John A. Schweitzer is a Canadian artist known for mixed-media collage incorporating text. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, first place at the international exhibition Schrift und Bild in der modernen Kunst in 2004, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from The University of Western Ontario in 2011. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 2003Members' Gallery: John A. Schweitzer." Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Web. and to the Ontario Society of Artists (OAS) in 2006."Member Roster: John A Schweitzer." Ontario Society of Artists. Web. His work is found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa ON), Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau QC), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto ON), Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Quebec QC), Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Glenbow Museum (Calgary AB), Winnipeg Art Gallery, Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton NB), The Rooms Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's NL), and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (New York NY).
Schweitzer explored painting, sculpture, photography, installation and performance art but adopted collage as his primary medium by 1991.Castro, Ricardo L. "A Taxonomy of Collecting." John A. Schweitzer’s Benjamin’s Alphabet: Diary of a Series. London ON: The University of Western Ontario, 2014. 1. RCA Archive His work references literature, art and architecture through a "plethora of coloured paper, torn posters, newspaper fragments, envelopes, stickers, postage stamps, cardboard boxes, shopping bags, straw, bits of metal, shards of pottery and other objets trouvés." Organized in thematic series, Schweitzer's subject matter ranges from Virgil's Aeneid in Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (1991) to 9/11 terrorism in Fresh Kills: XXIV Elegies (2003).Castro, Ricardo L. A Taxonomy of Collecting. 5. Inspired by abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell and writers from T.S. Eliot to Proust or Goethe,Castro, Ricardo L. John A. Schweitzer, The Shapes of Time: 1991-2001. Montreal: Visual Arts Centre, 2001. 11-17. Print. Schweitzer incorporates ephemera to "instill or arouse... an intellectual curiosity... as well as sharpen and heighten visual literacy."Winders, Jason. "Exhibition marks alumnus’ 40th anniversary." Western News 27 Nov. 2014. Web. Art critic John K. Grande described his work as "subtly enigmatic, these autobiographical, wry and witty narratives allude to history, time, life."Grande, John K. "John Schweitzer’s Pretty Arcade." Border Crossings 19.4 (Nov. 2000) 80. Print.
Career John Andrew Schweitzer was born in 1952 in Simcoe, Ontario, and grew up in the rural community of Delhi, Ontario. With ambitions to become a writer, he enrolled at The University of Western Ontario in 1971.Cohen, Mike. "Jewish artist, philanthropist continues to thrive." Jewish Tribune 11 Dec 2012. Print. However following an Art History course, he studied painting under Paterson Ewen and was awarded a gold medal in Visual Arts and Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974."Biography." Schweitzer in Seriation: 1991-2005, Montreal: Eleanor London Gallery, Côte Saint-Luc Public Library, 2005. 6. Print. Exhibition. He continued his studies in Toronto under multidisciplinary artists Tim Whiten and Vera Frenkel at York University and graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts in 1978. Following graduation Schweitzer lived in New York City where he performed in Vera Frenkel's film Signs of a Plot, viewed at the Museum of Modern Art (New York NY), and then in Zurich.Castro, Ricardo L. John A. Schweitzer, The Shapes of Time: 1991-2001. 15. As both artist and art dealer during the early 1980s, he travelled frequently to Europe and America. In 1984 Schweitzer exhibited at The New Museum in New York City where he was awarded Third Prize by curator Marcia Tucker.Castro, Ricardo L. John A. Schweitzer, The Shapes of Time: 1991-2001. 18. That same year, he moved to Montreal and opened the contemporary art gallery, Galerie John A. Schweitzer where he exhibited the work of such local artists as Richard-Max Tremblay and international artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe.
As gallerist, Schweitzer introduced young artists such as Richard-Max Tremblay,Lamarre, André. Richard-Max Tremblay. Portrait. Les editions du passage. 2011. pp.133-4. . with "thought-provoking exhibitions and animated social events".Travis, Heather. "Be original and innovative: Schweitzer." Western News 28 Oct. 2011. Web. As artists Louis Comtois and Robert Mapplethorpe were infected with HIV,Cloutier, Mario. "Fondation Schweitzer: 1,5 million pour les artistes atteints du sida." La Presse 2 Dec 2009. Web. in 1986 he organized the first AIDS benefit art auction in Canada,"Osler Library Archive Collections: P177 Aids Collection." The Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Web. and established the John A. Schweitzer Foundation in 1994. As artist, in 1997 Schweitzer exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and in 1998 he joined The Kootz Gallery, New York, which represented Motherwell, Hofmann, and Conrad Marca-Relli."John A. Schweitzer CV." RCA. 1-6. RCA Archive Web. Increasingly known for collage, a series of reviewed solo exhibitions held at the Goethe Institute in Toronto, the University of Western Ontario in London, as well as in Montreal at the Visual Arts Centre and Galerie Christiane Chassay established his reputation.Reinblatt, Melanie. "John A. Schweitzer, The Arcadian Suite." ETC 52 (Winter 2000-01): 53-54. Web.Brunet-Weinmann, Monique. "John A. Schweitzer: une histoire de cadre." Vie des arts 181 (Winter 2000-01): 57. Web. He also continued to work as art critic or theorist and, in 2001, was appointed adjunct professor at McGill University's School of Architecture. To devote more time to art, in 2004 he closed Galerie John A. Schweitzer. That year, as Canada's representative, Schweitzer exhibited with Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Julian Schnabel and Lawrence Weiner at Schrift und Bild in der modernen Kunst (Hanover, Germany) where he was awarded First Place (Erster Stelle). He was also awarded public art commissions for the Montreal General Hospital, Jewish Public Library of Montreal and Astral Media in Montreal, Baycrest Health Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto and North York General Hospital in Toronto, and the Paul Davenport Theatre in London, Ontario."John A. Schweitzer CV." RCA. 22-26. RCA Archive Web. In 2014 Schweitzer donated Fresh Kills: Elegy XXIV 24 to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City,Pearce, Daniel R. "Delhi artist's work part of American exhibit." Simcoe Reformer 3 Jul. 2014. Web. where he was represented by Nasser & Co., a dealer of Picasso, Warhol, and Basquiat. Also that year, a solo exhibition was held at The University of Western Ontario to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his graduation.
Collections Schweitzer's work is found in many public collections including: the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa ON), Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa ON), Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau QC), Canadian Museum for Human Rights (Winnipeg MB), Textile Museum of Canada (Toronto ON), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto ON), Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Quebec QC), Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, McCord Museum of Canadian History (Montreal QC), Glenbow Museum (Calgary AB), Winnipeg Art Gallery, Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton NB), and The Rooms Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's NL). Internationally his work is found at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (New York NY), Stonewall Library and Archives (Fort Lauderdale FL), and World Erotic Art Museum Miami. His work is also collected in depth at The University of Western Ontario (London ON), York University (Toronto ON), Université de Montréal, and McGill University (Montreal QC). Many of his posters can be found in the AIDS Collection held at the Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University.
Recognition By the late 1990s, Schweitzer was recognized for his graphic style and complex themes. Curator Ricardo L. Castro described Schweitzer's distinctive "L" leitmotiv of verticals and horizontals as a merger of Western and Eastern influences,Castro, Ricardo L. "A Taxonomy of Collecting." 4. and the primacy of image over text as reflective of Renaissance paragone.Castro, Ricardo L. John A. Schweitzer, The Shapes of Time: 1991-2001. 16. Castro also compared Schweitzer's use of literary references to Robert Motherwell, printed text to Jasper Johns, colour to Hans Hofmann, and evocative power to Cy Twombly.Castro, Ricardo L. John A. Schweitzer, The Shapes of Time: 1991-2001. 10-13. Art critic John Stracuzza in Parachute commented on the "evident sprezzatura – a sense of both disciplined craft and spontaneous fantasy – in his work." Reviewer Melanie Reinblatt described his use of objet trouvé as both literal and associative: "In his work each collage fragment is the bearer of meaning, and [when] placed in proximity to another fragment, will alter meaning by various degrees." For Vie des arts reviewer Monique Brunet-Weinmann, his work defies a simplistic reading: "its merit lies in challenging... not modernity and history, but the modernist conception of modern history." In 2005 art critic Henry Lehmann of the Montreal Gazette wrote, "Schweitzer comes off as one of Canada's most unusual talents, a supreme master of contradiction, illusion and disillusion."Lehmann, Henry. "42 Collages Test Force and Balance." The Gazette, Montreal 15 Nov. 2005. Print.
In recognition of his artistic achievement, Schweitzer was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2003 and to the Ontario Society of Artists in 2006. His work is included in Government of Ontario's collection and was displayed in the Premier's office in 2013.Doktor, Sarah. "Collage by Delhi native hangs in premier's offices at Queen's Park." Delhi News-Record 27 Sep. 2013. Web. Also known for his financial support of the arts, Schweitzer received a national citation for philanthropy from Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in 2005. A longtime benefactor of his alma mater (Purple and White Award 2003),"Purple & White Award." Western University. Web. The University of Western Ontario inaugurated The John A. Schweitzer Gallery in 2004 and awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in Arts and Humanities (LLD) in 2011. The John A. Schweitzer Fonds are archived at both Western and McGill universities.
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