the family since his death in 1977, and the Second Exhibition follows Corey Helford Gallery’s April 2006 debut of The Estate Collection, which they presented to the public for the first time in thirty years. The reception for the Second Exhibition will take place on Friday, May 11 from 7 to 10pm and is open to the public. The show will remain on view until May 26, 2007.

Considered to be one of the most prolific artists of his generation, William S. Schwartz (1896-1977) was born in Smorgon, Russia and studied at the Vilna Art School under a four-year scholarship. At the age of fifteen, he emigrated to the United States and continued to study fine art the Kellom School in Omaha and the Art Institute of Chicago, while supporting himself as principal tenor in local vaudeville, radio, concert, and operatic performances. As passionate about music as he was art, Schwartz incorporated his love for both into a series of abstract paintings entitled Symphonic Forms. Schwartz’s work demonstrated his skill at moving easily between abstraction and realism as well as his modernist ideas about space and form. A W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) artist, Schwartz contributed to the more than 400,000 public works of art created during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s tenure as President. Skilled in oil and watercolor painting, lithography, and sculpture, his work has been included in exhibitions worldwide in addition to numerous private and public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Library of Congress, Department of Labor, Musee Julf (France), Tel Aviv Museum (Israel), and Biro-Bidjan Museum (Russia). Since 1922, Schwartz has been featured in more than one hundred publications and noted by major art critics throughout the nation.

Official Website: http://www.coreyhelfordgallery.com