Interiors and still lifes by Frank Weston Benson includes oil and water color paintings and a couple of etchings made by Frank Weston Benson. He also made portraits, waterscapes, wildlife, landscapes and other works of art.
While Benson's works of interior settings and still lifes was limited in comparison to other compositions or settings, he exhibited expertise at capturing light and shadow of interior spaces.
Benson painting a series of true still lifes about 1919. In the arrangements, he gathered objects from his seafaring ancestors on their trips to the Orient: porcelains, candlesticks, oriental screens, and embroidered silk tablecloths. He arranged and rearranged them to create interesting compositions.[1] Whatever the subject matter, Benson always sought a "harmonious arrangement."[2] He said to his daughter Eleanor, "A picture is merely an experiment in design. If the design is pleasing, the picture is good, no matter whether composed of objects, still life, figures or birds. Few appreciate that what makes them admire a picture is the design made by the painter."[1]
After a day of hunting, Benson brought home a rail and snipe and hammered them to the barn door. He found that he was interested in capturing the two birds and made oil paintings of each.[3] Although he was a teenager, he had an exceptional grasp of light and its effects. Rail, one of Benson's earliest paintings, was made when he was 16[4] and his goal was to become an ornithological illustrator.[5]
In Firelight, Benson depicts a woman wearing a white dress in an interior setting. Her left arm is outstretched, to the right in a large vase. It won an award with a cash prize that allowed Benson to realize a lifelong dream, a hunting cabin, which he purchased with two of his brothers-in-law.[6]
| Title | Image | Medium | Year | Collection | Comments and SIRIS ID | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rail | oil on board | 1878–1879 | Private collection | 18 in x 12.3 in (45.7 cm x 31.2 cm), SIRIS Control Number 8A220023 | ||
| By Firelight | oil on canvas | 1889 | 40 in x 31 in (101.6 cm x 78.7 cm). Scene: Red interior with woman seated in dark on chair in front of lit fireplace. SIRIS Control Number 23570017 | |||
| Firelight | oil on canvas | 1893 | Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York | 40 in x 30 in (101.6 cm x 76.2 cm) SIRIS Control Number 89170058 | ||
| Examining the Lace (or Woman Admiring Lace) | oil on canvas | 1910 | 30 in x 25 in (76.2 cm x 63.5 cm) Scene: interior with female figure seated in armchair, facing viewer, holding piece of lace; fireplace at right. SIRIS Control Number 89180001 | |||
| Figure in a Room (or Interior?) | oil on canvas | 1912 | Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA | 30 in x 25.1 in (76.2 cm x 63.8 cm). Benson received the statue of Artemis depicted in Figure in a Room from his friend, Bela Pratt, who was an instructor with Benson at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[7] SIRIS Control Number 07130294 | ||
| The Grey Room (or Grey Room (or The Gray Room) | oil on canvas | 1913 | 25.3 in x 30.8 in (64.3 cm x 78.2 cm) Scene: dark interior with woman reading by yellow glow. SIRIS Control Number 13730490 | |||
| The Seamstress | oil on canvas | 1913 | 36 in x 26 in (91.4 cm x 66 cm) Scene: dark interior with woman sewing by light from window. | |||
| Candlelight | etching on Shogun paper/print | 1915 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA | 9.9 in x 7.9 in (25.1 cm x 20.1 cm) Scene: female figure fixes hair in mirror by candlelight. | ||
| Nasturtiums in a Vase | 1919 | Nasturtiums in a Vase is one of the more than thirty still lifes Benson completed in oil and watercolor. | ||||
| The Dining Room Table | oil on canvas | c. 1919 | Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA | 32.1 in x 39.9 in (81.5 cm x 101.3 cm) Scene: still life with a parrot perched on a bowl of fruit. SIRIS Control Number 29830008 | ||
| The Silver Screen | oil on canvas | 1921 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA | 36.3 in x 44.1 in (92.2 cm x 112 cm) Of painting interior spaces and still lifes, such as The Silver Screen, Benson said, "Don't paint things... Don't paint anything but the effect of light."[8] SIRIS Control Number 20492455 | ||
| Still Life Decoration | oil on canvas tacked over board | 1922 | 45 in x 60 in (114.3 cm x 152.4 cm) Scene: still life with bowl of fruit, statuary, and candlestick on cloth-draped table in front of silver screen. SIRIS Control Number 89170076 | |||
| Still Life with Flowers | watercolor on paper | 1922 | 19 in x 15 in (48.3 cm x 38.1 cm) Scene: still life of clear pitcher with flowers. | |||
| Pewter Pitcher | Online image[9] | watercolor/gouache/graphite on paper laid down on board | 1923 | Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL | 21 in x 14.4 in (53.3 cm x 36.6 cm) Scene: arrangement of pewter pitcher of flowers and plates. | |
| Peonies in Blue China | Online image[10] | watercolor on paper | 1923 | Private collection | 25 in x 19 in (63.5 cm x 48.3 cm) Scene: light-colored flowers in blue/white porcelain jug set against floral wallpaper background; red/pink flowers at left. SIRIS Control Number 8A220007 | |
| The Waterlilies (or The Water Lilies) | Online image[11] | watercolor on paper | 1923 | 17 in x 21 in (43.2 cm x 53.3 cm) | ||
| Nasturtiums in a Flowered Vase (or Nasturtiums in a Vase) | watercolor on paper | c. 1926 | 21.8 in x 17.6 in (55.4 cm x 44.7 cm) Nasturtiums in a Vase in one of the more than thirty still lifes Benson completed in oil and watercolor. SIRIS Control Number 61070671 | |||
| Still Life | Online image[12] | oil on canvas | c. 1926 | Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL | 45.3 in x 60.3 in (115.1 cm x 153.2 cm) Still life: several objects on table; porcelain bowl with fruit, vase of flowers, candlesticks, bird. Benson choose and varied placement of items in his collection to create interesting and harmonious compositions. The silver screen used in this painting was also used in the painting The Silver Screen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Still Life was winner of the "Henry Ward Ranger Fund prize." SIRIS Control Number 08580001 | |
| Still Life | Online image[13] | etching/lithograph | 1927 | 15.1 in x 12 in (38.4 cm x 30.5 cm) Scene: still life with flowers in jug next to small pewter pitcher. | ||
| Fisherman's Bedroom, Eastham, Massachusetts | Online image[14] | watercolor on paper | c. 1929 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA | 16.8 in x 22 in (42.7 cm x 55.9 cm) Scene: interior depicting unmade bed with rumpled brown blanket/white sheets; bedside table with oil lamp/hat/necktie. SIRIS Control Number 20493118 | |
| Still Life, Azaleas | Online image[15] | watercolor on paper | 1934 | Stephen Phillips Memorial Trust House, Salem, MA | 21 in x 28 in (53.3 cm x 71.1 cm) Still life: oriental figurine of woman in red robes and 2 pots of azaleas with pink blossoms on patterned cloth set in an interior. Mrs. Stephen Phillips, a new neighbor, visited Benson's Chestnut Street, Salem home for tea. She mentioned that she enjoyed the painting and Benson gave it to her as a gift. SIRIS Control Number 8A220009 | |
| Still Life | Online image[16] | oil on canvas | 1936 | 30 in x 50 in (76.2 cm x 127 cm) Still life: several objects on table; bowls/platters with fruit, pitcher of water/liquid, candlesticks. SIRIS Control Number 89170026 | ||
| Candelight | Online image[17] | etching | Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA | 25.1 in x 20 in (63.8 cm x 50.8 cm) |