Thursday, October 3, 2013

Remembering Dutch Schultz





 

While looking for something else I found this portrait of Dutch Schultz.  When I took it in 1985 he was 75 – my age now.   He died in 2006 and was working in his sculpture studio until shortly before that.
 
I met Dutch (actually Elias) Schultz in the late 70s and we somehow hit it off and were immediately friends.  He was a cantankerous, opinionated, outspoken, perceptive, very smart, vigorous, talented guy.  We didn’t see each other very often but when we did we pretty much took up where we had left off the previous time.  There were a lot of people that had that relationship with Dutch.
 
He was born in Harlem – son of Austrian Jews.  As an adult he worked as a longshoreman on the NYC waterfront where he picked up the nickname “Dutch”.  It was a tough job in a tough world, especially for a Jew.  Dutch was a rabid anti-fascist so when the Spanish civil war began he joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and fought there until the fascists, with the help of the German nazis, won.  He came back to the waterfront until the U.S. entered World War II then he enlisted and served as a ski-trooper with the mountain infantry.  He fought in Italy and then in the Aleutians.
After WWII ended Dutch used his GI bill benefits to study woodcarving in Switzerland, Italy and finally with a master woodcarver in London who was working on restoring bomb damage to the houses of parliament.  When Dutch was ready to come back to the U.S. his master was ready to retire and sold Dutch his vintage tools.  Most of the handles were walnut and the steel was legendary Sheffield. 
 
Back on the waterfront, Dutch found himself blacklisted by the unions because of his service with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade – the McCarthy-era zealots had declared it a communist organization.  (It was still on that list when I filled out my first security clearance application in 1961.)  After a couple of years doing the longshoreman jobs that nobody else would do – like unloading wet animal hides from reeking ship holds – Dutch moved to the west coast and wound up in Seattle where he continued to work on the waterfront until 1973.  After retiring Dutch spent full time and extra on his sculpture, mostly wood carving but he later also took up metal.  Many of the pieces had a strong social or political flavor and many had a touch of humor.  My favorite is a carving perhaps two feet wide and three feet high.  It shows heads and shoulders of three men (his in profile and two longshoreman friends almost full face) one friend has a fist prominently stuck under the other’s nose.  It is titled “Three Longshoremen Discussing.” 
 
To his great pleasure he was asked to do a major piece for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade’s memorial museum.  He also did a lot of commissioned pieces for government buildings and many liturgical carvings for major churches around Puget Sound.  While doing an altar piece, one of the church’s staff came in to watch and imprudently started making some suggestions.  Dutch said that it was about time for him to come down for lunch so he scrambled down off of the scaffolding, handed his mallet and chisel to his critic, said “Here – you do it.”, and stamped off to have lunch.  When he returned from lunch a new sign on the sanctuary door stated “Do not disturb the artist.  He is very temperamental.”
 
My favorite “Dutch” anecdote, however, dates from when he was about 85.  The preceding time we had met he complained that he might have to give up carving because the thumb joint in his right hand was worn out from decades of pushing on a chisel handle.  He was going to have a joint replacement (who knew that you could have a thumb joint replaced) but he was anxious about the success of doing so.   When we met this time I asked Dutch how his new thumb joint worked and he waggled it at me cheerily.  In his still-strong NYC accent he said:  “Yaaaah, they put in a teflon ball and socket and it woiks as good as new.  Told the surgeon that if he’d installed a teflon dick while he was at it I’d be good for 30 more years!”
 
One of Dutch’s long-time pals and Abraham Lincoln Brigade comrades, Abe Osheroff, wrote in a tribute to Dutch:  “Above all, Dutch was a mensch, an authentic human being, whose thoughts, words and deeds were cut from the same cloth.”
 
I miss him and will not meet his like again.

 

9 comments:

  1. Ron, I have a sketch of a sculpture Dutch did. Would you like to have it, or do you know a museum or something that would like it? Let's talk... Thanks.

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    1. At the very least I would sure like to see it. I don't know if there is an archive of Dutch's work anywhere but I'll bet I could find out. Alas, his long time pal and ex-stevedore buddy Ray Nelson died a couple of months ago.

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  2. Oh, by the way. Ray Nelson was one of the "three stevedores discussing"

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  3. I was a friend of Dutch and would love to know where I can see more of his sculptures... do you know if there is a place where they are gathered?

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  4. Don't I wish -- I recently talked to David Martin (local art curator whose interest is NW artists that are underappreciated). He wanted to locate a piece of Dutch's for the current show at Cascadia Arm Museum but was unable to do so. I know that there are two small pieces in the dining hall at Seabeck Conference Center (a place Dutch loved). I think the big issue was that Dutch wanted his works to be in places where people could see them rather than in a museum collection. I think there are carved doors in the Seattle City Building ... and liturgical carvings in several churches here and in Tacoma.

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  5. Sat at the TTT Table, Tully's Think Tank, with Dutch for a few decades. Very nice remembrance. Thank you.

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  6. Hi there,
    My grandpa was Ray Nelson (one of the stevedores) and I knew Dutch but had not seen him in many years. I was hoping to locate a piece of his, to remember him and my grandfather. I can't seem to find any pictures of his works either. I would love if any of you could share or if you know of any of his work looking for a home, I would love to have a piece. I also still attend Seabeck every year with my family so I know of those you mentioned ronfstop.

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    1. I wish I could help you find Dutch's artwork. The piece in the dining room at Seabeck is the only one I know of. However, I do have a splendid portrait of your grandfather and would love to send you a print. Send me your contact info via my website ronfstop.com

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