Paul Spencer Swan (1883 - 1972)

Born 5 Jun 1883 in Ashland, Cass, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Helen Palmer (Gavit) Swan — married 28 Jun 1911 in Manhattan, New York County, New York, United States

Died 1 Feb 1972 at age 88 in Bedford Hills, Bedford, Westchester, New York, United States

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Paul Swan is Notable.

Biography

An artist known for his tremendous good looks, his nearly nude dancing, and his status as a gay "camp" icon. He made appearances in some silent films, including 1923's The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille.^[1]

Paul attended the Institute of Chicago and studied painting. While later living in New York City, he attended a performance by a Russian actress, and was inspired to paint her portrait. She commission five more, launching his career as a painter, and enabling him to travel to Greece, where he studied sculpture and dance.

He attained fame in dance, portraiture, and sculpture, and was commissioned to sculpt busts of President John F. Kennedy and Willa Cather, among other notables. He performed at Carnegie Hall for many years as a dancer. Toward the end of his life, he was featured in one of Andy Warhol's films, "Camp."

He was born 5 June 1883 in Ashland, Illinois, the son of Randolph Swan and Adah Corson.^[2] His family moved to Nebraska.

Paul was married to Helen Palmer Gavit 28 June 1911 in New York City.^[3] They were the parents of two daughters, Paulla and Flora.

His wife died 14 June 1951 in Los Angeles.^[4]

Paul died 1 February 1972 in Bedford Hills, New York, at the age of 88.^[5] His remains were buried in the family plot at Crab Orchard Cemetery in Johnson, Nebraska.^[6]

New York Times Obituary Wednesday, February 2, 1972

Paul Swan, Artist-Dancer, Dies; Also Had Career in the Movies

Paul Swan, dancer, painter, sculptor and actor, whose career spanned the 71 years of this century, died yesterday at the Bedford Adult Home, Bedford Hills, N. Y. Mr. Swan, who had been residing and working at the home for several months, was 88 years old.

Paul Swan's many-sided career started with painting At the age of 17, he entered the Chicago Art Institute. After a year and a half of study, he came to New York with $20 in his pocket to make his fortune.

Here he saw the Russian star Nazimova play Ibsen and was imbued with a desire to paint her. Unable to gain an audience with her, he executed a life-sized painting from two photographs he had bought and mailed it to the actress. She called on him immediately to paint five more portraits of her in different roles. The money he earned enabled him to go to Greece and Egypt.

Mr. Swan found Egypt interesting, Greece an ecstasy. While studying sculpture in Greece he became enamored of dancing as a perfect expression of his ideals.

Some years later, Mrs. Swan told an interviewer: "I just paint to get it out of my system, and I dance to express those subtle emotions and hidden meanings which help us to feel that life is somehow good and beautiful, and pass the news along."

The artist-dancer "passed the news along" for many years, mostly through his Sunday evening recitals in Studio 90 at Carnegie Hall. These went on, with only brief holiday and summer interruptions, from 1939 to 1969.

Mr. Swan found it possible to combine his work as a dancer with other careers. One, in motion pictures, began with a role in the original Cecil B. De Mille's "Ten commandments," in 1923, and ended with an appearance in Andy Warhol's "Camp," in 1965.

Meanwhile, he continued his painting and sculpture. Before World War I, he visited London where he was introduced to society by Baron Roosmorant, a successful portrait painter. Mr. Swan returned there a few years later and opened a studio to become a society portrait painter himself.

The artist returned to New York just before the outbreak of the war. He volunteered for the Home Gaurd's Seventh Regiment. The war ended just before he was to have left for officers training school.

After the war, Mr. Swan went to live and work in Paris. He experimented with watercolors, doing abstract interpretations of musical themes. These were lost when he was forced to flee for home when World War II began.

Mr. Swan's bust of Maurice Ravel was displayed in the Grands Salons des Artistes Francaises in Paris. A bust of Willa Cather is in the Town Hall at Lincoln, Neb., and a bust of the late Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal is being used by Princeton University for its Forrestal Campus.

Mr. Swan was born in Ashland, Ill., in 1883. In 1912, he married Helen Gavit. They had two daughters.

Surviving are the daughters, Mrs. Dorcas P. Arnold of New York, and Mrs. Paula S. Coke, of Huntington Beach, Calif., and a brother, Reuben Swan of Maryville, Mo.

A funeral service will be held at the Little Church Around the Corner at a date to be announced.

Sources

1. ↑ Paul Swan biography on Wikipedia.
2. ↑ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5B-M62K : 16 March 2018), Paul Swan, 1921; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #1547, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 881, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:243D-TD3 : 10 February 2018), Paul Spencer Swan and Helen Palmer Gavit, 28 Jun 1911; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,613,235.
4. ↑ "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP73-3X3V : 1 March 2021), Paul Swan in entry for Helen Gavit Swan, 1951.
5. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK2C-X2Q : 7 January 2021), Paul Swan, Feb 1972; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
6. ↑ Find a Grave Memorial for Paul Spencer Swan.