Biographical Sketch of Jack Savitsky

September 2002
by Jack P. Savitt, the artist’s son and James C. Lansing, exhibit curator

John “Jack” Savitsky was born on January 24, 1910 in silver Creek, Pennsylvania (now New Philadelphia).  Both of his parents were Western European immigrants, his mother from Poland, his father from Russia; both families settled in the Northeastern Pennsylvania coal region at the turn of the century. 

While attending parochial school, Jack drew and painted during his free time.  However, his first attempts at artistic representation and vision came to an abrupt end when his father discovered he was drawing and painting.  He confiscated the chest of sketch pads, drawings, and paintings the young Savitsky had been saving, burned the contents while they were still in the chest, and sent Savitsky to work in the coal mines to “earn his keep” at the age of 12.  He began his mining career at The Salem Hill Mine in 1922 as a “Breaker Boy” and was paid two dollars a day.  Breaker Boys were young teenagers positioned sitting above the coal as it moved along, separating the coal into large and small pieces, mostly with their feet. 

Jack was also an accomplished outdoorsman and fisherman.  He trapped and sold furs to earn extra money for the family and himself.  He then turned to taxidermy, completed a correspondence course, and spent the next ten years working his new craft, while still working in the mines.  He also painted signs used in the mines, coal cars, company information on trucks and windows, and he painted murals on the walls in the taverns and speakeasys in the Lansford area. 

In 1931, Jack met Mae Spack and courted her for a year; they married in 1932.  After the wedding the newlyweds rented a small, four room apartment in New Philadelphia.  In 1933 a son, Jack Jr., was born.  Savitsky remained employed at the Salem Hill Colliery for the next 12 years.  Upon the advice and persuasion of his father-in-law, John P. Spack, a fire boss at the #9 colliery in Lansford, Jack and Mae moved to Lansford where Jack quickly secured work at the #9 colliery.

Eventually, Jack became a contract miner in the colliery.  A contract miner ran a crew that was paid based on the number of cars full of coal the mine produced.  It was one of the most dangerous jobs in the mine, but it afforded Savitsky the funds to buy a home.  By this time, roughly the mid 1940’s, he had, however, given up all artistic endeavors.

In 1959 many Pennsylvania mines were closed, and Jack found himself unemployed and unable to secure employment for the first time in 40 years.  At this time, Jack Jr. urged his father to return to drawing and painting.  The elder Savitsky took the advice.

In the mean time, Jack Jr., working as a journalist in the Pocono Mountains, met and befriended Pennsylvania modernist painter Sterling Strauser.  Upon hearing that his father painted, Strauser suggested that Jack Jr. bring some of his father work for him to see.  Strauser was overwhelmed with the style and vision.  He offered his time and effort to promote Savitsky’s work in the New York City art world.

During this time, Jack Jr., was also introducing his father to New York City’s museums and galleries.  Van Gogh became one of his favorites.  Savitsky was reprimanded once by the security staff at The Guggenheim Museum for running his fingers over the thick surfaces of Van Gogh’s work.  Savitsky respect for Van Gogh is evident in his work “School Days 1916” (1960), and “Starry Night”(1983).

Jack Savitsky continued to sketch and draw until the end of his life; he was however forced to give up painting for health reasons in the early 1980’s.  The American folk art master died from complications of the dreaded coal miners’ disease-Black Lung- on December 5, 1991.

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