Printer: Imp Deprest

Dimensions: 70 x 47 cm

Condition: Very good 

Available: Sold

Artist: Bencjon Rabinowicz - Benn (1905-1989) was a Polish-born, multi-award-winning French-Jewish painter and theatre-set designer. Associated with the Modern School of Paris, his early work was mostly figurative. His style evolved over the years and he is best remembered for his ‘poetic realist style’ characterised by those struggling on the margins of society.

In 1929, aged 24, he won a scholarship to study for three years in Paris, and when he arrived in France, he changed his name to Benn. His first French exhibition was held in 1931 at Galerie L’Epoque, and for the next eight years, he exhibited at many private galleries including Salon d’Automne – an annual show, which originated in 1903, to challenge the formal Salon de Paris and encourage emerging artists of all nationalities to break artistic boundaries.

Benn married a French ballerina in 1938 and became a French citizen. During the Second World War, he was mobilised and discharged in Brittany. He continued to send paintings to the Salon d’Automne but in 1940, Jewish artists were excluded from exhibiting and his work was rejected. A year later, he was interned at a camp for foreign born Jews. He was released but forced into hiding for over two years under the protection of the French writer, Jean Paulhan. During that time, he produced over sixty works inspired by the bible and motifs. He continued to exhibit extensively and won many awards, mostly for his work associated with the bible and peace. In 1986, he received an international prize in recognition of donating his poster design symbolising peace and human rights to UNESCO. He died in Paris in 1989, aged 84.