Frank W. Benson: The Great Outdoors

"The Sisters" by Frank W. Benson

"From 1889 to 1893, Frank W. Benson spent his summers at Dublin Lake, New Hampshire, enjoying the freedom from a confining studio. First introduced to Dublin by Joseph Lindon Smith, Benson was no doubt also attracted to this burgeoning artistic summer colony by the opportunity to share ideas with other artists, scientists, philosophers, and men of letters. Nestled at the foot of Mount Monadnock, the area had long been a mecca for hikers from all over the East Coast. Benson spent his summers there painting out-of-doors and profiting from time spent with an early mentor, Abbot Handerson Thayer. The mountain itself became the subject of a number of paintings. Beginning in 1893, Benson spent the next five summers on the seacoast at Newcastle, New Hampshire. Here he taught open-air art classes with Edmund Tarbell, his fellow instructor from the Museum School.
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'The two little girls are having trouble keeping still. The baby, dressed in a long, white dress, continually wants to toddle off toward a dock to which a small boat is tied. She has ridden in the boat before and is eager to do so again. She loves to watch her father pull hard against the oars as they bob across Portsmouth Harbor on their way to Kittery, Maine. Her older sister, hat clamped firmly on her head, has given up trying to keep the baby's bonnet on and is focusing on their father's request to try to keep the little girl near her. Their father, standing before an easel, is attempting to catch the fleeting moments of childhood as well as his fleeting baby. He swoops her up and carries her back to her sister so that they can pose together once again. He tries to capture it all, the feel of the fresh summer breeze, the delicate tracery of the leaves against the summer-blue sky, the sunlight as it washes the girls' dresses with light. The baby runs off again. He puts down his brushes and gives chase.'

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 In Dublin and Newcastle, Benson introduced his children to the joys of sailing and attempted to paint them in all their happy, summer pursuits. At first, he considered these early outdoor forays into figures 'en plein air' as not very successful. The critics, however, were impressed. When an early outdoor work, 'Mother and Children' of 1894 won first prize for oils at an an exhibition, a critic gushed, 'It shows a chasteness of sentiment and a classical yet refined treatment... There is a subtle modeling of the baby flesh, a pensive tranquillity that gives Mr. Benson a unique niche.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.)   

Frank W. Benson: The Art of Wildfowl

"Ducks in the Rain" by Frank W. Benson

"Together with his two brothers-in-law, Frank W. Benson bought a small farmhouse in Eastham on Cape Cod. A simple, weathered building without electricity or running water, this little house overlooked the Nauset Marsh that featured prominently in Benson's sporting works for years to come.

The influence on his art of this hunting retreat - which the owners called, simply, the Farmhouse - was powerful. Many of his later hunting works can be traced directly to scenes glimpsed on the ponds and bays, marshes and inlets of Eastham. Moreover, Benson's fond memories of his years spent on the marsh there lingered on until the end of his life. It is perhaps no small coincidence that shortly after the purchase of the Farmhouse, Benson painted a large canvas of wild swans flying across a gray sky. Titled 'Swan Flight,' it appears to be the earliest known exhibited painting that depicts wild birds. Before 1893, his exhibited work had never included wildfowl; thereafter this would be a theme to which he returned time and time again  throughout his life.

 'Swan Flight' was sold almost instantaneously, a portent of his later years when such works would sell virtually before he could finish them. He could hardly keep up with the demand. In 1925 he wrote to one of his New York dealers, 'I made [a painting of wildfowl] the other day at home and I looked forward to exhibiting it and, almost before it was dry, a visitor saw it and carried it off! It's my good fortune to be doing what people like, but it keeps me on the jump.'

In the early 1890s, wild birds were not universally recognized as 'appropriate' subject matter in the serious art world. Benson, however, had obviously reached an enthusiastic audience. From this point on, he included at least one wildfowl painting in each of his larger exhibitions. All of them sold." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.) 

 

Frank W. Benson: Black and White

"Early Morning" by Frank W. Benson

"With the assurance of a regular salary it became possible for Benson to experiment with a variety of motifs and mediums. His early studio works were mostly figures set in richly appointed interiors. Young women in white stretch their hands out towards the glow of an unseen fire; a lady in black sits in a chair that is placed on an exotic tiger-skin rug; his daughter, Eleanor, poses with her cat. Paintings like these, as well as a steady influx of portrait commissions, earned for Benson both renown and financial rewards.

But it was his outdoor paintings that pleased Benson most. On the many hunting and fishing trips he took with his friends and family, Benson frequently experimented with wash drawings. These were done with a wash of black watercolor on white paper and were often spur-of-the-moment affairs. He left them behind at the spots he visited. He hung a few in an exhibition or two and, by 1910, they were gaining for him the same critical acclaim as his oils.

Typical of these is the dramatic, stark wash drawing of a dead goose, lying awkwardly in the shallow water of a marsh pond, that gives testimony to Benson's ability to find beauty even in death. Perhaps making a slight bow to European painters who often arranged an assortment of dead birds as still life, Benson has caught a once-vital and graceful bird in its stillness. In this work, the artist acknowledges that, while he most often found inspiration in the pursuit of wildfowl or the elegant composition of birds against the sky, he was also able to present the somber quietude that was the end result of the hunt. One can also see the influence of the black and white watercolor masters of the Far East on Benson's own wash drawings."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.) 

 

Frank W. Benson: The Museum School Curriculum

"Eleanor Holding a Shell" by Frank Benson

"By 1897, a fairly long and rigorous curriculum had been developed at the Museum School in Boston. Ideally, students - men and women of all ages - stayed in the school for seven years, gradually moving up from level to level. To quote a supplement to the 1897 annual report: 'The applicants...are placed where their capacity warrants which is ascertained after a week's work with Mr. Philip Hale. Those who have not acquired sufficient knowledge by previous training are placed in the beginners room to draw from plaster ornaments and heads. By the middle of the year, all the pupils...are in the galleries, drawing from the antique. 

This most difficult and valuable work upon which so much stress is laid in the French schools, continues until the students become sufficiently proficient to be sent up to draw the whole figure from the nude under Mr. Benson. There the pupil...begins by drawing the outlines of the figure in order to get the action; and, when fairly accomplished in this, is allowed to devote the whole week to the figure. When proficient in drawing in the character of the figure in light and shade, he is allowed to paint from still life in the afternoons under Mr. Tarbell.' The national reputations of these three successful artists brought students from all over New England and beyond, eager to study under the guidance of these famous instructors.

Benson loved to teach and felt a deep involvement with the training of young people. He touched the lives of thousands of aspiring artists. His influence can be clearly seen in the work of his pupils as well as the works of the students they later taught. Yet, with typical humility, Benson felt that he was the one who gained from his years as a teacher. A former students quoted him as saying, 'Although I may have helped others, I learned the most!'" 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.) 

Frank W. Benson: Flourishing

"Portrait of My Daughters" by Frank W. Benson

"Returning to America in the summer of 1885, Frank W. Benson set up a studio in Salem and began to seek commissions. He quickly started doing portraits and exhibiting his work widely. By 1887, as his paintings were gaining him recognition, Benson was hired to teach at the Portland Museum of Art, a few hours' train ride north. The steady job was just what he needed to convince Ellen's mother that he would be able to support a family.

The two were married in the autumn of 1888, and by the following spring, Benson was delighted to be named instructor of antique drawing at the Museum School in Boston. He was joined at the school by his old friend Joseph Lindon Smith, who also worked there as an instructor. By 1890, Benson had not only won the Hallgarten Prize at the National Academy in New York but had also become a father. In 1891 he had his first private exhibition with Edmund Tarbell at Boston's Chase Gallery. Both his family and fortunes were burgeoning. The Hallgarten was the first of a long series of awards, later earning him the sobriquet 'America's Most Medalled Painter.'

His daughter, Eleanor, was the first of what Benson fondly referred to as his 'homegrown models.' George was born in 1891, Elisabeth in 1892, and Sylvia in 1898. Their father was to capture them often on canvas. These painting are among some of America's favorite works, icons often featured on museum calendars and notecards.

Benson's association with the Museum School was a long and fruitful one. Together with Edmund Tarbell, he turned the school into a nationally and internationally recognized institution. Barely three years after the two were hired, they send a letter to the Board of Directors outlining 'the urgency of increasing the number of teachers in their department owing to the fact that the number of pupils is nearly double what it was when they began their connection with the school.' During the nearly twenty-five years of Benson's tenure, students won numerous prizes, enrollment tripled, a new school building erected, and visiting delegations sought the secret of their success." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.) 

 

Frank W. Benson: Ellen

"After the Storm" by Frank W. Benson

"The summer between their two years at the Académie Julian, Frank W. Benson and Lindon Smith headed for the little fishing village of Concarneau in Brittany where Benson could paint boats and the sea to his heart's content. In Concarneau, Benson fell in love with Ellen Peirson, while painting her portrait as a surprise gift for her mother. He had played tennis long hours on her family's court in Salem, but it was not until she and her mother and sister stayed in France for several months that he considered her more than another of his sister's friends. This active, vibrant young woman quickly joined in the games and parties, picnics and sketching outings of the group of artists and friends that summered in Concarneau. Even Benson's models were impressed by her and described her as 'tremendously independent.'

The following fall, shortly after his return to America, Benson asked Ellen to marry him. She was the perfect partner for this forthright, outdoor man. Benson admired her spirit and intelligence, later telling one of his grandchildren that having her along on a fishing trip was as 'good as having any man.' It would be a long engagement, for Benson needed to prove to Ellen's mother that, even though he was an artist, he could earn a living.

In 1885, Benson and Lindon Smith, now living on the more 'artistic' Left Bank, submitted several canvasses to the jury of the famed Paris Salon. Neither was accepted. To his great delight, however, Benson's 'After the Storm,' a painting of two young girls looking out over a wind-tossed sea, was accepted in London by the Royal Academy. When his parents rendezvoused with him in that city on their way to enroll his brother, John, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts to study architecture, Benson was able to proudly taken them to the Academy to see his work. Although it was 'skied,' (hung just below the ceiling), Benson later told his children that he wondered then whether this canvas would be the only work of his ever to hang in Europe. He should not have worried." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.) 

 

Frank W. Benson: Academie Julian, Paris

"The Open Window" by Frank Benson

"On his twenty-first birthday Frank Benson asked his father if he could study abroad. There probably was a long pause while the fiscally conservative cotton broker thought the matter over. Ultimately, perhaps because of Benson's teaching position in Salem and this public acknowledgment of his talent, or the paycheck he was able to bring home, his father relented. In the autumn of 1883, together with his classmate, Joseph Lindon Smith, Benson sailed for Paris. His parents gave him $1,000 and told him to come home when it was spent.

Benson's days in Paris were filled with his studies at the Académie Julian. Securing rooms for themselves at No. 10 Rue Croix des Petits Champs, he and Lindon Smith spent their days drawing from the models at the Académie where criticisms were given once a week by renowned instructors from the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Such men as Bouguereau, Lefebvre, Robert-Fleury, Constant, Doucet, and Boulanger gave 'crits' to students from all over Europe and America. It was Boulanger who gave Benson the highest commendation that any of the students had ever heard from him. 'Young man,' he said, studying Benson's portrait of an old man. 'Your career is in your hand... you will do very well.'

Although he enjoyed his studies, Benson always found time for sport and spent as much time as possible out-of-doors. With a group of friends, he soon found a French sparring club where they practiced boxing and tried their hand at fencing. Benson sketched them. It was not just the act of a sport that fascinated Benson, but the look of the people engaged in it. He studied their movements and their positions then translated these quickly to paper. Years later, when his own daughter announced her intention to become an artist, he encouraged her to take several anatomy classes, for it was an area in which he felt he had always been weak. He found that when he tried to paint the human figure from memory, it did not go well. His sketches of people were sometimes awkward and ill-proportioned."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson" by Faith Andrews Bedford.)