Hans Schwarz (29 December 1922 – 28 May 2003), was a prolific Austrian artist, who spent most of his life in Britain and was notable for his portrait painting, several examples of which are held by the National Portrait Gallery in London. Schwarz was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and was forced to leave Austria in 1938 when the Nazis took over and he went into exile in Britain.

Biography

Schwarz was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to Jewish parents. His mother died when he was 12 years old, two years before he entered art school in Vienna. With the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'', in 1938, Schwarz was forced to abandon his studies. Shortly, afterwards he left Austria aboard a ''

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

'' and made his way to England. His father, a bank clerk, failed to escape Vienna and later was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Arriving in England, the young Schwarz worked as a labourer for a year at Bournville, before he was interned on the

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as an

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...

. When he was released from internment in 1941, Schwarz enrolled at the Birmingham College of Art and studied there until 1943. Schwarz then spent two years working in a commercial art studio before, when the Second World War ended, establishing himself as a freelance commercial illustrator. He completed several murals for public buildings and also some work for the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

. For almost twenty years Schwarz worked for several high-profile clients, including

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

, the Post Office and BOAC, until in 1964 he decided to concentrate full-time on his painting and sculpture. In 1966 Schwarz and his family moved to Somerset, from Hampstead, where he expanded the range of his work, painting more landscapes, undertaking more sculptures and using watercolours for the first time. From 1970 until his death, Schwarz lived and worked in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

and produced some of his finest work at his studio there. In 1984 the National Portrait Gallery commissioned Schwarz to produce a group portrait of several trade union leaders. The resulting picture of Joe Gormley, Sid Weighell and Tom Jackson in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

with pigeons flying around them is possibly his best known work. Other notable portraits by Schwarz from this period include depictions of

Janet Suzman Dame Janet Suzman, (born 9 February 1939) is a South African-born British actress who enjoyed a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles, among others, on TV. In her first film, ''Nichol ...

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

and the poet

Ivor Cutler Ivor Cutler (born Isadore Cutler, 15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions record ...

. From Greenwich, Schwarz painted several urban landscapes often featuring the streets in his immediate vicinity but also

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...

and the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ha ...

. Schwarz wrote several books on artistic techniques and, with his wife Lena, a book on the

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and fro ...

district of the West Midlands. In 1981, Schwarz won the

Hunting Art Prize The Hunting Art Prize is awarded annually to an artist for excellence in drawing and painting. The prize of $50,000, sponsored by Hunting plc, was established in the United Kingdom in 1981 and was mostly awarded to British artists before relocating ...

for a watercolour painting. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he held a number of well-received exhibitions at commercial galleries. These included a series at the Thackeray Gallery and individual shows at the Compton Gallery in 1983, the

Ben Uri Gallery The Ben Uri Gallery & Museum is a registered museum and charity based at 108a Boundary Road, off Abbey Road in St John's Wood, London, England. It features the work and lives of émigré artists in London, and describes itself as "The Art Museum ...

in 1985, the Woodlands Art Gallery in 1991, the Sternberg Centre in 1992 and the New Academy Gallery in both 1995 and 2001. The auction house

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...

sold the contents of his studio in 2004.

Published works

* ''The Halesowen Story'', 1955, with Lena Schwarz * ''Figure Painting'', 1967 * ''Colour for the Artist'', 1968 * ''Painting in Towns and Cities'', 1969 * ''Draw in Pencil'', 1979 * ''Draw Buildings and Cityscapes'', 1980 * ''Draw Sketches'', 1981 * ''Draw Transport'', 1982, writing as V.Gibbs

Memberships

Schwarz was a member or affiliated with the following organisations: * the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

, * Royal Society of British Artists *

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commissi ...

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

* Contemporary Portrait Society * Chelsea Art Society * Hampstead Artists Council

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz, Hans 1922 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Austrian male artists 20th-century Austrian painters Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art Artists from Vienna Austrian male painters Jewish Austrian artists Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United Kingdom Kindertransport refugees