Anthony Benjamin

Anthony Benjamin studied at University of Westminster. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Places of work recorded in the authority are Amsterdam. Work by Anthony Benjamin is recorded in the collections of Tate, Museum of Modern Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Museum in Warsaw and Manchester Art Gallery.

• Name — Anthony Benjamin • Honorific Suffix — RE, FRSA • Birth Name — Anthony Benjamin Brown • Born — 29 March 1931 • Birthplace — Boarhunt, Hampshire, England • Partner — Nancy Patterson 1959 until death • Spouse — Patricia Griffiths m.1950, Stella Downton m.1956 • Died — 17 February 2002 • Place of death — London, England • Field — Painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking • Style — Kitchen Sink, abstract, surrealism • Training — Regent Street Polytechnic, Fernand Léger, Atelier 17 with WS Hayter

• Illustration — Butterfly Echo, Roxy Bias, 1979 Benjamin was born in England on 29 March 1931. He began his study at Southall Technical College in 1947 as an engineering draughtsman and was accepted into Regent Street Polytechnic, now known as the University of Westminster (1950–1954). After his first year at Regent Street, Anthony travelled to Paris and studied for three months with Fernand Léger (1951). After graduating, while working and travelling between St. Ives and Paris, he was awarded a one-year French Government Fellowship for painting and printmaking, studying at Atelier 17 with WS Hayter in Paris (1958–1959). Following his time with WS Hayter, he was awarded an Italian Government Fellowship in Anticoli Corrado near Rome (1960–1961). Between 1961 and 1973 Anthony lectured and taught in the United Kingdom (Ealing, Ipswitch, Winchester, Ravensbourne, Colchester, and St. Martin's School of Art), the United States (California State College) and in Canada (University of Calgary, York University). He returned to London in 1974 and in 1986 moved to Norfolk. Anthony was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE). He died in London on 17 February 2002.

Born in Boarhunt, Hampshire he endured a difficult childhood, due to an unstable family life and being a wartime London evacuee. He claimed to have attended at least 12 different schools, learning little except self-defence in the many playgrounds he had to cross. He did not lose his interest in fighting and he took up boxing, eventually becoming a professional fairground fighter. Leaving school in 1947 he took up an apprenticeship as an engineering draughtsman at the firm of Bell Punch, in Hayes, Middlesex. Anthony had an aptitude for careful drawing, as well as an appreciation and understanding of the logical principals of three-dimensional construction, but the lack of creative possibilities frustrated him. He dropped out of the apprenticeship in 1949 and was accepted on the sculpture program at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Unhappy with the academic restrictions prevailing in the department at the time and going against convention, he applied colour to a carving he was working on. When told to remove the paint or face expulsion from the department, he decided to leave, but he retained his deep interest in sculpture. Benjamin's talent had been recognised by a senior member of staff, Norman Blamey, who was a fine draughtsman and teacher. Blamey accepted the rebellious student into the painting department, where soon Benjamin produced some accomplished paintings. Using a restricted, almost monochromatic palette, his subject matter featured the surroundings of the dark basement flat he shared with fellow student and partner, Stella, whom he drew and painted many times. As well as portraits of his neighbours, ‘Bill and Nellie he also painted some exotic London Pearly Kings and Queens. At the end of the term, he travelled to Paris where he studied drawing with Fernand Léger for 3 months. On graduating from college in 1954, his paintings were accepted for exhibition by Helen Lesore, the hardline, Social Realist director of the Beaux Arts Gallery, the London home of the kitchen-sink artists. However, when he started using a broader range of colour and looser brushwork, including elements of abstraction, he was told by Lesore to toe the line or leave the gallery. Once again, faced with established restrictions, he chose to leave, rather than compromise his freedom to explore the possibilities of extending his creativity in new directions. He served time in Prison as a Conscientious Objector, not just against military service, he was opposed to all forms of conscription. He moved to St. Ives, using a legacy from his mother, to buy a small cottage that had belonged to the sculptor, Sven Berlin. St. Ives had been dominated by the influence of Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth but by 1956 the "Middle Generation" of Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Bryan Wynter and Terry Frost were becoming well established in Britain and were soon to be known in New York City. He accepted Peter Lanyon's suggestion to join the Newlyn Society of Artists and had his first one-man exhibition there in 1958. His work, inspired by the Cornish light, land and seascape led him to a new understanding of tone and temper. Henry Moore encouraged him, Francis Bacon gave him canvasses, and working within this rich atmosphere, Benjamin produced work which became more expansive and colourful, and gradually more abstract in concept sliding into Abstract Expressionism. Benjamin, became friends with the eloquent Scots poet, Sidney Graham, who lived in the Coastguard Cottage at Gurnard's Head. When in 1959 he was awarded a coveted French Government Bourse to study etching at S W Hayter's, renown Atelier 17 in Paris, (where some revolutionary new techniques of plate making and colour printing were being explored) he took with him a copy of the recently published collection of Graham's poems titled The Night Fishing. This work became the inspiration for a suite of etchings which Anthony named An Homage to the Night Fishing. These fresh, colourful etchings have the energy of Tachist paintings. The Bourse Committee, very impressed with the work, extended Anthony's study time by a month, so he could finish his work. Some test proofs were printed at the time, but the plates were not editioned somehow they were misplaced during a studio move and not found again until the late 1990s when Anthony's nephew and printer, Simon Marsh discovered them, still wrapped in a French newspaper. Partial editions were then printed. They were shown in an Exhibition curated by Chris Stephens, about Sidney Graham and his artist friends. The suite of innovative prints is now in the Tate Britain Collection. Anthony was awarded an Italian Travel Study Scholarship in 1960. He was profoundly moved by the art of the Early Renaissance that he saw in the museums, palaces and cathedrals. He was struck by the use of repeated flat geometrical shapes in many works, particularly by the strong impact and visual rhythm set up by the rows of saint's halos in Duccio's 'Madonna in Majesty in the Siena Duomo. When he returned to London in mid-1961 this rediscovery of defined, flat shapes, shallow but articulate space and much more vibrant colour informed his new painting. Full of renewed energy as a result of his Italian experiences, he painted prolifically and exhibited widely. He had several one-man shows at the Grabowski Gallery in South Kensington, as well as at St. Catherine's College in Oxford and Belfast University.

• 1958 – Paintings & Drawings – Newlyn Art Gallery Newlyn UK • 1960 – Obelisk Gallery, London, UK • 1964 – Paintings – Queen's University Belfast Northern Ireland • 1964 – St. Catherine's College Oxford UK • 1965 – Artist's Prints – Institute of Contemporary Arts ICA London UK • 1966 – Sculpture, Painting, Graphics & Drawing – ICA London UK • 1966 – Paintings – Central Street Gallery Sydney Australia • 1967 – Sculpture, Painting, Graphics & Drawing – Museum of Modern Art Oxford • 1967 – New Works – Winchester Contemporary Art Society UK • 1969 – New Prints – Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer New York USA • 1969 – Sculpture, Painting & Drawing – Comsky Gallery Los Angeles USA • 1970 – Sculpture – Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer New York USA • 1974 – Graphic Work – Foundation Sonja Henei Neils Museum of Modern Art Norway • 1976 – Sculpture & Drawing – Gimpel Fils London UK • 1979 – Graphic Work – Graffiti Gallery Hjo Sweden • 1980 – Borderline Images & Other Work – Rhok Gallery Brussels Belgium • 1981 – Works on Paper – Den Internasjonale Kustuke Ringerikes Norway • 1982 – Sculpture – Atlanta Georgia USA • 1985 – Sculpture & Graphics – Galerie Aeblegaarden Denmark • 1987 – Sculpture & Wallhangings – Art Expo New York USA • 1990 – New Works on Paper – Gimpel Fils London UK • 1992 – A Selection from an Amsterdam Diary – Chelsea Arts Club UK • 1994 – Recent Drawings – Rhok Institut Brussels Belgium • 1999 – Paintings and Etchings – Tate St Ives UK • 2000 – New Works – Elm Hill Contemporary Art Norwich UK • 2002 – A Selection of Works – Belgrave Gallery St Ives UK

The following is established of the heading itself.

• Aberdeen Art Gallery UK • Albright Knox Gallery USA • Arts Council of Great Britain UK • Art Gallery of New South Wales Australia • Art Gallery of Western Australia • Birmingham City Art Gallery UK • British Council UK • Canada Council Art Bank Canada • Confederation Art Gallery Canada • Contemporary Art Society UK • Department of External Affairs Canada • Essex County Council UK • Glasgow Museum & Art Gallery UK • Joseph H Hirschorn Collection USA • Kestner-Gesellschaft Hanover Germany • Kirklees Museum Services UK • Laing Art Gallery UK • Leeds City Art Gallery UK • Manchester City Art Gallery • Museum of Contemporary Art Nagaoka Japan • Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje Yugoslavia • Museum of Modern Art New York USA • National Museum of Art Cracow Poland • National Museum of Art Warsaw Poland • Norwich Castle Museum UK • Reading Art Gallery & Museum UK • Sheffield City Art Gallery • Southampton City Art Gallery UK • Tate Gallery London UK • University of Calgary Canada • University of Leicester UK • University of Liverpool UK • University of London UK • University of Manchester UK • University of Manitoba Canada • University of Sussex UK • University of Warwick UK • Usher Art Gallery Lincoln UK • Wakefield City Art Gallery UK • York University UK Anthony Benjamin's work is held in corporate collections around the world including Rank Xerox UK, U.S. Steele USA, J Walter Thompson UK, Grindlay's Bank UAE, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canada, and NKR Sweden.