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Schanker's Photo Scrapbook

Trip to Europe (circa 1930,) to Study Art in Spain, France and Italy.  He was a student at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris and studied mural painting in Italy. Fellow passenger  Charles Logasa was also a modern artist.

During the 1940's Schanker's first studio outside of New York City was in the upstate artists colony near Sugarloaf Mountain

Schanker purchased an 100 year old farm house on Madison Street in Sag Harbor around 1949 when he and other artists established a colony in the Hamptons.  Schanker loved working, sailing, and fishing on the East End.  He frequently car topped his kayak to sail and fish off  Long Beach in Sag Harbor.

Relaxing at "Dune House" (c 1970.)  In 1959 Lou married the blues singer, Libby Holman. They summered in their East Hampton home until his death in 1981.  One of Lou's bronze sculptures can be seen at the entrance contrasted against the Atlantic ocean in the background. Guests stayed at the farmhouse in Sag Harbor where Schanker still maintained a studio until 1975 when he sold it.  

During the years in the Hamptons, Lou and Libby participated in the life of both the art 
and theatrical communities.  Several parties and fundraisers were held at their home each summer. 

Herman Cherry, artist and poet, relaxes at Dune House, probably after one of their frequent tennis matches.  Many of Schanker's artist friends such as Ilya Bolotowsky, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and
Willem de Kooning also summered in the Hamptons.

Celebrities Backstage at John Drew Theater,
Guild Hall in East Hampton 
(l. to r.) Vincent Donohue, Anne Jackson, 
Libby Holman, Eli Wallach and Louis Schanker

Among other venues, 
Libby gave concerts at the John Drew Theater, 92nd Street Y in Manhattan and Washington University  in Washington D.C.  during the 60's 

Coretta and Lou on the East Hampton beach
below Dune House 

Libby and Coretta join in the
 celebration of Lou's birthday. 

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and others from the Zen center of San Franciso 
relax on the deck overlooking the Atlantic at Dune House in East Hampton 
sometime in the late 1960's.  Libby and Lou had developed  an interest 
in Zen meditation,  traveling to Japan in the early 1960's. 

Schanker taught at the American Artists School, The Educational Alliance and the New School for Social Research.  He retired after 15 years as a full professor in the art department at Bard College

Louis Schanker and Teddy Kollek, long time Mayor of Jerusalem, during  1977 tour of the Israel Museum

.  Here Schanker is pictured with other local artists who met periodically at each others studios. Schanker's studio is now the home of  the Treetops Chamber Music Society.

Lou Siegel, the webmaster for this webpage, is the nephew of Louis Schanker. 

Although I have not inherited Schanker's artistic skills he did ignite a love of nature and the environment during the many hours we shared fishing and walking the beaches from Sea Gate in Brooklyn to Montauk Point. While he worked in the art studio, I am an educator more at home in the science lab and the field.   I hope that this webpage proves both enjoyable and educational.  We have tried to give a taste of Schanker's life, works and the era in which he lived through our experiences, his personal papers (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.,) photos, clippings and images of artwork.