A former fabric retailer, born in New York, Milton Schwartz spent much of his life annotating collages that he made on file folders, of which he collected entire bundles. His compositions were intended to spread the American Puritan good word, especially to children. He often referred to national figures whom he regarded as edifying—the Kennedy family is a perfect example— and drew parallels between their lives and biographies of saints. In 1996, when he received the first award from the National Art Exhibition by the Mentally Ill, organized by the New Gallery of the University of Miami, he stated, “When I write, it is not for my contemporaries in 1996. I believe that coming generations will find this of interest.” A solitary man, Schwartz spent his final years in a specialized residence for seniors in Miami Beach, Florida, where he could give his religious fervor free rein.
SCHWARTZ milton
