William Scharf (February 22, 1927, Media, Pennsylvania – January 15, 2018, New York City, New York)[1] was an American abstract artist from New York City.
Early life
Scharf grew up on Ridge Road in Media, Pennsylvania, the eldest of two children of Lester William Scharf and Ebba Scharf, née Anderson, of German and Swedish descent.
At age ten he was befriended by the illustrator N. C. Wyeth, who encouraged him, gave him art supplies, and later recommended him to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, writing: "This boy has the stuff".[2] Scharf would remain in touch with Wyeth until his death in 1945.
In 1947 Scharf married Diana Denny, with whom he had one son, William Denny Scharf. The couple divorced in 1951.
In 1952 Scharf moved to New York City,[3] where he became associated with the New York School of the Abstract Expressionist movement.[3] The following year he moved to a studio on West 53rd Street, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art, where he secured employment as a museum guard. During this time he became friends with Dorothy Miller and Mark Rothko, as well as the photographer Jack Manning, the jazz musician Willie Dennis, and other artists frequenting the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village, including Julius Hatofsky, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning.[2]
William and Sally Scharf, 1956
In 1956 Scharf married Sally Kravitch — an actress with the stage name of Sally Jessup — daughter of the Savannah, Georgia lawyer Aaron Kravitch, and sister of Phyllis Kravitch. Mark Rothko was best man and his wife Mel was matron of honor. The reception was held at the Rothkos' apartment.[2]
William and Sally had one son, Aaron Anderson Scharf, born in 1964.
"Bill was a gentleman, a person of unassuming wisdom," league instructor Bruce Dorfman said. "We exchanged art and friendship. He was a caring teacher and mentor to his students. Most importantly, William Scharf was a great and important artist, and he loved his wife Sally." Former board member Victoria Hibbs added: "Bill loved teaching and respected each student"s style... He guided you toward your best work. He was gentle and sweet, but had a subtle, very wicked sense of humor."[4]
Influences and style
Scharf worked with Mark Rothko, and was influenced by his color field paintings;[3] other influences include the surrealist painter Arshile Gorky and the artists Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Hans Hofmann.[6] Scharf's style draws on these influences to create compositions of organic and geometric shapes, that are immediately recognizable.
In 1964 Scharf assisted Rothko on preliminary studies for the Rothko Chapel in Houston.[3][2]
At The Fever Bend (1965)
On the Hollis Taggart Gallery website his work is described as follows:
"Scharf combines virtuoso paint handling, vibrant color, and rich symbolic language in canvases that engage the viewer in a transcendent and emotional dialogue.
This dialogue is accomplished in part through recurring symbols, which allude to hidden, mysterious narratives.
Scharf plumbs the psychological wells of collective myths for symbolic content: the crown of thorns, the ladder, the fish, and the cross can be found throughout, functioning not, as one might expect, as religious symbols, but rather as a means through which to access a deeper, symbolic level of visual communication."[7]
Writing in Artforum in 2018, Christopher Rothko described Scharf as:
"A virtuoso with a brush and pen, Scharf created works striking for both their resplendent color and bold gestural elements. But he was also a profoundly scholarly painter, drawing omnivorously upon symbols and themes from across art history as well as literature and distilling them into studiously balanced wholes."[8]