Warshawsky - "Brittany Peasants" Realistic Impressionist oil painting of two older peasants dressed in black and seated with man holding a walking cane and woman holding a rooster on her lap

Abel Warshawsky • american (1883-1962)

Brittany Peasants • Oil on Canvas 60” x 36”

Poor Jewish farmers are pushed out of their homes in rural northern Europe. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before … or seen it on the Broadway stage. Tevye and Golda had nothing on Ezekial and Ida Warshawsky. In 1872 they tumbled off the roof and ended up in Sharon, Pennsylvania. USA. There the seventh of their nine children was born. Now the story beyond “Fiddler” can be told.

Little Abel George Warshawsky was the American son who grew up to become a world-famous artist. But, first his path took him to turn-of-the-century Cleveland, a hotbed for modernist artists. There he studied at the Cleveland School of Art before earning a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York City, where he also studied at the National Academy of Design. After 8 years in New York, he reversed his parents journey and returned to Europe, although Paris in 1908 was a far cry from the worn out Polish soil his parents left behind. In France, Warshawsky became a celebrated Impressionist artist, although he also painted rich portraits in a unique realistic style. Brittany Peasants is an excellent example.

Warshawsky became well-known in Paris and his autobiography recalls meetings with Renoir, Winslow Homer, Modigliani, and William Zorach. His art was so treasured that he was eventually made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and a member of the French Society of Intellectuals.

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Life was good for almost 30 years. Warshawsky split his time between metropolitan Paris and scenic Brittany. In his autobiography, Memories of an American Impressionist, he talks of sunny days spent with his shirt off, painting the beauty of Brittany and its’ people. On one of those days he encountered the old couple now serenely gazing out from their perch on the walls of the Canton Museum of Art.

But, Warshawsky was still the Jewish son of Polish peasants, and as the Nazi shadow began to engulf Europe, his artistic fame offered little protection. Shortly after the death of his second wife, Minnie, Warshawsky followed the route his parents blazed 50 years earlier and headed for America. This time he was returning home rather than leaving it behind.

He settled in scenic Monterey, California with his third wife, Ruth. And there he lived until his heart gave out in 1962.

Perhaps that old fiddler brought Abel Warshawsky’s parents to America, where they raised a boy who became the greatest Cleveland artist to ever live and a celebrated creative force on two continents. “To a life well-lived we raise a glass, l’chaim. L’chaim means ‘to life’”.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Gift of Sanford & Lynne Rivchun, 2012.2

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“A Cleveland Plain Dealer Art Critic once called Warshawsky, ‘Perhaps the most phenomenally successful artist Cleveland has ever produced’. And if the Plain Dealer says it …”

2.
“Warshawsky is thought of as a classic Impressionist artist. But when he painted portraits he used the more realistic style seen in ‘Brittany Peasants’.”

3.
“Warshawsky’s brother Xander followed in his footsteps as a highly successful artist, while another brother, Samuel Jesse, was a well-known playwright and screenwriter.”

4.
“By all accounts, Abel Warshawsky was an exceptionally shy man. However, he was married 4 times, so perhaps wasn’t as shy as first thought.”

Warshawsky Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1883

Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, the seventh child of Ezekial and Ida Warshawsky, Jewish immigrants from Poland. The Warshawsky’s last two children were born in Cleveland after the family moved there. One of those sons, Alexander (Xander) followed Abel’s footsteps, becoming an accomplished artist in his own right.

1900

Abel graduated from the Cleveland School of Art. He earned a scholarship to the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design in New York City where he studied with Winslow Homer whom he met on a trip to Maine. His brother Xander followed him to New York and also studied at the National Academy of Design.

1908

Abel traveled to Paris, falling in love with the city. Sometime after 1910 he married his first wife, Vantine Laudell, whom he divorced in 1926. He spent the next 30 years in France, dividing his time between Paris and Brittany.

1914-18

A devoted pacifist, Warshawsky and his brother Xander worked behind the French lines during World War I, decorating soldiers huts and organizing sporting events.

1918

Painted Brittany Peasants, in a realistic, though individual style he developed when studying with Winslow Homer. Although known as a classic Impressionist, Warshawsky used this realistic style when painting portraits.

1920s

Warshawsky was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and a member of the French Society of Intellectuals, testament to the world’s high regard for his artistic talents and accomplishments.

1926

Divorced his first wife, Vantine Laudell. A few years later, though the date is unknown, he married his second wife, Minnie who died sometime around 1935.

1939

After over three decades in France, with frequent trips to America, Warshawsky was forced to leave as the Nazis took over Europe and stormed into France. World War II was imminent. He moved to Monterey, California, and married his third wife, Ruth Tate.

1962

Abel Warshawsky died of heart failure in Monterey, California. By the time of his death he had been featured in 85 solo exhibits and seen his work collected in over 200 museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art.

1980

Cleveland Plain Dealer art critic, Helen Cullinan referred to Warshawsky as “perhaps the most phenomenally successful artist that Cleveland has ever produced.”