Charles E. Pont (AM/Swiss 1898-1971) - Heave Up! � Wood Engraving, 1936, edition of 250, 8 x 10 �, signed, dated and numbered by the artist. Print for AAA (American Artist�s Association). This piece is in excellent condition.

Born in 1898, Charles E. Pont began life in St. Julien-en-Genevois, France, a town close to Geneva and the Swiss border. He came to the U.S. when he was three months old and was soon adopted by a German-American couple. When he was 17 years old, he learned he was adopted and proceeded to change his surname to Pont, his birth mother's last name. For many years he made his home in New York City. Because of his ethnic background, he is considered to be a Swiss, French and American artist. Prior to beginning his career in art in 1932, he worked as a craftsman and studied art at the Pratt Institute, Cooper Union and the Art Student League in New York City. From 1938 to 1941 he was part of the Works Progress Administration Arts Project where he produced 26 murals and many woodprints, lithographs and engravings. The WPA art works were donated by the US government to many libraries, schools and museums. Pont had a second career as a preacher. He served as a pastor at churches in Georgetown, Connecticut and Durham, New Jersey. From 1944 to 1950 he was an itinerant preacher in several Eastern and Midwestern States. While a minister he painted religious themes and wrote two books. In the 1960s Pont taught art in evening classes at Darien (CT) High School and at the Famous Artists School (in Westport CT), an art correspondence school founded in 1948. Norman Rockwell, Al Capp and Rube Goldberg were some noted artists on the staff of this school. Pont's works have been exhibited throughout the U.S., including the National Academy of Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts and the 1939 New York World�s Fair.