Anton Joseph Friedrich Schutz Biography

Anton Joseph Friedrich Schutz

American

1894-1977

Biography

Printmaker Anton Schutz was born on April 19, 1894 in Berndorf, Rhineland, of Franco-German parentage. He first studied mathematics and engineering at University of Munich beginning in 1912, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He served as a lieutenant for the German Army on the Western and Eastern Fronts from 1914 to 1918, for which he was decorated with Iron Cross First Class and Turkish Silver Star. He returned to University of Munich and was also admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Art 1919, receiving degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Architecture in 1920.

By 1922 Schutz had established a career as an etcher of German landscapes, cityscapes and idyllic landscapes. He emigrated to America 1924 and met etcher Joseph Pennell, who introduced him to other leading printmakers and helped him secure a job teaching at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1925, he founded the New York Graphic Society, Inc. and began traveling throughout the U.S., capturing the skylines of major cities the New York Times magazine, later traveling to China and the Soviet Union to capture several metropolitan places on commission of the Times as well. Later career work included a partnership with UNESCO and President of the NYGS.

Anton Schutz died in White Plains, New York, on October 6, 1977. Shutz's work is held in the collections of the New York Public Library; the British Museum; the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; and the Art Institute of Chicago.