Bru exhibits Joe Schwartz’s photography in November
Joe Schwartz
Bru Coffeehouse in Atascadero will host an exhibit of lithographs of Joe Schwartz’s photography. The exhibit opens Monday, Nov. 2 and will remain up through the end of the month. An art opening will be held on Thursday, Nov. 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Schwartz lived in Atascadero for 25 yeas before he died in 2013, not long before his 100th birthday. Schwartz is known around the nation for his photography, especially those he took depicting race and the “have-nots.”
“He grew up in the poverty of the Brooklyn slums with his parents, Rose Mandel and Samuel Schwartz, immigrants from Romania and Poland,” said his daughter, Paula Motlo. “He attended Alexander Hamilton High from 1929 to 1933, focusing on commercial art and began experimenting with a cheap camera. Soon after he was drawn to political activism – engaged in street politics proving the value of the ‘have-nots.’ He knew then that his life’s work would be in photography, depicting the conditions of the downtrodden.”
“Meeting of the Minds” by Joe Schwartz
Schwartz was born in Brooklyn and then went to Iwo Jima in World War II as a combat photographer in the 5th Division Marine Corps and later was on staff of Leatherback magazine. Photographs he took during the war were published in Bell Telephone ads, Spearhead Magazine, International Events publication and the United States Camera Year Book in 1946, for which he won best pictures of the year.
At a young age, Schwartz joined the Photo League of New York in the 1930s. He led workshops and was taught by photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange and Eugene Smith. After he served in the WWII, he attended Fred Archer’s School of Photography under the G.I. Bill. He graduated from there in 1953 and then went on to work as a lithographer and started his own printing company, Color Magic.
At Bru, several of his lithographs of photographs he took over the years, especially in New York, will be on display as well as his book, “Folk Photography; Poems I’ve Never Written,” which includes more than 300 of his photographs. Motlo said it is one of the largest publications of photographs of a single photographer.
“How to Climb a Fence” by Joe Schwartz
He’s been recognized for his “lifelong commitment” to document the virtues of diversity. In early 2013, the city of Atascadero kicked off its 100th anniversary by recognizing Schwartz for his photographic work and for turning 100 the same year. In 2012, he was honored at the Celebrating diversity colloquium sponsored by Cal Poly.
“[My dad] has been recognized worldwide for his ability to capture interracial harmony in his photos,” Motlo said. “[His] question has always been, ‘Why can’t we all get along?’ His answer being, ‘We can!'”
In 2016, a permanent exhibit of his work will open in the Smithsonian National Museum ofAfrican-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. His work has been on display in galleries and universities around the country. His photographs are part of the collections at J.Paul Getty Museum, Skirball Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York.
“Acting Out” by Joe Schwartz
“… Joe Schwartz provides a document and vision of American life with a particular focus on the lives of poor and working class people,” said Paul Gardullo, curator of the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture. “His images support our long-term goal of creating a nationally and internationally significant photography collection. His images of interracial cooperation in the 1930s to 1940s, years prior to what most Americans think of when they think of terms like ‘integration’ or the ‘Civil Rights Movement,’ will be of particular use to [Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture], providing a window into a period that will surprise many Americans demonstrating both the great possibility as well as the lost opportunities our shared history across racial lines.”
Bru Coffeehouse is located at 5760 El Camino Real and is open Saturday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call (805) 464-5007.
This gallery will open sometime in 2016 and will contain a permanent collection of Joe Schwartz’s photographs.
