Anthony Benjamin
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Anthony Benjamin RE, FRSA |
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|---|---|
| Born |
Anthony Benjamin Brown 29 March 1931 Boarshunt, England |
| Died | February 17, 2002 (aged 70) London, England |
| Residence | London, St. Ives, Kelling |
| Nationality | English |
| Education | Regent Street Polytechnic, Fernand Léger, Atelier 17 with WS Hayter |
| Known for | Painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking |
| Style | Kitchen Sink, abstract, surrealism |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Griffiths m.1950, Stella Downton m.1956 |
| Partner(s) | Nancy Patterson 1959 until death |
Anthony Benjamin (1931–2002) FRSA, RE was an English painter, sculptor and printmaker. 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.
Benjamin was born in England in 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.
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