Broadbills

Frank W. Benson (1862-1951) was an American artist from Salem, Massachusetts, known for his realistic portraits, American Impressionist paintings, watercolors and etchings. He began his career painting portraits of distinguished families and murals for the Library of Congress. Some of his best known paintings (Eleanor, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Summer, Rhode Island School of Design Museum) depict his daughters outdoors at Benson's summer home, Wooster Farm, on the island of North Haven, Maine. He also produced numerous oil, wash and watercolour paintings and, as here, drypoints and etchings of wildfowl and landscapes.

Reflecting Benson's original goal as an artist to become an ornithological illustrator, birds were the subjects of most of his washes, etchings, and watercolour paintings. In 1914, Benson began etching as an interesting pastime, one that along with his eye for aesthetics, required him to master the complex technique for the desired effect. In 1915 he first exhibited etchings of wild fowl, to popular acclaim. Benson turned increasingly to the depiction of landscapes featuring wildlife, an outgrowth of his interest in hunting and fishing. He went on to produce a steady and profitable output of etchings. Once most recognised for his Impressionist paintings, he became equally popular with his etchings. Arthur Philpott, a critic for the Boston Globe, ambitiously claimed (given the tremendous status and quality of etching worldwide at the time) that Benson was the "best known and most popular etcher in the world". To one of his daughters Benson said "The whole process from the bare plate to the finished print is full of fascinating possibilities and possible failures". He is credited with making wildlife prints a distinct genre.

This drypoint, from an edition of 155, is the quintessential Benson image of wildfowl, water and light.

See:  Wikipedia, 'Frank Weston Benson', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Weston_Benson

Dr Mark Stocker  Curator, Historical International Art  February 2018