Gershon Benjamin"Grazing"Circa 1945
Circa 1945
About the Item
- Creator:Gershon Benjamin (1899, American)
- Creation Year:Circa 1945
- Dimensions:Height: 14 in (35.56 cm)Width: 17 in (43.18 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Lambertville, NJ
- Reference Number:
Gershon Benjamin
In a body of work that spans seven decades, obscure American modernist artist Gershon Benjamin explored a varied range of tone, style and subject matter in watercolor, oil and charcoal. Not one to resign himself to a single trademark theme, Benjamin focused on an eclectic array of subjects. His paintings included landscapes, portraits, still lifes and urban scenes.
Benjamin was born in Romania just before the turn of the 20th century. His family moved to Montreal in 1901 to escape ethnic persecution. At 10, Benjamin began studying art at the Canadian Council of Arts and Manufacturers, in Quebec. When he was 12, the Royal Canadian Academy admitted Benjamin.
In 1923, Benjamin moved to New York City, where he secured a night job in the art department of The Sun newspaper. He also enrolled in the Art Students League, where he learned engraving from the notable lithographer Joseph Pennell and drawing from illustrator John Sloan.
Benjamin found inspiration in the work of Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne. He depicted urban life in meditative Expressionist paintings that later drew comparisons to the Ashcan School — Benjamin painted scenes of New York City’s blocky skyline, elevated subway trains, empty streets at dawn and the Brooklyn Bridge as he saw them on his way home from his night shift at the newspaper.
In New York, Benjamin forged friendships with creative people who were as in love with art as he was and painted with them in Gloucester, Massachusetts, during the city’s hot summers. A number of his acquaintances found a fair amount of fame — including artists Mark Rothko, Raphael Soyer and Milton Avery — whereas Benjamin sought none. And when artists of the era in Manhattan and elsewhere began to work in the style that would become known as Abstract Expressionism, Benjamin continued to create representational art. He remained largely obscure throughout his career, declining to promote or market his still lifes, landscapes and portraiture.
Benjamin's works are held in a number of private and public collections including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Ulrich Museum of Art.
Find original Gershon Benjamin paintings on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Lambertville, NJ
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- "Grain Elevators, Buffalo"By Ralston CrawfordLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Tobias Musicant (1921 – 2004) A new discovery in the art world is something always searched for and rarely found. Surely th...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Ink, Paper
- "Night Time Rooftops with Water Tanks"By Gershon BenjaminLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon ...Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Paper
- "Bus Stop"By Gershon BenjaminLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899-1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon Ben...Category
1950s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- "Sunset in the City"By Gershon BenjaminLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon ...Category
1950s Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsGouache
- "Planning for Spring"By Peter SculthorpeLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Watercolor. Signed lower left. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame. Peter Sculthorpe (b. 1948) Peter Sculthorpe wa...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Landscape Drawings and Wa...
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- "Ocean Grove Beach"By Gershon BenjaminLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899-1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon Benj...Category
1950s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPastel, Board
- 'Grove of Trees in a Misty Landscape', Woman Artist, American Watercolor SocietyLocated in Santa Cruz, CASigned lower right 'Marie McDonnell Roberts A.W.S. (American, 1915-2013) and painted circa 1965. A moody watercolor landscape showing a stand of trees and a distant mountain beneath...Category
1960s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsBoard, Watercolor, Laid Paper
- 'Junks in Hong Kong Harbor', Kowloon, Bank, California Watercolor Society, SFAILocated in Santa Cruz, CASigned lower right, 'Frank M. Hamilton' for Frank Moss Hamilton (American, 1930-1999) and painted circa 1965. Titled, verso, 'The Smugglers, Hong Kong' on artist card and inscribed, ...Category
1960s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Gouache, Board, Laid Paper
- American Scene Industrial Modern Lamp Magazine Illustration Mid-Century c. 1930sBy Antonio PetruccelliLocated in New York, NYAmerican Scene Industrial Modern Lamp Magazine Illustration Mid-Century Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994) Oil Terminal Lamp Magazine, published, c. 1930s. 15 3/4 X 12 inches (image) 18 X 14 inches board Gouache on board Signed lower right unframed BIOGRAPHY: Antonio Petruccelli (1907-1994) began his career as a textile designer. He became a freelance illustrator in 1932 after winning several House Beautiful cover illustration contests. In addition to 24 Fortune magazine covers, four New Yorker covers, several for House Beautiful, Collier’s, and other magazines he did numerous illustrations for Life magazine from the 1930s – 60s. ‘Tony was Mr. Versatility for Fortune. He could do anything, from charts and diagrams to maps, illustrations, covers, and caricatures,’ said Francis Brennan, the former art director for Fortune. Over the course of his career, Antonio won several important design awards, designing a U.S. Postage Stamp Commemorating the Steel Industry and designing the Bicentennial Medal...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsBoard, Gouache
- Handsome Couple in Sailboat - Collier's Magazine IllustrationBy Earl Oliver HurstLocated in Miami, FLCollier's Magazine Illustration From the Estate of Charles Martignette. Work is framed in a period wood frame Watercolor on boardCategory
1940s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsBoard, Watercolor
- Whimsical Illustration "Snow" Cartoon, 1938 Mt Tremblant Ski Lodge William SteigBy William Steig (b.1907)Located in Surfside, FLLighthearted Illustration of Outdoor Pursuits This one being cross country Snow Shoes signed "W. Steig" Provenance: from Mrs. Joseph B. Ryan, Commissioned by ...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsIndia Ink, Watercolor, Illustration Board
- Whimsical Fishing Illustration Cartoon 1938 Mt Tremblant Ski Lodge William SteigBy William Steig (b.1907)Located in Surfside, FLLighthearted Illustration of Outdoor Pursuits This one of a fisherman signed "W. Steig" Provenance: from Mrs. Joseph B. Ryan, Commissioned by Joe Ryan for the bar at his ski resort, Mount Tremblant Lodge, in 1938. Mont Tremblant, P.Q., Canada Watercolor and ink on illustration board, sights sizes 8 1/2 x 16 1/2 in., framed. In 1938 Joe Ryan, described as a millionaire from Philadelphia, bushwhacked his way to the summit of Mont Tremblant and was inspired to create a world class ski resort at the site. In 1939 he opened the Mont Tremblant Lodge, which remains part of the Pedestrian Village today. This original illustration is on Whatman Illustration board. the board measures 14 X 22 inches. label from McClees Galleries, Philadelphia, on the frame backing paper. William Steig, 1907 – 2003 was an American cartoonist, sculptor, and, in his later life, an illustrator and writer of children's books. Best known for the picture books Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Abel's Island, and Doctor De Soto, he was also the creator of Shrek!, which inspired the film series of the same name. He was the U.S. nominee for both of the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Awards, as a children's book illustrator in 1982 and a writer in 1988. Steig was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1907, and grew up in the Bronx. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants from Austria, both socialists. His father, Joseph Steig, was a house painter, and his mother, Laura Ebel Steig, was a seamstress who encouraged his artistic leanings. As a child, he dabbled in painting and was an avid reader of literature. Among other works, he was said to have been especially fascinated by Pinocchio.He graduated from Townsend Harris High School at 15 but never completed college, though he attended three, spending two years at City College of New York, three years at the National Academy of Design and a mere five days at the Yale School of Fine Arts before dropping out of each. Hailed as the "King of Cartoons" Steig began drawing illustrations and cartoons for The New Yorker in 1930, producing more than 2,600 drawings and 117 covers for the magazine. Steig, later, when he was 61, began writing children's books. In 1968, he wrote his first children's book. He excelled here as well, and his third book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), won the Caldecott Medal. He went on to write more than 30 children's books, including the Doctor DeSoto series, and he continued to write into his nineties. Among his other well-known works, the picture book Shrek! (1990) formed the basis for the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek (2001). After the release of Shrek 2 in 2004, Steig became the first sole-creator of an animated movie franchise that went on to generate over $1 billion from theatrical and ancillary markets after only one sequel. Along with Maurice Sendak, Saul Steinberg, Ludwig Bemelmans and Laurent de Brunhofff his is one of those rare cartoonist whose works form part of our collective cultural heritage. In 1984, Steig's film adaptation of Doctor DeSoto directed by Michael Sporn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. As one of the most admired cartoonists of all time, Steig spent seven decades drawing for the New Yorker magazine. He touched generations of readers with his tongue–in–cheek pen–and–ink drawings, which often expressed states of mind like shame, embarrassment or anger. Later in life, Steig turned to children's books, working as both a writer and illustrator. Steig's children's books were also wildly popular because of the crazy, complicated language he used—words like lunatic, palsied, sequestration, and cleave. Kids love the sound of those words even if they do not quite understand the meaning. Steig's descriptions were also clever. He once described a beached whale as "breaded with sand." Throughout the course of his career, Steig compiled his cartoons and drawings into books. Some of them were published first in the New Yorker. Others were deemed too dark to be printed there. Most of these collections centered on the cold, dark psychoanalytical truth about relationships. They featured husbands and wives fighting and parents snapping at their kids. His first adult book, Man About Town, was published in 1932, followed by About People, published in 1939, which focused on social outsiders. Sick of Each Other, published in 2000, included a drawing depicting a wife holding her husband at gunpoint, saying, "Say you adore me." According to the Los Angeles Times, fellow New Yorker artist...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsIndia Ink, Watercolor, Illustration Board