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.)