Frank H. Schwarz

Who was Frank H. Schwarz?

Frank Henry Schwarz was an American painter and muralist.

Schwarz was born in New York City in 1894. Later Schwarz's family lived in Chicago, Illinois. When Schwarz's mother died, his father, Frank, returned to New York City, but Schwarz stayed in Chicago to continue his studies at an art school there. Later he served in the Army.

In 1921, he was awarded a fellowship in painting, the Rome Prize, from the American Academy in Rome for his work "Heroism". The prize not only saved an ill Schwarz from eviction, it also allowed him to reunite with his father, who had lost touch with him for six years.

Schwarz became a Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts in 1926.

In 1929, the Brooklyn Museum purchased Schwarz's work "Lugietta".

Several of Schwarz's murals decorate the 1938 Oregon State Capitol, including two large ones in the rotunda, one depicting Lewis and Clark at Celilo Falls, and one depicting an 1843 wagon train: "On the Oregon Trail". Another of his murals is in the Senate chamber behind the Presidents's desk, "Bringing the News to Salem March 17, 1859", depicts the announcement of Oregon's statehood.