Anthony Benjamin

Anthony Benjamin (29 March 1931 – 17 February 2002) FRSA, RE was an English painter, sculptor and printmaker.

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).

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.

After his first year at Regent Street, Anthony travelled to Paris and studied for three months with Fernand Léger (1951).

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.

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).

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.

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).

Referred to as a 'polymathic artist' by critic Rosemary Simmons when writing about his work for the Borderline Images By Anthony Benjamin show at The Graffiti Gallery in 1979.

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.

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.