Pure Genius: The Art and Mind of Peter Schwarzburg

This book, the first monograph on the art of Peter Schwarzburg, includes a selection of thirty-two of his works, spanning an artistic life of some sixty years. In an engaging and provocative essay, Neil Chassman weaves in vignette format a mesmerizing account of Peter’s painting, drawing and, in particular, his unforgettable use of line and color, invariably resulting in a powerfully poetic composition and inner structure. Set in the backdrop of New York and its famous art museums and galleries, restaurants and cafes, and Central Park; the alluring Lake George region of New York state; the breathtaking landscapes of Montauk and City Island; and the memorable mountains and meadows of Virginia’s Blue Ridge – one cannot read this book without becoming thoroughly engaged by the fascinating mind and intellect of a “pure genius,” within the milieu of a great creative friendship. What happens when two highly intellectual minds strike up a sustained forty-three year long friendship, begun in 1959, and center it around art, thought, and food? One is an art historian and art theorist; the other, his professor of philosophy and psychology, a ”Renaissance man” and an extraordinary artist. The result is "Pure Genius: The Art and Mind of Peter Schwarzburg."