BERNARD BRYSON SHAHN (1903-2004)
Available Work | Biography
Biography • Bernarda Bryson Shahn (1903-2004)
Georges Schreiber was a well-known American Scene painter at the height of his career in the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1904, Schreiber's earliest art instruction was the German Real Gymnasium in Brussels (1913-1918). He also studied at the Arts and Crafts School in Elberfeld, Germany (1920), and at the Academies of Fine Art in Berlin and in Dusseldorf (1922). In 1928, when he came to the United States, Schreiber contributed his drawings and cartoons to most of New York's daily papers to give himself a basis of support until he found a dealer to represent him. He set up a studio at 145 West 14th Street. Brownwell-Lampson Galleries represented Schreiber until 1931. After that, his dealers in New York were ACA Galleries and Associated American Artists Gallery. Stendhal Galleries in Los Angeles also handled his work for many years.
From 1936 to 1939, Georges Schreiber made six long trips touring the United States painting and sketching life from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from Maine to Oregon. The paintings captured the characteristics of Americans in every state. He exhibited these paintings at Associated American Artists so successfully that they were all sold before the show opened. The proceeds of this exhibition allowed Schreiber to purchase a summer home on Martha's Vineyard, where his neighbor and good friend was Thomas Hart Benton. During this time, Schreiber became a regular exhibitor at the annual and biennial exhibitions held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.
From 1941 to 1945, Schreiber was commissioned by the United States Army and Navy to do a series of works. One project in 1943 was a joint effort with his friend Thomas Hart Benton to capture life aboard a submarine. Schreiber also painted the War Bond posters "Keep them Flying," "Back the Attack," and the fifth War Loan poster "Fire Away." In 1958, Schreiber joined the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York, and in 1964 he was artist-in residence at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
Schreiber died in New York in 1977. A memorial exhibition was held at Kennedy Galleries, his dealer since 1970. In 1994, D. Wigmore Fine Art became the exclusive dealer for the Schreiber estate.
Among the collections with works by Georges Schreiber are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of the City of New York, Brooklyn Museum, Montclair Art Museum, Newark Museum of Art, Springfield Museum of Art, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Library of Congress, White House Library, Toledo Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Bibliothéque Nationale, and the Museum of Tel Aviv.