Ben-Zion

Places of work recorded in the authority are New York City and United States. Work by Ben-Zion is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Name — Ben-Zion • Other Names — Ben-Zion Weinman, Benzion Weinman, Ben-Tsiyon Ṿainman, Ben-Tsiyon, Bentsion Veinman • Born — 8 July 1897 • Birthplace — Starokostiantyniv, Russian Empire • Died — 23 January 1987 • Place of death — New York City, New York, U.S. • Occupation — painter, printmaker, educator, sculptor, poet • Years Active — 1914–1970s • Movement — Expressionism • Spouse — Lillian Dubin (m. 1949–1987; death)

Ben-Zion was born on July 8, 1897, in Starokostiantyniv, Russian Empire (present-day is Ukraine). His father, Hirsch Weinman was a Jewish cantor, and initially he wanted to enter the rabbinate. In 1909, the family moved to Galicia. At age 17, he travelled to Vienna to study art. He had been rejected from entering the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna due to antisemitism. Early in his career, he wrote fairy tales and poems in Hebrew under the name "Benzion Weinman".

He immigrated to the United States in 1920 after the death of his father, and started by teaching Hebrew language. When he started painting he dropped his last name and started hyphenating. His first large scale painting was Friday Evening (1933), depicting his family's Sabbath dinner table. Starting in 1935, many of his paintings were expressionist versions of reinterpreted biblical scenes. His first solo exhibition was in 1936 at the Artists' Gallery in New York City. His early artwork was primarily done in oil paint, watercolors, and intaglio printmaking. He was largely a self-taught artist. From 1936 until 1942, he was a founding member of "The Ten" expressionist artist group, which also included the artists Mark Rothko, Louis Harris (artist), Adolph Gottlieb, Ralph Rosenborg, Louis Schanker, Joseph Solman, Nahum Tschacbasov, and Ilya Bolotowsky. The mission of the art group was, "to protest against the reputed equivalence of American painting and literal painting." From the 1930s to the 1960s, Ben-Zion taught art (through the Works Progress Administration) at Cooper Union and other locations. In the 1950s, he began working in welded iron sculptures. In 1959, the Jewish Museum in New York City held a retrospective exhibition of his work.