With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Burt Chernow
Education/Curation, Patronage
1933 – 1997
An art teacher, Chernow was responsible for founding the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection in 1964 with the sole purpose of circulating works through the town’s public school system to make art available to all students.
- Biography/Description of Work
Burt Chernow studied art education at New York University and earned his master’s degree in 1960. He and his wife, Ann (an artist), moved to Westport in the 1960s where Burt began his career as an art teacher in the public school system. He later joined the faculty in the Art Department at the Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport where he would become the director of the department. While teaching there, he also founded the Housatonic Museum of Art which now has over 4,000 pieces in their collection, making it one of the largest art collections owned by a two year college. Chernow also taught at the Museum of Modern Art, the Silvermine School of Arts, the A.B.C.D. Arts Center in Bridgeport, and the Stamford Museum. He founded the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection in 1964, helped to found the Westport Arts Center, and the Westport Arts Awards, and served on the Westport Arts Advisory Council.
- Sources view
- Westport Town Hall files accessed 7/22/2014 in the Historic District Commission Office, Rm. 108 in the Westport Town Hall:
PAL, Inc., Westport Town Hall Historic Resources Inventory – October 2011
McWeeney, L & Salvo, B., Westport Town Hall Historic Resources Inventory – 1983-84; http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/15/us/burt-chernow-63-art-historian-and-writer.html; http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2/comments/honoring_burt_chernow/; http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/burt-chernow-papers-6021 - Associated Resource(s)