Gershon Benjamin"Early Evening Walk"Circa 1937
Circa 1937
About the Item
- Creator:Gershon Benjamin (1899, American)
- Creation Year:Circa 1937
- Dimensions:Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 38 in (96.52 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.
- "The Rivers Edge"By Evelyn FahertyLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower right Evelyn Faherty (1919-2015) Evelyn Faherty was born in the early 20th century and made her home in Yardley...Category
20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Masonite
- "Winter in Lumberville"By Evelyn FahertyLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower right Evelyn Faherty (1919-2015) Evelyn Faherty was born in the early 20th century and made her home in Yardley...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- "Lou's Meadow"By Peter SculthorpeLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Peter Sculthorpe (born 1948) Peter Sculthorpe was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1948. His talent was evident even as a chi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- "Steamboat Landing"By Charles RosenLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Complemented by a hand carved and modernist style gilt frame. Illustrated in "New Hope for American Art" by James Alterman...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- "Springtown Grocer"By John FosterLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: R. John Foster (1908 - 1989) R. John Foster lived all of his life in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He studied at the...Category
1940s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- "Little House Lambertville, Public Sale"By Joseph BarrettLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower middle. Artist designed frame. Joseph Barrett (b. 1936) Joseph Barrett was born in Midland, North Carolina, in ...Category
20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Sheltered Harbor oil painting by Philip ReismanBy Philip ReismanLocated in Hudson, NYDimensions are 18.25" x 22.25" and framed 29.5" x 34" x 2". The painting is signed "philip Reisman" on the lower right recto, and signed and titled verso. Provenance: acquired dire...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Masonite
- Untitled (Vineyard Harbor)By Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA colorful view of Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin, from the 1930s. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington & Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). A prolific painter, Chapin produced numerous works while traveling in Mexico, France, Spain, Saugatuck and Martha’s Vineyard, where he frequently spent summers and taught at the Old Sculpin Gallery there. Chapin was best recognized for his dynamic and vibrant images of Chicago during the 1930s and 40s. Chapin was a resident of the Old Town neighborhood where he lived and kept his studio on Menomonee Street for many years. Described as a “colorful figure, nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall, and thin, and usually wearing tweeds”, it is easy to imagine Chapin at work observing the busy street life of the city. In addition to his many exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chapin’s work was shown during his lifetime at such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the National Academy of Design, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, among others. Francis Chapin’s paintings are represented in the collections the Art Institute of Chicago; the Friedman Collection, Chicago; the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown; the Denver Art Museum; the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Untitled (Martha’s Vineyard)By Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA colorful view of Martha's Vineyard (Depicting Edgartown's main street) by Francis Chapin, from around 1950. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Oak Bluffs, Mass. (Martha’s Vineyard)By Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA view of Oak Bluffs, MA on Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin, from around 1950. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Yellow Sky at MenemshaBy Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA colorful view of Menemsha in Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin, from around 1950. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Back Fence with Bird. - Mid-Century - WPA ArtistBy Jenne MagafanLocated in Miami, FLThe Mid-Century mindset As expected, 65 years ago.. people looked at art/painting a little differently. Back then, many artists were concerned with depicting simple and beautiful t...Category
1950s Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil