Bill Salamon Figural Acrylic Painting of Man with Guitar, Late 20th Century

Item Details

Bill Salamon (Czech/American, 1927 – 2011)
Untitled (figure playing guitar on a park bench), late 20th century
Acrylic painting on canvas
Unsigned

Provenance
From the artist’s estate

During 1927, Bill Salamon was born in the Carpathian Mountains in the small town of Khust. As the son of a clothing-designer mother and a carpenter father, Salamon was drawn to art from an early age and used his spare change to buy art supplies. Not long into his youth, Salamon’s family was taken to Auschwitz in 1944. After being transferred to the Warsaw Ghetto with his father and a few relatives, Salamon’s artistic talents ultimately saved his life. He worked on murals, signs, and gifts for the Nazi SS officers and their families. When the war was over and Salamon was reunited with his sister, he immigrated to the United States to study at the Chicago Art Institute. He was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he designed manuals for military intelligence during the Korean War. He then studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and worked as a sign shop manager, hand-lettering signs and ads for nearly 20 years for May Company. Salamon’s work features scenes from his past and numerous plein air landscapes. His story was featured in numerous newspapers, radio broadcasts, and television shows including Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

Condition

- accretions and slight discoloration to painting surface; foxing to canvas sides and verso; edge wear to canvas; slight billow to canvas from loose tension on stretcher.

Dimensions

Item #

ITMG723752