Robert L. Benney (1904-2001)
American Family, 1946
Medium: Oil on canvas
Image Size: 24” x 20”
Frame Size: 31.5” x 27.5”
Signature: Signed lower right and verso
Price: $2200
Biography/Statement
Robert L. Benney, a prolific painter and illustrator who belonged to the
vanishing breed of American combat artists, died on May 14 in Boston. He was 97 and had recently moved to Boston from Manhattan. Mr. Benney was widely shown, starting with an exhibition of theater drawings at the Museum of the City of New York in 1933. His portraits of war and peace found permanent homes at the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., and the Society of Illustrators in Manhattan.
His stark oils and watercolors were among the works of combat art featured last year on public television in the documentary “They Drew Fire.” The combat art collections of all four armed services in Washington contain examples of Mr. Benney’s work. Thirteen of his creations are in the Navy Art Collection at the Naval Historical Center, which put them online.
Born in Romania, Robert Benney was brought to New York as a toddler and became a steadfast New Yorker. He studied at the Art Students League and, later in life, taught at the Pratt Institute. At the age of 19, he started his own studio, selling illustrations to newspapers and magazines and eventually winning commissions for paintings from large corporations like AT&T, Standard Oil and Chrysler.
For many years, he sketched the stars of stage and screen. When the United States entered World War II, combat artists added another dimension to what the public at home gleaned from grainy newsreels and still photos. Most of the artists were members of the armed forces.
He returned to military themes in 1954 when the Society of Illustrators
volunteered to cover Air Force operations in North Africa. He underwent some fast combat training to join the Marines in Vietnam for two months at Danang in 1968.
Artist Profile Page: Benney, Robert / Categories: Figurative
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