Schwartz Portrait of Krishnamurti (art work)

1926 portrait of Krishnamurti by Henry Schwartz

In 1926 Henry Schwartz painted the portrait of Jiddu Krishnamurti that hangs in the headquarters building of the Theosophical Society in America. The painting was donated in 2008 by the artist's son Vernon Schwartz of Oak Park, Illinois.

Henry Schwartz probably saw Krishnamurti in person on August 29, 1926, when the cornerstone was laid for the L. W. Rogers Building. He was a local member of the American Theosophical Society living in Oak Park. There was no "sitting" for the portrait, however. The pose was modeled after a 1911 painting by English artists Alfred Hitchens (1861-1942), when Krishnamurti was only 16 years old and had a slight mustache. Presumably Schwartz had access to a photograph of the earlier work. He rendered the face as more mature, matching Krishnamurti's then-current age of 29 years, and slightly the angle of the head. The parting of the hair, centered in the Hitchens work, is slightly offset, and Schwartz omitted the teenage mustache. His work exhibits considerable refinement in details such as the lace. The work is nearly life-sized, measuring ...............

Schwartz was a very active member of the Oak Park Lodge, and a close friend of Henry A. Smith.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the Swartz work on the left, and Hitchens on the right: