Frederick John Schwankovsky

Frederick Schwankovsky studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and at the Art Students League in New York City. After moving to Los Angeles in 1917, he worked for a year in the motion picture industry before joining the faculty of Manual Arts High School, becoming head of the art department. Among his students were future abstract expressionist artists Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and Philip Guston (1913-1980). In 1926 Schwankovsky moved to Laguna Beach where he became active in the Laguna Beach Art Association and wrote an art column for the South Coast News. Schwankovsky adhered to the teaching of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, which was popular in Southern California in the 1920s, and often incorporated elements of his spiritual beliefs into his work.