Lot #118: BENJAMIN GREENSTEIN BENNO - Complex Enzyme - Oil on canvas

             

Artist: Benjamin Greenstein Benno (English/Russian/American, 1901-1980).
Title: "Complex Enzyme".
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Date: Composed c1937.
Dimensions: Frame size: 28 x 22 in. (711 x 559 mm). Overall size: 24 x 18 in. (610 x 457 mm).
Lot Note(s): Signed lower right. Overall very good to fine condition with no major issues noted (no holes, tears, repairs, flaking, stains, etc.); as found, unconserved, not relined; strong colors. Comment(s): Benno was considered a child prodigy and as a youth was enrolled at the Ferrer Center in NYC, a radical school started by Emma Goldman for gifted students. He was taught by Robert Henri and George Bellows, with classmates including Edward Hopper and Man Ray. Pablo Picasso sponsored an exhibition for him during Benno’s stay in Paris in the 1930s. Benno’s styles included realism, Cubism, still life biomorphic abstraction, abstract art and, eventually, Abstract Expressionism. A significant collection of his works is in the Brooklyn Museum. Image copyright © The Estate of Benjamin Greenstein Benno. [30072-10-2400]