William Pachner Chronology
1915 Birth of Vilem (William) Pachner, son of Anna and Josef Pachner, in Brtnice, then Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia from 1919 until 1992, which on January 1, 1993, peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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.
Enters the Kunstgewerbeschule, a design school in Vienna, and studies fashion illustration. Wins first and second prizes for student fashion designs at Wiener Festwochen. Dissatisfied with academic routine, leaves design school and becomes an illustrator for Melantrich Publishing House in Prague.
1935 Becomes a staff artist for the Czechoslovak 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 and is initially rejected, then hired.
1940 Becomes Art Director for Esquire, marries Lorraine Koolman (editor’s secretary at Esquire), from Wellsburg, Iowa. (Children: Ann Koolman 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 Carnagie International and the Whitney Museum of American Art Annual.
1949 Receives citation and $1000 award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters for “masterful use of powerful design to express a deep emotional experience.” Exhibits in the first 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 circulating exhibition, Four Florida Painters, sponsored by the American Federation of Arts.
1958 Receives $1000 Painting of the Year Award at the Atlanta Museum of Art. Receives First Prize, Art Association of New Orleans, 57th Spring Annual at the Issac 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 to 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 Gallery. 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 at the New York World’s Fair.
1966 Has one-man exhibition at Tampa Art Institute.
1967 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 that focus on the memory of the Holocaust.
1983 Has one-man exhibition, Pachner Landscapes, at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida.
1985 Landscape & Lovers, watercolors and drawings from 50s to 70s; first solo exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery.
1987 Has retrospective exhibition, William Pachner Affirmations: 1936-1986, Tampa Museum of Art. Solo exhibition, William Pachner: Affirmations Black and White, University of South Florida Galleries, Tampa. Drawings: Quiet Revolution, group exhibition at Brad Cooper Galley with James Rosenquist, Theo Wujcik, and Irwin Touster.
1988 Solo exhibition at the Arts Center in St. Petersburg: a survey of B&W works in January. Solo exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery in December of Small Works: Watercolors from the Years 1964-82. (1982 was the year working in color came to an end for Pachner.) Group exhibition at the Brad Cooper Gallery exhibiting B&W work Variations on an Unstated Theme.
1990 Solo exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery: Recent Works, 1980-1990: The First Decade, of Pachner working with black ink on white paper and canvas in March.
1991 Inaugural Group Exhibition at new location of Brad Cooper Gallery, exhibits Truck, 1989 (large B&W painting). Painter James Rosenquist purchases Truck.
1992 Collage Constructions, solo exhibition of new black and white works encompassing the continuously evolving variations on Pachner’s themes at Brad Cooper Gallery in April. Summer group exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery.
1993 The Florida Landscape Revisited, five 19th Century and sixteen contemporary artists investigate the Florida environment as a cultural landscape: Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida. Group One, exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery.
1994 Selected Early Works, 1956-1978, a solo exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery of pastels, watercolors, oils, and drawings. Drawings, Discovery & Diversity, group exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery.
Oils and Watercolors 1960-1980, solo exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery.
1995 His wife Lorraine dies of leukemia at her home in Woodstock. Bill and Lorraine were married for fifty-five years.
1996 Mackey Gallery at the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg exhibits work from permanent collection.
2000 William Pachner: Painting & Drawing; A Selection of Works from the 1960’s; paintings, pastels, and drawings, solo exhibition at the Brad Cooper Gallery in January. 16th Anniversary Group, at Brad Cooper Gallery.
2003 Modern Art in Florida, 1948-1970, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida.
2004 Solo exhibition at Brad Cooper Gallery, Selected Works 1960-1970.
2005 Solo exhibition, Imagined Landscapes, Florida Holocaust Museum, St Petersburg, Florida.
2012 Solo exhibition, Work from the 60’s, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida.
2012 Represented by Mindy Solomon Gallery, St Petersburg, Florida. "Imagined Fragments," black and white drawings on paper, BYRDCLIFFE Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock, NY.