William Chuchwar (1926-2002) Hammered Copper Vase 1956. Chuchwar taught metalwork at Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco. Signed. Excellent new patina. 9.75"h x 9"d.When one hears the name "Bill Chuchwar", one period of time immediately comes to mind and that is the "Beatnik Era". As many of you know, the term "Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle on April 2, 1958, a portmanteau on the name of the recent Russian satellite Sputnik and Beat Generation.This suggested that Beatniks were "far out of the mainstream of society" and "possibly pro-Communists". Caen's term stuck and became the popular label associated with a new stereotype-the man with a goatee and beret reciting nonsensical poetry and playing bongo drums, while free-spirited women wearing black leotards dance, etc. For many, this was the beginning of the "hippie" movement.Bill Chuchwar was always a free-thinking American artist. He was a part of The Iron Pot, the Black Cat, group of artists on Old Montgomery Street. Thomas Albright wrote in "The Elevated Underground: the North Beach Period," Rolling Renaissance: San Francisco Art in Celebration 1945-1968, San Francisco, 1968, Intersection, pp. 15, 16, "The Iron Pot, the Black Cat, the old Montgomery block belonged to the tail-end of the Bohemian era, a tradition which established itself around Telegraph Hill when it was little more than grass and shacks in the early years of the century. The Pot and the Cat were Bohemian spots in the classical sense, and so was the generation of artists who centered there: Alex Anderson, who did the Cat's murals; Sargent Johnson, Hassel Smith, Jean Varda, Dong Kingman, Luke Gibney, Beniamino Bufano, Avrum Rubenstein; Pat Cucaro even lived in the Montgomery block, and Sam Francis once sold Henri Lenoir, then the Pot's proprietor, one of the little harbor scenes he was painting then...."The Black Cat was the North Beach setting that Jack Kerouac wrote about in On the Road, but by the time the book was published, the action had shifted elsewhere..."Like many of his period contemporaries, Chuchwar was masterful in many mediums. He created oil & acrylic paintings; etchings; photographs, and created objects in the metalwork tradition of Dirk Van Erp and August Tiesselinck, as seen on the back side of his studio postcard.Chuchwar was also a strong advocate for preserving San Francisco's Victorian buildings and was one of the original members of The Victorian Alliance of San Francisco. According to Mary Ellen Blake and Donald Beilke: "The Victorian Alliance of San Francisco was founded in 1973 by a group of concerned citizens living primarily in the Mission District where more and more Victorian homes were deteriorating or worse, being systematically demolished. The neighborhood was quickly losing the beauty and gracious living that historic homes provide. San Francisco was also losing one of its internationally known neighborhoods as well as one of the important features that create the character of the City: Victorian architecture.Two of the principal objectives of the founders was to raise awareness of the beauty and livability of Victorian homes and to preserve San Francisco's architectural heritage. These objectives remain today as centerpieces of Victorian Alliance endeavors.The founders adopted the Alliance's name, Bylaws, and the official Victorian Alliance logo, created by the late Bill Chuchwar, artist and one of the original members. The logo is a rendering of The Stone Mansion built in 1883 and one of the surviving stately homes in the Mission District.

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