Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12

Adolf Benca
Large Figurative Abstract Expressionist Textured Painting Adolf Benca

About the Item

Abstract oil painting on stretched canvas featuring figures against a dark brown background. Signed upper left. Adolf Benca was born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1959. He immigrated to the United States in 1969 and he studied at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and received a Master's of Fine Art from the Columbia University College. Adolf Benca (born 1959, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia), is an American Post war/ Contemporary painter of Slovakian origin. Benca was born on 16 May 1959, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. He was the older of two children, the younger being his sister Lubica. His family immigrated to the United States when he was ten years old, in 1969. From 1969 to 1973 he attended the Elementary Private School in Chicago. He attended Grayslake High School in Illinois between 1973 and 1977. He became interested in art very early in his life, attending several art schools in Chicago while he was an elementary student. In 1966, while he was still living in Czechoslovakia, he was already illustrating children's books. In 1968, a year prior to his family emigrating from Czechoslovakia, because of Russian occupation of Bratislava, his family moved to Vienna, where young Benca became interested in philosophy and started painting mythological themes and subjects. He participated in a few young artist programs in 1970 and 1971. Adolf Benca studied and graduated from several universities. From 1977 to 1981 he studied at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, art school in New York, where he received his B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts) degree. For the next four years (1982–1985) he studied at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating at 1987, receiving the title of Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.). From 1987 to 1988 he studied the human anatomy at the University of Bologna in Italy where he received the title "Doctor honoris causa" (Dr.h.c.) in the area of anatomy. At University Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland he received the title "Doctor honoris causa" in the area of philosophy. As he was receiving his titles and studied, Benca continued to paint and exhibit his works in many galleries around the world, many of his paintings ending up in private collections. In 1985 he became a member of the Swizzero di Roma. In 1987 he became a member of the French Academy in Rome. In 1988 he became a member of the American Academy in Rome. In 1994 he became a member of the Swedish Institute in Rome. In 2000 he became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. After "the Fall of the Iron Curtain" he decided to continue his career in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2002 he started his work in Prague, and was awarded the award of the "Masaryk Academy". In 2012 Adolf Benca and the "Bratislava's ship company" a.d. (Bratislavská lodná spoločnosť a. s ) have founded the company "Adolf Benca Académia s.r.o.". He was included in Bomb Magazine Painters & Writers No. 4 Along with William Wegman, David Salle, Nancy Spero, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel, Pat Steir, and more. His works can be found all over the world, in private collections, as well as exhibits at museums, such as "Metropolitan Museum" and "Museum of Modern Art" in New York. Select Museums Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY – MoMA Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY National Art Gallery, Washington, D.C. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma High Museum of Art Atlanta Musei Vatican, Vatican, Rome Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection, Little Rock, Arkansas Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Seattle Contemporary Art Museum, Tel Aviv Art Museum, Hong Kong Floating Galleries of the Slovakia, Bratislava National Gallery of the Slovakia, Bratislava Select group exhibitions Matica Slovenska, "Cultural Revolutions", Martin, Slovakia United Nations, Artists From Slovakia Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection Achim Moeller Fine Art, New York Achim Moeller Fine Art, Salon des Beaux Arts, Paris Kennesaw State College, Marietta, Georgia Gallery Three Zero, New York, AMFAR benefit The Cooper Union, "Good Work" Stuart Levy Gallery, New York Twining Gallery, New York, Drawings on War M-13 Gallery, New York Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences, Washington, D.C. Queens Museum, New York The Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture, University of Tennessee Brenda Kroos Gallery, Columbus, Ohio Deborah Sharpe Gallery, New York Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences, Montreal Paul Olsen Gallery, New York Allan Stone Gallery, New York Alexander Carlson Gallery His artworks have been exhibited in the European Parliament since the chairmanship of the Slovak Republic of the European Union.
  • Creator:
    Adolf Benca (1959)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 36.5 in (92.71 cm)Width: 34.5 in (87.63 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    minor wear.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3829514242
More From This SellerView All
  • Large Oil Painting Israeli Pinchas Litvinovsky Jerusalem Israel Bezalel School
    By Pinchas Litvinovsky
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Pinchas Litvinovsky (Russian/Israeli, 1894-1985) A group of people, Jerusalem Types Hand signed indistinctly (lower right) in English and in Hebrew Verso. Oil on canvas Dimensions 16 1/8 x 51 1/16in Pinchas Litvinovsky (1894-1985) was a prominent Israeli painter, born in the Russian Empire (now Belarus) in Novo-Georgiyevsk, Russia. As a student he visited the Bezalel exhibition in Odessa and met Boris Schatz, the founder of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. Schatz persuaded the young, talented student to study art in Jerusalem at Bezalel. He immigrated to Palestine in 1911, where he became a key figure in the local art scene and was among the pioneers of Israeli art. Litvinovsky studied art in Odessa and later in Paris at the Académie Julian. In the 1930’s he traveled to Paris, France where he encountered the art of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and artists of the Ecole Juif Jewish School of Paris. (Marc Chagall, Modigliani, Chaim Soutine). Litvinovsky worked in many modernist styles, especially Cubism as reflected in the Russian constructivist paintings of the 1920’s His work, which includes landscapes, portraits, and biblical scenes, reflects a blend of European influences and Middle Eastern motifs. He was a member of the Bezalel group of artists and participated in the establishment of the Tel Aviv Artists' House. Throughout his career, Litvinovsky's art evolved, but he remained dedicated to exploring the unique light and landscapes of Israel, contributing significantly to the cultural fabric of the young nation. Select Group exhibitions Jewish Artists Association, Levant Fair, Tel Aviv, 1929 Artists: Arie Allweil, Ludwig Blum, Nachum Gutman, Itzhak Frenel Frenkel, Reuven Rubin, Shmuel Schlezinger, Eged - Palestine Painters Group, Allenby Street, Tel Aviv, 1929 Artists: Chana Orloff, Abraham Melnikoff, Sionah Tagger, Elias Newman, A Collection of Works by Artists of the Land of Israel The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, 1940 Artists: Moshe Mokady, Jakob Steinhardt, Anna Ticho, Joseph Budko, Mordecai Ardon, Moshe Castel, Abel Pann, Hermann Struck, Rina Gallery, Jerusalem Artists: Motke Blum, Efraim Fima (Roytenberg, Ephraim) Zelig Segal, David Sharir, Joseph Halevi, David Caftori, Menashe kadishman, Dedi Ben Shaul, Raffi Lavie Exposition des Artistes de Jérusalem Grand Palais, Paris, France Artists: Samuel Ackerman, Marek Yanai, Zvi Tolkovsky, Zvi Miron Sima...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Polish French Ecole de Paris Mid Century Modernist Oil Painting Clown Juggler
    By Abram Krol
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Abram Abraham Krol was born January 22, 1919, in Pabianice (Lodz), Poland. Abram Krol went to France in 1938 to study civil engineering at the Universit...
    Category

    1950s Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Large John Hultberg SF Bay Area Artist Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
    By John Hultberg
    Located in Surfside, FL
    John Hultberg Oil on canvas Panorama of pictures. 1998 Hand signed lower right, J. Hultberg ‘98. Artist, date, and title written on verso. Canvas 25.5”H x 35”W, Frame 26”H x 35.5”W. Oil painting depicting a mosaic of photographs overlooking an abstract geometric landscape. John Hultberg (1922 – 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist and Abstract realist painter. Early in his career he was related to the Bay Area Figurative Movement; he was also a lecturer and playwright. John Hultberg was born in 1922 in Berkeley, California. Hultberg attended Fresno State College, graduating in 1943. During World War II, he was a Navy lieutenant. After the war, his education at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA) (now the San Francisco Art Institute) was funded by the G.I. Bill. His teachers included Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still and he was a classmate of Richard Diebenkorn, who was also a mentor, James Budd Dixon, Walter Kuhlman, Frank Lobdell, and George Stillman, which whom he created a portfolio of 17 lithographs. This 1948 portfolio, titled Drawings, has been acknowledged as a landmark in Abstract Expressionist printmaking. The group has been referred to as "The Sausalito Six," because most, lived in Sausalito, north of San Francisco. Many of the "First Generation" artists in this West Coast movement were avid fans of Abstract Expressionism, and worked in that manner, until several of them abandoned non-objective painting in favor of working with the figure. Among these First Generation Bay Area Figurative School artists were: David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Rex Ashlock, Elmer Bischoff, Glenn Wessels, Wayne Thiebaud, Raimonds Staprans, and James Weeks. The "Bridge Generation" included the artists: Henrietta Berk, Nathan Oliveira, Theophilus Brown, Paul Wonner, Roland Petersen, John Hultberg, and Frank Lobdell. He was also a contemporary of Clay Spohn and David Park. Hultberg studied at the Art Students League of New York beginning in 1952. Hultberg was first married to Hilary Blech. In 1961 Hultberg met fellow artist Lynne Mapp Drexler...
    Category

    1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Peruvian Expressionist Oil Painting Miguel Aybar Modernist Latin American Art
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Dimensions: (Frame) H 28.5" x W 35.5" (Painting) H 22" x W 30" Miguel Ángel Aybar Llauca, an artist specializing in expressionist painting, was born in Huancavelica and lives in the city of Ica where he began drawing from a very young age, drawing from its beautiful valleys and customs. In 1970 he began his studies in Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at the Regional School of Ica. He is a graduate of the National Superior Autonomous School of Fine Arts of Peru (1971-1976) with honorable mention, forming the promotion "Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru". "Iqueño Expressionism" is the title of the exhibition that will be available to the public from May 25 to June 13 in the "Paracas" Room of the "Adolfo Bermúdez Jenkins" Regional Museum of Ica. Av. Ayabaca block 8°. Miguel Angel Aybar is a painter who characterizes expressionism in Ica without a doubt. His songs speak of longing, and secret friendships with the hurango, the palm tree of Huacachina or the silent and still sand of Ica. His work is primarily characterized by color. The contrasts between the intense dark contrasted with the radiance of reds, oranges, yellows or greens, achieve a positive effect on the observer. Its warm tones reach high levels like an Ica sun at noon. However, among those quasi Servulian colors , Andean prints maintain their presence. Hats, ponchos or skirts hidden from a root bound by blood or memories. The perfect textures of his works give him the seal, the personality that characterizes a curdled and experienced Aybar who no longer needs to dialogue with the brush; they just flow, hand and brush. When entering the exhibition hall, you do not need to read the signature, he is an Aybar. There is no room for confusion. Although there are not a few artists from Ica who use these boiling tones, and I translate it as a tribute to that Sérvulo that touches you in the depths of your being, if you are an artist and you live in Ica, you want to be possessed by the ghost of the disturbing Sérvulo Gutiérrez turned legend. Servulus still catches the spectator being absorbed, as if observing a volcano, fearing that it might erupt, but with an inexplicable delight that he stops you next to him and captures you. However, Aybar no longer needs Servulo's shadow, he has gained an important space in the artistic world of Ica. He is an artist and a close friend of poets and musicians. Painter recognized by the Ica society and deserving of all the medals and recognitions by the different institutions. He not only paints with mastery, as Alberto Dávila predicted, when he said that his maturity would give him the position that corresponds to him. He now sings in public to the delight of his closest friends. Ica recognizes him as a son and has given him the place that corresponds to this remarkable painter whom I congratulate. DATA ABOUT THE ARTIST Miguel Angel Aybar Yauca, was born in 1952 in Huancavelica. He has lived in Ica since he was very young; he began his art studies at the Ica Regional School of Fine Arts. He later moved to Lima to study at the National Autonomous School of Fine Arts of Peru from where he graduated in 1976. His teacher Alberto Dávila described him as: a restless, imaginative young man with a sober and dramatic color. His forms acquire poise and great eloquence . Aybar also had the painter Carlos Aitor Castillo...
    Category

    20th Century Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Abstract Mixed Media Collage Oil Painting Sports, Leather Baseball Mitts
    By Patrick LoCicero
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Title: (Baseball) Mits 25.5" W x 25.5" H x 2.25" framed; canvas measures 24" W x 24" H. Provenance: The Rails Collection, Washington, DC (with their label verso) This depicts floating baseball gloves inn an abstract pattern. This is not signed on the front and might be signed verso. We have not examined out of frame. Patrick LoCicero was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1959. He attended Youngstown State University, Ohio, and the Columbus College of Art and Design. He completed a B.F.A. at Ohio State University in 1982 and an M.F.A. at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1986. His paintings, installations, prints, and multimedia work have been shown in California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. LoCicero's richly layered imagery is characterized by unusual juxtapositions of everyday objects and classical motifs, which play with the viewer's perception of materials and subjects. LoCicero’s assemblage paintings combine collage with painting. The overlap and collage elements relate directly to the images he depicts, guiding him in his choice of subjects, and come from a variety of sources including the Kama Sutra, antique children’s books...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Laid Paper

  • French Jewish Post Holocaust Abstract Painting Manner of Hundertwasser Art Brut
    By Jichak Pressburger
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Jichak Pressburger, Painter. b. 1933, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. A concentration camp survivior. Came to Israel aboard the ship, "The Exodus". 1964 Went to Paris. In 1979 Returned as new immigrant. Education Tel Aviv University, B.A. in art, with Marcel Janco and Isidor Ascheim at Avni art school. Beaux Arts, Paris with Professor Coutaud. Itzchak Pressburger Stays in Paris from 1963 – 1979, Resident of the “Cité des Arts” 1969-1972. Lives and works in Jerusalem since 1979. One-Man Exhibitions 1963 Gallery Dugit, Tel-Aviv 1968 Cultural Center Enkhuizen, Netherlands 1968 Gallery Zunini, Paris (chosen by the art critic of « Opus : Jean-Jacques Lévèque) 1970 Gallery Zunini, Paris 1973 Gallery Maitre Albert, Paris. Cultural Center Verfeil sur Seye, France 1974 Gallery Maitre Albert, Paris 1976 Gallery Mundo, Barcelone 1980 Artists’ House, Jerusalem 1981 Gallery Alain Gerard, Paris Group Exhibitions 1966 Rathaus Charlottenburg, Berlin. (The first show of Israeli painters in Germany Artists Center of Silvarouvres, Nantes, Ffance XXXth Salon of Finances at “l’Hotel des Monnaies”, Paris 1969 Maison de Culture, Le Havre, France 1968 Gallery Zunini, Paris (chosen by the art critic of « Opus : Jean-Jacques Lévèque) Salon « Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui », Paris Museum of Fine Arts, Nantes, France Cultural Center Vitry, France Gallery Il Giorno, Milan Cité des Arts, Paris 1972 Salon “Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui”, Paris Salon de Mai, Paris 1973 Städtische Galerie, Siegen, Germany 1974 Jewish Cultural Center, Paris Publicis, Paris 1975 Réalitiés Nouvelles, Paris 1976 Salon de Mai, Paris 1977 “Perspectives Israeliennes”, Grand Palais, Paris 1981 Salon Alain Gerard, Paris 1984 Artists’ House, Jerusalem Publication 1990 Haggadah Yom Kippour (Hebrew/French) Abraham Bliah (private edition), Paris Acquisitions 1968 The City of Paris 1972 The State of France The Yitzchak Pressburger artist was born in Bratislava – known for centuries by its German name of Pressburg – but the outbreak of World War II found him and his family in Prague. His father realized they had to escape from the Nazi occupiers and tried to get the family across the border into Hungary. However, they were caught near the crossing point, arrested and incarcerated overnight at the nearby railway station. The Czechs put them on a train to Hungary early the next morning. That was their first miracle in their quest for survival. They survived with relative ease until late 1943, when the father was taken away to a forced labor camp. He subsequently died in a death march. Things became even more precarious in early 1944, when the Holocaust made its full-blown presence felt in Hungary. “It wasn’t the Germans, it was the Hungarian Nazis who did the dirty work,” Pressburger points out. The family lived in so-called “safe houses” that were protected by Switzerland, Finland and Sweden. The havens were dismantled in late 1944, and the Pressburgers moved into one of the two Jewish ghettos in Budapest. The Nazis had found two houses with Jews, including the one where we had been, and took them all out and shot them next to the Danube. Today there is a monument by the river [called Shoes on the Danube Bank]. We should have been with the Jews who were killed by the river,” he says. After the war, Pressburger and his siblings were farmed out to various orphanages run by the Jewish Agency, and things took a decidedly better turn. “We finally had food to eat,” he recalls. “After a while we were put on trains that were protected by the Jewish Brigade [of the British Army], and we were sent to Austria, and then to Germany.” “My uncle was a famous artist, and I learned a lot from him,” he says. While in Germany, Pressburger also took some lessons with a local artist. His mother managed to get him and two of his siblings berths on the Exodus, which set sail from Marseilles for Palestine in July 1947. Pressburger was 13 at the time and clearly recalls the aborted attempt to get to the Promised Land. “It was so crowded on the boat. This was a ship that was made to ply rivers in the United States, with a few hundred people on board, and we had over 4,500 passengers crammed in.” As we know, the British prevented the Exodus from docking in Palestine, and the passengers were shipped – in three far more seaworthy vessels – back to France. After the French government refused to cooperate with the British, Pressburger and the others found themselves back in Germany. The teenager eventually made it here in 1948, just one month before the Declaration of Independence. After a short furlough in Tel Aviv, during the first lull in the fighting in the War of Independence, he moved to Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin, where he worked in the cowshed. All the while he continued feverishly drawing and honing his artistic skills, which he says came in handy when he joined the IDF. After completing his military service, which included a spell as one of the founding members of the Flotilla 13 naval commando unit, he worked in Sdom for a while at the Dead Sea Works before starting his formal arts training in earnest. I was in the first group of students at the Avni Institute [in Tel Aviv],” he says. “There was quite a famous bunch of students and teachers like Moshe Mokadi and Isidore Ascheim and Aaron Giladi.” In such illustrious company, one might have thought Pressburger was set to unleash his burgeoning talents on art connoisseurs across the globe, but it was a while before that happened. Pressburger arrived in the French capital in 1964 and spent close to 15 years there, with a short interlude in Germany, before returning to Israel. His time in Paris was a professionally rewarding period of his life, and he also found love. “[Avni Institute teacher] Yochanan Simon gave me the name and address of a French-Israeli family in Paris, but when I got to the house, a young woman opened the door and told me the family was on vacation in Israel,” he explains. Despite missing his expected hosts’ welcome, he and the German-born young lady who greeted him soon fell for each other, and romance quickly led to wedding bells. By all accounts, Pressburger did well in Europe. He secured a rare three-year berth at Cité Internationale des Arts, where artists are normally provided with accommodation and studio space for between two months and a year. He was also accepted to the prestigious Beaux Arts academy of fine arts, mounted solo exhibitions, and took part in group shows all over Europe. One of these last was a group exhibition at Rathaus Charlottenburg in Berlin in 1966 – the first exhibition of Israeli artists in Germany after the Holocaust. When he arrived in Berlin, the lineup for the Israeli show was already signed and sealed, but somehow his work came to the attention of the German culture minister, who arranged for him to join. The Pressburgers’ year-long sojourn came to an abrupt end following an encounter he had one day while walking through the crowded Berlin streets...
    Category

    1960s Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like
  • Beautiful acrylic and oil on canvas "Shimmering Figures" by Impiglia
    By Giancarlo Impiglia
    Located in Bridgehampton, NY
    A new, shimmering work by world-renowed Giancarlo Impiglia. Born in Rome, Impiglia moved to New York in the 70s, where he established a signature style on the shoulders of modernis...
    Category

    2010s Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

  • Beautiful art deco style oil painting "The Invisible Garden"
    By Giancarlo Impiglia
    Located in Bridgehampton, NY
    A unique and utterly gorgeous painting by the indelible Impiglia, whose works have been steadily going up in value. Born in Rome, Impiglia moved to New York in the 70s, where he es...
    Category

    2010s Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Figurative, cubist oil painting, Broadway, "Theatrical"
    By Giancarlo Impiglia
    Located in Bridgehampton, NY
    A beautiful new work by Giancarlo Impiglia. Born in Rome, Impiglia moved to New York in the 70s, where he established a signature style on the shoulders of Futurism and Cubism, his ...
    Category

    2010s Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Pride Cast Down (After Caravaggio)
    By Giancarlo Impiglia
    Located in Bridgehampton, NY
    Part of Giancarlo Impiglia's iconic "camouflage" series, in which, deviating from his signature style, he expresses his classical education, flawless technique, and concerns about th...
    Category

    2010s Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Gold Leaf

  • Cubist, figurative, contemporary oil painting Bathers
    By Giancarlo Impiglia
    Located in Bridgehampton, NY
    An exploration of light in the signature style of Impiglia, an artist whose work has steadily been increasing in value. Born in Rome, Impiglia moved to New York in the ‘70s, where he established a signature style on the shoulders of Futurism and Cubism, his technical skill underpinning his eclecticism and allowing him to indulge in an appetite for complexity. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries around the world and is part of prominent collections including that of The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Absolut Art...
    Category

    2010s Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Gold Leaf

  • Classic New York City scane oil painting "On the Way to Somewhere"
    By Giancarlo Impiglia
    Located in Bridgehampton, NY
    A recent, large work by the masterful Giancarlo Impiglia, who value has been steadily increasing. Born in Rome, Impiglia moved to New York in the 70s, where he established a signat...
    Category

    2010s Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All