Memories

Please send me any reminiscences, or memories, you may have of Pearl Swanger and her paintings and I will post them here.
Email me at: debby.fortier@gmail.com


Viewing Pearl's landscape paintings gives me great serenity and wonderful recollections of our many of our conversations.
Jay Lipper

I came across this fine site in memory of Pearl Swanger, and I wanted to let you know of our connection to Pearl Swanger, and the fact that we hold two of her fine works.   The Waitzman children, all four, went to Morristown High, and graduated between 1971 and 1976.   My mother, Hilda Waitzman, taught in the English Department at Morristown HS during much of that period as well.   I, and perhaps all, of my siblings had Saul Swanger for at least one math class.  My mother and father (Samuel) were very close friends with Saul and Pearl, and socialized outside the school.   Both were enamored of Pearl's artwork, and they acquired two of them: 1) the autumn painting, photos attached, probably in the mid-seventies, but I am not certain; and 2) a lovely winter scene that is even larger with a stream in a woods bordered by snowy bank.   I attach the photos of the autumn scene, because it now hangs in my house in Salt Lake City, Utah (where I am a professor in the economics dept at the University of Utah).   The other painting is held by my brother, David, who is a physician residing in West Hartford CT (cc'd on this email).   My mother had both of the paintings hanging prominently in her apartment in West Hartford until she died two years ago, and I inherited the autumn scene, so Dave could probably forward a picture of the other if you wish.  The autumn scene is 24" x 36", while the other is significantly larger.
Best, Norm Waitzman
 

MEMORY by Isaac Gainer
(b. Isaac Ginevsky, Pearl's younger brother)

Pearl wanted to use the hay loft over the horse stall for a studio when we lived on 22nd Street in Irvington.  I sort of remember helping her cleaning it up and then I believe she whitewashed the inside.  You had to climb up a wall ladder to get to the loft.  It had one window overlooking a 2-car (or  wagon) garage.  There was a big swinging door and a projecting beam with pulley to pull up bales of hay into the loft. The loft is where my brother Joseph tried and failed to raise pigeons.

I don't remember how Pearl finally fixed up the loft or how long she actually used it, but I don't believe it had enough light from the one window to paint by.  The window, however did give north light, which is helpful for painting.

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Pearl's paintings raise funds for cancer research

In 2005, while serving on the American Cancer Society's Northwest New Jersey Region Board of Advisors, Bob Schechner, a former math department colleague of Saul's and a great friend of the Swanger family, was involved in the planning of the "Wings and the Soul" black tie gala honoring Hematology-Oncology Associates of Northern New Jersey. One of his tasks was to solicit donations to be part of a silent auction at this event. Saul graciously offered some of Pearl's paintings.

Saul told Bob to go into her studio and pick any four pieces. He fell in love instantly with a seated 12" x 18" painting of a nude. It was done on masonite applied with multiple layers of different colors then using the scratch technique to reveal the subject. It sold for $950.00.

The second piece was a still life of flowers that fetched $750.00, and the third painting was of a table and chair with a lovely straw hat draped over the chair's ladder back. It brought $1,250.00. Finally, there was a large 36" x 48" winter street scene, of which Bob says: "you could feel the cold". It sold for $3,500.00.