Reiner Schwarz was born in 1940 in Hirschberg in the Riesengebirge (today Jelenia Góra, Poland). In 1950 he moved to Hanover. From 1960 to 1965 he studied at the University of the Fine Arts in West Berlin. In 1972 and 1976 he was awarded medals at the International Graphic Biennial in Frechen, and in 1996 the Prize of the First International Lithography Biennial of the Baltic countries in Nidzica (Poland). Schwarz lives and works in Berlin.