biography of Sam(uel) WARSHAW (1891-1954)

Birth place: Kovno, Russia

Death place: Queens, NYC

Addresses: Queens, NYC/ Great River, LI, NY (summers)

Profession: Scenic artist, painter, teacher

Studied: Pruett Carter, Harvey Dunn, Norman Rockwell, at Adelphi College (1920s); G. Bridgman, K. Nicolaides at ASL, NY (1929); F.V. Dumond (1933)

Exhibited: NAC, group shows, 1950-53; Lynn Kottler Galleries, 1961 (retrospective, of Samuel Warshaw and his brother, Nathan)

Member: NAC, c.1950; Kit Kat Art Group, c.1947; ASL (life member); United Scenic Artists Local Union 829 (founded 1918; charter member)

Work: mural, Timken Bearing Co. (commission); Firestone Exh., WFNY, 1939; thirty-foot portrait, Franklin D. Roosevelt for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey, 1942; scenery for all Lindsay-Crouse productions on Broadway; for Gypsy," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Harvey," "State of the Union," (and portrait of Ruth Hussey); "Eve of St. Mark," portrait of Jo Meilziner (famous stage designer)."

Comments: Warshaw discovered his talent as a child drawing on the sidewalks of New York's Lower East Side with chalk and coal. To support his family he started to work at age 14 and also began his art education in the evenings. While working as a scenic artist for theater productions, he pursued a fine arts career as well. He painted in oils until 1940, then began working in egg white tempera, producing a number of portraits and marine landscapes between 1940-47 in this medium. Thereafter, Warshaw painted primarily in watercolors. Painting for the love of it, Warshaw never sold his paintings; his collection is largely intact. Teaching: ASL, 1950 until his death in 1954 (replaced his mentor, Frank Vincent Dumond.)

Sources: info courtesy of Florence Bloch, Craftsbury Common, VT and Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.