Joseph Schwartz
Folk Photographer (1913-2013)

Iwo Jima Combat

- Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant Neighborhood

- Poverty in Brooklyn, New York City, Los Angeles, California, and elsewhere

- Interracial harmony

Exhibitions
April 5, 2013-Present: Honoring Joe Schwartz (1913-2013) at Mama Ganache Chocolates 1445 Monterey St. SLO, CA. Opening reception April 5th 6-9pm at Art After Dark. Litho prints and Folk Photography book on sale.
February 12-15, 2013: Atascadero Celebrates their
Centennial "100 meets 100 - Atascadero, California the home of one of the most celebrated Folk Photographers in the nation, Joe Schwartz.". Atascadero and Joe Schwartz are turning 100 in 2013. February 13th - Reception honoring Joe Schwartz; Photographic exhibit, presentations, music, and appetizers at Atascadero City Hall.
Currently Touring "The Radical Camera; New York's Photo League 1936-1951"

Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach Florida (Upcoming Exhibit:March 14, 2013 - June 16, 2013)
The Contemporary Jewish Museum - San Francisco, California
Columbus Museum of Art - Columbus, Ohio
The Jewish Museum - New York City, New York

2012-February 2013 Olive Tree Gallery - Atascadero, California
Present (Permanent Exhibit) Envisions Gallery - Atascadero, California
2012 Joebella Coffee Roasters, Templeton, CA
2012 Cal Poly State University Kennedy Library - San Luis Obispo, California
2010 Red Tree Gallery - Atascadero, California
2008 Black & White Gallery - Atascadero, California
2007 Santa Barbara Museum of Art "A Black and White View" - Santa Barbara, California
2006 Steynberg Gallery - San Luis Obispo, California
2005 San Luis Obispo Art Center "Joe Schwartz at Home" - San Luis Obispo, California
2005 Indiana Historical Society - Indianapolis, Indiana
2005 Skirball Musem of Art - Los Angeles, California
2004 University Concourse Gallery, University of Tennesse - Knoxville, Tennesse
2004 Public Library of Charlotte, Mecklenberg County - Charlotte, North Carolina
2004 Missouri Historical Society - St Louis, Missouri
2004 Birmingham Civil Rights Institute - Birmingham, Alabama
2004 Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida - Coral Gables, Florida
2004 San Francisco Photo Show - San Francisco, California
2003 Louisiana State University Union Art Gallery - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
2002 Picker Gallery at Colgate University - Hamilton, New York
2002 Cohen Gallery - Los Angeles, California
2002 Shapiro Gallery - San Francisco, California
2001 Daiter Gallery - Chicago, Illinois
1996 Cohen Gallery - Los Angeles, California
1996 Karpeleles Museum - Santa Barbara, California
1995 Pepperdine University - Malibu, California
1994 One Man Show - Titled “Poems I’ve Never Written” - Wadsworth Atheneum - Celebrating Black History Month. Hartford, CT
1994 One Man Show - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA
1994 Amistad Museum - Mystic Seaport, Connecticut
1993 11th Annual Artists Salute to Black History Month - Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza - L.A., CA
1990 “Photo League-Exhibit” Boston College Art Gallery -Group showing in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
1990 “Photo League” Group show at Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, N.Y.
1989 Annual Art Benefit Dinner & Auction - Painters and Photographers. Museum of African American Art
1989 “Joe Schwartz. Peoples' Photographer” celebrating Black History Month in Atascadero, Calif. (Library)
1988 “Time of Your Life” - Los Angeles Convention Center
1987 “The Photo League. 1936-1951” Gallery Association of New York State -2 year tour thru New York State
1986 “The Peoples' Photographer” - Museum of African American Art - L.A.
1983 Permanent Exhibit - “Westside Independent Services For The Elderly” Santa Monica, California
1980 The Galarie - Combo - Painter and Photographer -“Folk Art”, Venice, CA
1980 Leigh Yeakey Woodsen Museum of Art - “Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League” group show
1980 “Folk Photographer. Joe Schwartz” Clark Humanities Museum -Scripps College, Claremont, California
1979 University of Iowa Museum of Art - “Photo League” group show
1978 “Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League” - Group show National Gallery of Canada
1978 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - “Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League” , Group show in Houston. Texas
1977 “Artistic Reflections on Black History” sponsored by Los Angeles High School Art Dept.. Los Angeles, CA
1976 “I Remember” presented by Black Studies Center Claremont College, Clark Humanities Museum, Claremont, CA
1976 “I Remember” - One Man Show. The Gallery. Los Angeles, CA
1972 “For Sale” benefit for Southern Conference Educational Fund
1971 “Group Arts Show” Westwood Art Association, CA
1970 “Photography - As Eye See It”, Westside Jewish Community Center, L.A., CA
1970s "One Man Show, Joe Schwartz” Fullerton College. Anaheim. CA
1967 “The Canvas And The Camera” 2 painters - 2 photographers, Downey Museum of Art - Downey, CA
1965 “1 -2 -3 -For The Show” Painter, Sculptor and Photographer -Los Angeles Museum of Art - Barnsdall Park
1964 “Retro”Veterans Hospital - Brentwood, California
1963 "Love Story of a Photographer" Synanon House, Santa Monica, CA
1960s "I Remember” - Retrospective, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, CA
1950s Douglas Aircraft - National Group Exhibit. Awarded lst place by Lionel Barrymore, judge
1950s "Photo Retrospective, Joe Schwartz" lst Unitarian Church, Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Steve Fritchman, minister
1950s Los Angeles Photo League - Helped organize Group Showing and Critique by Weegee
1948 Kingsboro Housing Project - "Community League of Kingsboro Activities", Brooklyn, N.Y.
1948 1 day exhibit "Fight for Playgrounds" Harlem school basketball court
1939-40 Photo League group showing and critique

Biography

Born in the Williamsburgh section of Brooklyn, New York, Joe grew up in the poverty of the Brooklyn slums. His parents, Rose Mandel and Samuel Schwartz, were immigrants from Poland and Romania. From 1929-1933 he attended Alexander Hamilton High School, where he concentrated on commercial art, and began experimenting with an inexpensive camera. Soon after he became an activist, engaged in street politics, and became interested in proving the high value of the "have-nots". He knew that his life's work would be in photography, depicting the condition of the poor and downtrodden. After a short stint at the Pratt Institute where he learned the fundamentals of art composition, he attained a job at Haloid Paper Co. where he learned lithography.
In 1936 his friend Dave Robbins led him to join the Photo League. He and the legendary Photo League (Sid Grossman was President and Eugene Smith, Dorthea Lange, and Margaret Bourke-White were among the members) shared a commitment to portraying the lives of America's working people in their urban environment, and these commitments often extended to the realistic portrayal of African-Americans as well. Joe wanted to illustrate the truth through his photography. He let his camera speak for him to show the social and economic injustice of the times.
In 1939 Joe married modern dancer, Anne Paley.
In 1943 he joined the Marine Corps on the staff of Leatherneck Magazine, where he served in the 5th Division as a combat photographer on Iwo Jima from D-day until the end of the campaign. During his enlistment, his wartime photos were used in Bell Telephone's advertisements, the Iwo Jima edition of 5th Division "Spearhead" magazine, and in the weekly publication of "International Events", before being honorably discharged from San Leandro Hospital.
In 1946, Joe moved his family into the Kingsboro housing Project; a well- integrated block of apartments in Brooklyn where he was elected president of the tenets union, continuing his political activism.
In 1953 Joe graduated from Fred Archer's School of Photography under the G.I. Bill. Through the 1960's and 1970's he worked for Western Litho Co., Clement's, Pacific Press, Synanon House (photographic section) and started his own business entitled "Magic Color." Through the 1970's and 1980's Joe's work was featured in publications such as: Photographic Quarterly, KPFK FOLIO, Independent Publishing Fund of the Americas, Claremont, California Newspaper "Courier", Catalogue "The Photo League", Aperture Magazine and book "Jacob Lawrence, Paintings and Sculpture". In 1990 Joe began working on his book, Folk Photography - "Poem's I've Never Written" (contains 150 photos, 213 pages) and in 2000 he set up a digital in-home studio and published the long-awaited book.
In 1985 Joe moved to Atascadero, California in order to be closer to his daughter Paula Motlo's growing family, Grandchildren Damian Motlo and Sheena Motlo.
In 1990 Joe began working on his book, Folk Photography - "Poem's I've Never Written" (contains 150 photos, 213 pages) and in 2000 he set up a digital in-home studio and published the long-awaited book.
On March 16, 2013, at 99 years old, Joe passed away in Atascadero, California.
He has been recognized worldwide for his astonishing ability to capture interracial harmony. His work is currently being displayed at The Norton Museum of Art in South Palm Beach, FL as a part of "The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League 1936-1951". This exhibit runs through June 16. A collection of Joe's work will soon reside in The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian's 19th museum which will open on the National Mall in Washington DC in 2015. Joe was interviewed by the Smithsonian as a part of the Archives of the American Art's Oral History Interviews of American Photographers Project which started in 1958 to document the history of visual arts in the United States.
Recent honors include: lifetime commitment to diversity on February 6, 2012 at California Polytechnic State University's Colloquium; "Celebrating Diversity" and, in conjunction with Atascadero's Centennial Celebration, Schwartz was honored by the city on what would have been his 100th year.
Joe Schwartz was an artist who sought to capture the humanity within us so that we might see and appreciate the humanity in ourselves and in others. Joe asked, "Why can't we all get along?" His answer was, "We can."

Media Links:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/JoeSchwartzPhoto#

KSBY - Video "Central Coast Remembering Joe Schwartz"
VIDEO: The Central Coast is remembering Joe Schwartz

Daily Mustang - "Cal Poly, SLO 'Celebrating Diversity'
http://mustangdaily.net/colloquium/

The Tribune - "Times Past: Joe Schwartz Lets His Photos Do The Talking"
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/02/06/1937025/times-past-joe-schwartz-let-his.html

Atascadero News "City's Centennial Celebration Begins"
http://www.atascaderonews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=5747

KCET "A Camera with a Conscience: Documenting Diversity in America"
http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/san-luis-obispo/joe-schwartz-atascadero-photographer.html

The S.L.O. Tribune “Fundraiser for Cal Poly to bring photo cooperative’s story into focus”
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/02/04/2380709/fundraiser-for-cal-poly-to-bring.html

Atascadero Chamber of Commerce Business Reporter: New From the City "Atascadero & Schwartz Turn 100" + "Centennial Festivities Begin in February"
http://www.atascaderochamber.org/files/newsletters/Newsletter_1-2013_Online_PDF.pdf

Smithsonian PSA - "Get Involved with NMAAHC"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zed5HA8kzoU

Photo League's "Oridinary Miracles" Documentary Preview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmr_L1KVdUY

Atascadero Centennial - Joe Schwartz: Celebrating 100 Years of Achievement
http://www.joeschwartzatascaderocentennial.org

San Luis Obispo Tribune - Times Past: Joe Schwartz of Atascadero captured images of history
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/07/21/2151753/times-past-joe-schwartz-of-atascadero.html

San Luis Obispo Tribune - Times Past: Joe Schwartz lets his photos do all the talking
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/02/06/1937025/times-past-joe-schwartz-let-his.html

The Jewish Muesum - The Radical Camera
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/photoleague
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/PhotoLeagueRelease

Time Magazine - The Radical Camera
http://lightbox.time.com/2012/01/10/the-radical-camera-new-yorks-photo-league/#1

KSBY - Smithsonian
http://www.ksby.com/news/98-year-old-atascadero-photographer-s-works-to-be-displayed-in-new-smithsonian/

The New York Photo Review
http://nyphotoreview.com/NYPR_REVS/NYPR_REV2000.html

Luminous Lint
http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Joe__Schwartz/A/

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