Frank Weston Benson, N.A. 1862-1951.
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Boats at Dawn 1920. Etching. Paff 190.iii. 7 3/4 x 10 7/8 (sheet 10 3/8 x 14 3/8). Edition 150. A rich impression with subtle plate done printed on Japanese mulberry paper on the full sheet with deckle edges. Provenance: the artist's family. Signed in pencil. $2,750.
The Punter 1927. Etching. Paff 273. 7 7/8 x 11 7/8 (sheet 10 3/4 x 14). Edition 150. A rich impression with plate tone printed on cream laid paper. Signed in pencil. $2,250.
Frank W. Benson was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts. He sepnt a great deal of time in the salt marshes that surrounded this coastal town studying, as well as hunting, various waterfowl. He painted his first oil of shorebirds at the age of twelve. At nineteen he attended the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While attending the school he produced his first etching, "Salem Harbor." In 1883 he traveled to Paris to study at the Academie Julien and for the next thirty years devoted his artistic talent to painting and watercolor.
In 1912 at the age of fifty, he again began to produce prints. At first, these prints were portraits, then of waterfowl and nature oriented subjects, totaling over 355 various prints before his death in 1951. Today, Benson is considered the founder of the school of American sporting art and his prints are some of the most desirable.
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