Stanley Twardowicz (July 8, 1917 – June 12, 2008) was an American abstract painter and photographer. Twardowicz was born in Detroit, and studied at the

Meinzinger Art School The Meinzinger Art School was an art school founded by Frederick J. Meinzinger in Detroit's midtown area. The school opened in the early 1930s and closed in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Background At times referred to as the "largest art scho ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as well as working in a tank factory. Twardowicz began practicing photography on a 1948 trip to Mexico, and during the 1950s and 1960s he developed his painting style, related to color field paintings and

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

. He achieved some national recognition during the years he moved to

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a City (New Jersey), city in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nicknamed "The Queen City",

and became a regular at the famous

Cedar Tavern The Cedar Tavern (or Cedar Street Tavern) was a bar and restaurant at the eastern edge of Greenwich Village, New York City. In its heyday, known as a gathering place for avant garde writers and artists, it was located at 24 University Place (Manh ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, the meeting place of fellow abstract expressionists

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mo ...

and others. Stanley Twardowicz was married to Ann Twardowicz (1929–1973), also a well-known painter. In 1971 he married artist Lillian Dodson. Twardowicz also befriended

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

, and published some of the only images of the writer in his final years.

Sources

Press release after death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twardowicz, Stanley 1917 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Abstract expressionist artists 20th-century American male artists