ARTIST

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WILLIAM PACHNER

Chronology
1915 Birth of Vilem (William) Pachner, son of Anna and Josef Pachner, in Brtnice u Jihlavy, Moravia (Czechoslovakia).

1918       Sees his father for the first time when Josef returns from the
               Eastern Front.

1919       Sees exhausted, demoralized soldiers returning home by
               train, a sight that is to be recalled and transformed in
               many later drawings and paintings.

1920        Rides in the cabin of a locomotive, a ride arranged by his grandfather, Leopold.
Injures left eye while sharpening a pencil.

1920's      Doesn't excel in academic subjects, but some of his teachers allow him to pass because of his drawings. However, professional artists advise Anna Pachner that her son has no talent.

1930       Enters the Kunstgewerbeschule, a design school in Vienna,
               and studies fashion illustration.

1933       Wins first and second prizes for student fashion designs at Wiener Festwochen.   Dissatisfied with academic routines, leaves design school and becomes illustrator for Melantrich Publishing House in Prague.

1935        Becomes a staff artist for the illustrated weekly, Ozveny.

1939        General Josef Bily, husband of Pachner's editor at Ozveny, arranges a temporary visa so that Pachner can visit America.  Arrives in New York on March 9, learns of German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Travels to Chicago. Presents his work at Esquire magazine but is initially rejected, then hired.

1940        Becomes Art Director for Esquire.  Marries Lorraine KooIman (Editor's secretary at Esquire), from Wellsburg, .Iowa. (Children: Ann KooIman Pachner b. 1944, and Charles Edward Pachner, b. 1946).

1943        Leaves Esquire to enlist in the Army, but is rejected three times. Is determined to Participate in the war effort, so makes anti-fascist illustrations for magazines such as Collier's, Cosmopolitan, and Redbook.

1944        Receives citation for Meritorious Service from the National War Fund.  Has first solo exhibition at the Barry Stephens Gallery in New York.

1945        Receives confirmation that his entire family has been exterminated by the Nazis.   Moves to Woodstock, New York, and buys a house from Juliana Force, Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

1948        Has one-man show at the Weyhe Gallery. Begins to participate in large annual exhibitions, such as the Carnegie International and the Whitney Museum of Art Annual.

1949        Receives citation and $1000 award from National Institute of Arts and Letters for "masterful use of powerful design to express a deep emotional experience."  Exhibits in the first of two group shows at. the Corcoran Gallery, Washington.  Paintings are acquired by Milwaukee Art Institute; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio; Ein-Harod Museum, Israel.   Has one-man exhibition at A.A.A. Gallery in New York.

1950        Exhibits in first of two group shows at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.                                                      Exhibits by invitation in Best of Art -New Directions in Town Hall, New York City for two consecutive years.

1951        Is invited to Florida to teach art by Mrs. Shillard Smith, founder of the Florida Gulf Coast Art Center.  Establishes a winter residence on Clearwater Beach (until 1969).  Has the first of two one-man exhibits at Ganso Gallery in New York 1954.  Has one-man exhibition at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

1957        Begins teaching at the Tampa Art Institute, and continues each winter until 1969  Establishes William Pachner Workshop, Clearwater.
Participates in a circulating exhibition, Four Florida Painters, sponsored by the American Federation of Arts.

1958        Receives $1000 Painting of the Year Award from Mead, Atlanta Paper Company.  Receives First Prize, Art Association of New Orleans, 57th Spring Annual at the Isaac Delgado Museum.  Receives Purchase Prize, Sarasota Annual National Show Receives First Prize, Florida State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition Exhibits in Art: USA: 58 in New York.  Receives Guggenheim Fellowship, travels in Europe.

1959        Meets Martin Buber in Jerusalem.  Has first retrospective exhibition, awarded by the American Federation of Arts and funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation.
Terminal Number 1 is purchased by the Whitney Museum of  American Art. Has the first of several one-man exhibitions at the Krasner Galley.   Joseph H. Hirshhom purchases Antinomes #1, and other works. :: Exhibits in group shows at the University of Nebraska, University of  Michigan, and the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts.   Receives one-man exhibition at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota.

1964       Receives grant from the Ford Foundation (one of a series of Museum residency grants for artists) and serves residency at the Fort Worth Art Museum.

1965       Exhibits in Fine Arts Pavilion, New York World's Fair and in St. Petersburg, Museum of Fine Arts, Inaugural Exhibition.

1966       Has one-man exhibition at Tampa Art Institute.

1968       Exhibits in group show at the New York Cultural Center.

1970-80 Paints in Woodstock and makes only short annual trips to
              Tampa. Exhibits at Trend House Gallery, Tampa

1974       Has one-man exhibition at the J. Camp Gallery in
               New York City.

1979-80  Builds studio in Tampa.

 1981       Loses sight in his "good" eye, and becomes blind.
                Receives one-man show at the Scarfone Gallery University of
               Tampa on January 8.   Receives honorary Doctor of Fine Arts
               degree from University of Tampa. Resolves to continue working
               despite blindness. After experiments with color, does
               extensive series of drawings in B&W.