About James Swann

The most complete biographical information to be found on James Swann is contained in James Swann: In Quest of a Printmaker, by Joseph S. Czestochowski, a close friend of Swann's during the last part of the artist's life. The following information is gleaned from Mr. Czestochowski's text.
James Swann was born near Merkel, Texas on July 31, 1905. In 1923 he entered Sul Ross College (now Sul Ross State University) in Alpine, Texas. It was at Sul Ross that he began to learn about printmaking.

After leaving Sul Ross, Swann worked both as a commercial artist in Fort Worth and as manager of an engraving company in Amarillo, where he completed Lone Pine Estes Park, his first etching. He moved to Dallas in 1932, and became an officer in the Dallas Print and Drawing Collectors Society. His own artistic output during this time was extensive, including thirty-one etchings.

Swann's visit to the Century of Progress Exposition in 1933 resulted in a decision to return to that city, and in 1935 he apprenticed himself to the Chicago printmaker Morris Henry Hobbs. He was accepted as an active member of the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1936, and soon became Secretary-Treasurer of that organization.

Swann exhibited widely over his long career. In 1937, he exhibited a pencil drawing, Illinois Farm, at the Paris International Exposition, winning a bronze medal.

1938 brought an invitation to place fifty works in an exhibition at the U. S. National Museum in Washington, DC Czestochowski pinpoints this exhibit as a "pivotal" event in Swann's career. The list of his other exhibitions is lengthy, and includes most of the major museums and library galleries in the United States, including the Library of Congress. Even a stint in the U. S. Army during the years 1942-1943 didn't interrupt his printmaking and exhibiting.

Swann's participation in the Chicago Society of Etchers, and later with the Prairie Print Makers, provided him important professional contacts with other artists. In 1955 he opened a gallery in his home, an activity, which supported the art he loved and other artists, as well as providing him with a reasonably steady income.

Exhibiting his own work, advising print collectors, and searching for new acquisitions for his gallery provided Swann with ready-made reasons to travel. The list of countries he visited over his career includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Hong Kong, England, Greece, India, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Israel, France, and Yugoslavia. Exotic locales provided subjects for some of the works executed in the later years of his career.

In 1981, he finished his last etching, China Sea. James Swann died in Chicago January 15, 1985 at the age of 79. 

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Last updated by JEA 7/26/07