By Albert Amateau
Sing-Si Schwartz, a fine-arts photographer and photography teacher, died unexpectedly in his sleep in his apartment in the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park South on July 3 at the age of 40.
“He was a great champion of photography as a fine art and identified himself with the Photo-Secession tradition of Alfred Stieglitz,” said O. Aldon James, president of the National Arts Club. The cause of death has not yet been determined, said James.
The son of the late Paul Schwartz and Diana Kan Schwartz, a painter with whom he was planning a painting-photography workshop later this month at the National Arts Club, he was chairperson of the Photography Committee of the Salmagundi Club and an Arts Committee member of N.A.C.
Born in Manhattan, he attended the Berkshire School and Rochester Institute of Technology where he received a B.S. in photography. He taught at New York University and the International Center for Photography and won several photography awards during the past 25 years. His book, “From the Desk of,” included portraits of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, former Mayor Ed Koch, Jay Leno, Yoko Ono and Barbara Walters.
A photography enthusiast as a boy, at the age of 11 he photographed the correspondent Lowell Thomas who was speaking at the Explorers Club in 1966. The photo, assigned by Emeline Paige, longtime editor of The Villager, appeared in the paper.
He was also a consultant for Apple Computers. He studied photography with Phillipe Halsman and has had exhibitions at many museums and galleries around the nation.
His mother, Diana Kan Schwartz, survives. A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Wed. July 6 at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South.
