Sahl Swarz
{{short description|American sculptor (1912–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sahl Swarz
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|05|04}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|10|24|1912|05|04}}
| death_place = Pietrasanta, Lucca, Italy
| education = SculptureCenter, Art Students League of New York
| occupation = Sculptor, arts educator
| spouse = Naoco Kumasaka (m. 1978–2004)
}}
Sahl Swarz (May 4, 1912 – October 24, 2004) was an American sculptor and arts educator.{{Cite news |date=December 4, 1977 |title=Library exhibit traces a sculptor's progress |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-ledger-library-exhibit-traces-a/166703576/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |work=The Star-Ledger |pages=123 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=October 12, 1994 |title=Sahl Swarz's local legacy is etched in stone |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-sahl-swarzs-local-lega/166703685/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |work=The Buffalo News |pages=19 |via=Newspapers.com}} His preferred materials were steel and bronze.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxXSAVBZxK8C&q |title=Who's Who in American Art, 1973: A Biographical Directory |date=1973 |publisher=Jaques Cattell Press/R.R. Bowker |isbn=978-0-8352-0611-2 |pages=718 |language=en |chapter=Swarz, Sahl}}
Biography
File:Statue of General Daniel Davidson Bidwell, Buffalo, New York.jpg (1952), Colonial Circle, Buffalo, New York|alt=Bidwell statue in Buffalo (1952)]]
Sahl Swarz was born on May 4, 1912, in New York City, to Jewish emigrants to the United States from the Austrian part of the partitioned Poland.[http://www.artp.ecnet.jp/web-gallery-2009-07.html サール・シュワルツ / Sahl Swarz (1912～2004)], 今月のWeb ギャラリー 2009年7月]
He studied under the instruction of Dorothea H. Denslow of The Clay Club (which has become the SculptureCenter), of which Swarz was assistant director during 1936–1948,{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Anita Price |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yff7WOyNRy8C |title=New Deal Art in North Carolina: The Murals, Sculptures, Reliefs, Paintings, Oils and Frescoes and Their Creators |date=2008-10-29 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-3779-5 |pages=168–169 |language=en}} where he also headed the welded sculpture department for years.Creating Welded Sculpture By Nathan Cabot Hale [https://books.google.com/books?id=WFoYA1URoggC&dq=%22sahl+swarz%22&pg=PA184 p. 184] One of his students was sculptor Barbara Lekberg.{{Cite news|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|date=2018-03-03|title=Barbara Lekberg, Artist With a Blowtorch, Dies at 92|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/obituaries/barbara-lekberg-artist-with-a-blowtorch-dies-at-92.html|access-date=2021-08-30|issn=0362-4331}} He also studied at the Art Students League of New York.{{Cite news |last=Stonestreet III |first=O.C. |date=March 18, 2001 |title=Art: Sculptures were created by Sahl Swarz, an Army man |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/statesville-record-and-landmark-art-scu/166703817/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |work=Statesville Record and Landmark |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}
He taught sculpture at the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. Swarz was an Arts and Letters Awards in art winner (1955),[http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Academy%20Art Arts and Letters Awards in Art] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413124249/http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Academy%20Art |date=April 13, 2014 }} and twice Guggenheim Fellowship recipient (1955, 1958).[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19791101&id=km8-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7VkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3670,145881 "Art museum acquires 4 Swarz sculptures"], Bangor Daily News, November 1, 1979, p.14
In 1978, he married sculptor {{III|Naoco Kumasaka|qid=Q108330124}}, and they moved to live in Japan and later in Verona in province of Lucca, Italy.[http://www.museodeibozzetti.it/assets/files/mdb/collezione/artisti/s000051.php "Kumasaka Naoco"] In 1998, he moved to Pietrasanta, in province of Lucca, Italy.
Swarz died on October 24, 2004, in Pietrasanta, Italy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/sahl-swarz/10126907|title = Sahl Swarz}}
Public works
- Freemen Prosper and Defend Freedom (1948), two wooden sculptures, U.S. Post Office and Federal Building, Statesville, North Carolina
- Statue of Gen. Daniel Davidson Bidwell (1952), Colonial Circle, Buffalo, New York; see image{{Cite web |date=2016-04-09 |title=Sahl Swarz's Local Legacy Is Etched in Stone |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22648406.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409204719/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22648406.html |archive-date=April 9, 2016 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY) |via=HighBeam Research}}{{Cite news |date=2009-07-29 |title=Buffalo's statutes and monuments |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-buffalos-statutes-and/166705465/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |work=The Buffalo News |pages=2}}
- The Guardian (1937), Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina; depicting a young male standing with a long bow and a dog sitting at his feet{{Cite book|last=Salmon|first=Robin R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSnn1u6qmekC&dq=%22sahl+swarz%22&pg=PA22|title=Sculpture of Brookgreen Gardens|date=2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-6656-6|pages=23|language=en}}
- Fountain, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; removed in 1980 due to maintenance issues{{Cite news |date=2006-09-17 |title=Then and Now |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkshire-eagle-then-and-now/166705297/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |work=The Berkshire Eagle |pages=41}}
Publications
- {{Cite book |title=Sahl Swarz: Mosaic and Metal Sculpture |publisher=SculptureCenter |year=1954 |location=New York City |type=exhibition catalogue |oclc=20407294}}
- {{Cite book |title=Fifty Years of Sculpture by Sahl Swarz, 1933–1983 |publisher=La Quaglia |year=1983 |isbn=0839003374 |location=Verona, Italy}}
- Sahl Swarz 1912 -2004: Retrospective of His Life Work, Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, Tokyo, 2007
References
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Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American male artists
Category:20th-century American sculptors
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:Jewish American artists