Yuri "George" Schwebler (1942–1990), was a Yugoslavia-born American conceptual artist and sculptor. He was active in the arts in the 1970s in Washington, D.C. and most notably in February 1974, he transformed the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and th ...

into a sundial. He showed his work at the Jefferson Place Gallery.

Biography

Yuri Schwebler was born on November 21, 1942 in

Feketić Feketić ( sr-cyr, Фекетић, hu, Bácsfeketehegy, german: Feketitsch or ) is a village located in the Mali Iđoš municipality, in the North Bačka District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The village has ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

(now Serbia), and raised in West Germany. At the time of his birth and early childhood,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

occupied Yugoslavia. In 1956, he emigrated and moved with his family to Wilmington,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. He graduated from Warner Junior High School and Seaford High School (in 1962) in Delaware. He attended

Western Maryland College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

(now McDaniel College). In 1965, Schwebler was drafted in to the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

. After his discharge from the U.S. Army, he started using the anglicized name George Schwebler. By 1967, he moved to Washington, D.C. He had been married to Joanne Hedge from 1968 to 1970. Together they moved to Marin County, California, and for a time he worked at the . When the marriage dissolved in March 1970, he spent two months at the

Mendocino State Hospital Mendocino State Hospital, formally known as Mendocino State Asylum for the Insane, was a psychiatric hospital in Talmage near Ukiah, California, was established in 1889 and in operation from July 1893 to 1972. The hospital programs included the ...

before returning to Washington D.C. He moved to New York in 1980, and stopped making art around 1981.

Death and legacy

Schwebler died at age 47 on March 3, 1990 in Marlborough, New York by suicide and

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

. He was survived by his partner, artist Enid Sanford, his mother Eva (née Lasi) Schwebler, and two sisters. His work was part of the posthumous retrospective art exhibition, ''Yuri Schwebler: The Spiritual Plan'' (2020) curated by John James Anderson at the

American University Museum The American University Museum is located within the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. History and description The American University Museum consists of a three-story, museum and sculpture garden. The region’ ...

Work

His work ''Drawing Table: Table Drawing'' (1971), featured tools placed on a drawing table, and the surface of the drawing table has drawings of the same tools. Other works include ''Range pole'' (1975) a

plumb bob A plumb bob, plumb bob level, or plummet, is a weight, usually with a pointed tip on the bottom, suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line, or plumb-line. It is a precursor to the spirit level and used to establish a verti ...

and a level placed in a glass and wood box; and ''The Scale of the Horse'' (?) a small maquette of a horse, a device for enlarging the maquette to appear life size, and a final drawing of a horse. In 1973, Schwebler showed a series of large glass pyramid sculptures at

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips (art collector), Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the ...

. In a 1981 exhibition in the

Hudson River Museum The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County. The Yonkers Museum, founded in 1919 at City Hall, became the Hudson River Museum in 1948. While often considered an art museum by th ...

, Schwebler recreated of the art studios for sculptors

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

(''In the Tracks of Calder''), Piet Mondrian, Alberto Giacometti (''Giacometti’s Table here Painting Meets Sculpture', 1981), David Smith and Constantin Brancusi but adding his own creativity on some of them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwebler, Yuri 1942 births 1990 deaths Yugoslav emigrants to the United States McDaniel College alumni Suicides in New York (state) American conceptual artists American male sculptors United States Army reservists Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning