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Benton Murdoch Spruance'I'll Be What I Choose' — Mid-century American Surrealism1949
1949
About the Item
'I'll Be What I Choose: Vanity of Ambition', color lithograph, 1949, edition 40, Fine and Looney 281. Signed, titled, and numbered '23/40' in pencil. Initialed in the stone, lower right. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper; full margins (1 1/4 to 2 3/8 inches); slight toning in the top right sheet corner, not affecting the image; otherwise in excellent condition. Printed by master lithographer Theodore Cuno. Archivally sleeved, unmatted.
Image size 19 13/16 x 13 1/4 inches (478 x 339 mm); sheet size 22 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches (581 x 403 mm).
Impressions of this work are included in the collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Benton Spruance is widely recognized as one of America’s most important twentieth-century printmakers. Born in Philadelphia, he first took architectural classes at the University of Pennsylvania. Spruance then earned a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied with Daniel Garber. While at the Academy, he was awarded a Cresson Scholarship in 1928 to study in Paris, where he was introduced to lithography at the studio of master printers Edmond and Jacques Desjobert.
Lithography became Spruance's lifelong passion; he created over 400 lithographs during his long and prolific career. The subjects of these works ranged from social commentary to modernist explorations depicting mid-twentieth America to biblical/symbolist representations.
Spruance taught at Beaver College and served as chairman of the Fine Arts Department for over three decades. He then became director of graphic arts at the Philadelphia College of Art. He was awarded two Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships in 1950 and 1964, and he was appointed a member of the Library of Congress Pennell Fund Purchase Committee 1955-62.
Spruance exhibited his work nationally and internationally. His graphic work is held in numerous museum collections, including the Amon Carter Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Consortium, Free Library of Philadelphia, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Reading Public Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, Library of Congress, Woodmere Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
- Creator:Benton Murdoch Spruance (1904 - 1967, American)
- Creation Year:1949
- Dimensions:Height: 19.82 in (50.35 cm)Width: 13.25 in (33.66 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Myrtle Beach, SC
- Reference Number:Seller: 1026431stDibs: LU532312374892
Benton Murdoch Spruance
A pioneer in color lithography, Benton Spruance spent most of his life in Philadelphia, where he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and became one of the city’s leading artists. In the twenties and thirties Spruance was known for prints that one critic described as his “velvety urban scenes and ‘social conscious’ series,” which chronicled the life of ordinary men and women at work and play. However, Spruance was also a painter and draftsman who during this period took advantage of two Guggenheim fellowships to travel throughout the United States and Europe and sketch landscapes. In the forties Spruance began producing moody, psychologically charged lithographic portraits of women, followed by mystically tinged work, based on biblical passages, that became increasingly subtle and sculptural in effect. Despite the demand for his work (he produced more than 500 lithographs during his career), Spruance continued to teach. At the time of his death, he was chairman of the art department at Beaver College and had recently retired from the chairmanship of the printmaking department at Philadelphia College of Art.
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