- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"5.2 linear feet (19 boxes)"}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1984-005", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21610", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Robert Benney research materials"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
- prefercite
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{"value"=>"<p>Robert Benney Research Materials, *T-Mss 1984-005, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
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{"value"=>"Benney, Robert, 1904-2001", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Robert Benney, illustrator and painter, was born in Romania in 1904. He came to New York as a toddler. He studied art at New York's Cooper Union from 1921 to 1925. While in art school at the age of 19, he opened his own studio. Once the studio opened, New York newspapers and magazines began commissioning Benney for his illustration work.</p> <p>He drew portraits of leading actors and actresses for New York City theater productions. These drawings were printed along side an article about the production in newspapers such as the <span class=\"title\">Herald Tribune</span>, <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span>, <span class=\"title\">Brooklyn Daily Eagle</span>, <span class=\"title\">The New York World and Telegraph</span>, and other Greater New York newspapers of that era. Beginning in the late 1930s, the large Hollywood movie studios, such as Twentieth-Century Fox and United Artists, began commissioning Benney for his illustration talents.</p> <p>Benney captured theater productions and stage personalities in his drawings in a number of ways. He set appointments with actors or actresses to sketch them during a sitting in their dressing room. He also attended rehearsals and used photographs to sketch his subjects.</p> <p>While earning a living as a commercial artist, Benney continued going to school. After graduating from Cooper Union, he attended the National Academy of Design from 1928 to1932. He also studied under Frank A. Nankivell. Later he educated future artists at the Pratt Institute between 1949 and 1952 and Dutchess County College between 1964 and 1973.</p> <p>Benney is most celebrated for his time as a war artist correspondent in the Pacific during World War II. In 1943, Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company based out of Illinois, hired Benney to paint the Naval Aviation Department's contributions to the war. In 1944, Abbott brought Benney back to paint the Army Medical Department's work in the South Pacific. While in WWII, Benney produced four series of paintings; Combat Medicine, Naval Aviation, Oil in Warfare, and Amphibious Operations. His depictions were published in 1944, in <span class=\"title\">Our Flying Navy</span>, and in 1945, in <span class=\"title\">Men Without Guns</span>. As a life member of the Society of Illustrators, he volunteered his services in 1954 to the US Air Force to draw their operations in North Africa. He spent two months with the US Marine Corp as a war artist correspondent documenting their work in Danang, Vietnam in 1968.</p> <p>Besides the military and the theater industry, Benney worked as a commercial artist for large corporations such as American Sugar Refining Company, American Tobacco Company, General Foods, Shell Oil, Standard Oil Company and Western Electric. He also worked as a freelance illustrator for advertising agencies. When asked one time how an artist should approach a commercial project, Benney said, \"The question, 'Is it fine art or commercial art?' is of little interest to the director of a large corporation which exists only for selling company products. The primary factors are: \"Does the picture tell the story, does it do it with taste and dignity becoming to the product or industry; and, in the case if institutional advertising, will its art or aesthetic content carry over in the public's subconscious mine the good that is so much coveted?'\"</p> <p>His works for the military are housed in permanent collections at such places as the Smithsonian Institution and the US Army, US Navy, US Marine Corp and US Air Force Combat Art Collections. The Museum of the City of New York exhibited Benney's theater drawings as early as 1933. The Library and Museum of the Performing Arts, the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center displayed a collection of Benney's illustrations spanning 1926 to 1942 at the Amsterdam Gallery between May 3, 1978 and June 19, 1978.</p> <p>By the 1950s, Benney operated studios on West 57th Street in New York City, and in Wallkill, New York. Benney belonged to professional organizations such as the Art Students League, Artists and Writers Association and the Society of Illustrators. Robert Benney died in Boston in June of 2001.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Robert Benney Collection includes photographs, clippings, posters, playbills, and ephemera relating to his career as an illustrator of the stars of stage and screen.</p> <p>The bulk of the material spans 1926 to 1947. The photographs and clippings are mostly portraits of actors and actresses in the costumes they wore for New York City theater productions. However, the collection does include photos and clippings depicting entire production scenes, musicians, radio personalities, comedians and dancers. The collection also has a small amount of photos and clippings representing the films of that time period. Additionally, the collection includes items from the 1978 exhibition of Benney's theatrical sketches at the Library and Museum of the Performing Arts, the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Robert Benney research materials are arranged in six series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21610#c312832'>Series I: Research files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1926-1947</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Research Files include the photographs that Benney used to help him sketch theater productions, and stage actors and actresses. The files contain roughly 1500 black and white photographs. Most of the photographs are 8\"x 10\", but some are over-sized. The files keep to Benney's original organization. They are arranged alphabetically by production title. Within the alphabetically structure, some files were created specifically for choreographers, directors, magicians, musicians, playwrights and producers. These files exist under their corresponding letter. Under most letters, Benney had created miscellaneous folders containing various photographs of actors and actresses with last names corresponding with that letter section. This organizational structure was kept for the collection. Notable stars seen in the research files include Al Jolson, Alfred Lunt, Barbara Stanwyck, Bela Lugosi, Brian Ahern, Dorothy Gish, Eartha Kit, Eddie Cantor, Ethel Barrymore, Eugene O'Neill, Eva Le Gallienne, Gloria Swanson, Helen Hayes, Jimmy Durante, John Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Lynn Fontanne, Margalo Gilmore, Paul Robeson, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Notable productions represented in the research files include: <span class=\"title\">Arsenic and Old Lace</span>, <span class=\"title\">Mary of Scotland</span>, <span class=\"title\">Tobacco Road</span>, <span class=\"title\">Grand Hotel</span>, <span class=\"title\">Vaudeville</span>, <span class=\"title\">Dracula</span>. There is also information regarding radio stations WNBC, WEAF, WJZ.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21610#c313230'>Series II: Flyers, playbills and programs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1926-1947</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 box</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>These flyers, playbills and programs gave Benney some background information on a few of the productions.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21610#c313237'>Series III: Clippings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1926-1947</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>3 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Clippings include Benney's drawings of theater productions and stage, screen and radio performers found in magazine and newspapers of that time. They are organized alphabetically by production title. Within the alphabetical structure, Benney and his assistants had created some files specifically for choreographers, directors, magicians, musicians, playwrights and producers. This arrangement was kept and these files exist under their corresponding letter.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21610#c313462'>Series IV: Scrapbooks</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1926-1947</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 box</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Scrapbooks of clippings created by Benney and his assistants. Two of the scrapbooks were blue and one brown. Clippings were removed and rehoused due to the poor condition of the scrapbooks. The clippings are arranged according to how they were found in each scrapbook.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21610#c313466'>Series V: Career and exhibitions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1926-1978</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Career and Exhibitions include posters, invitations, a guest book and clippings. The posters, invitations and guest book pertain to the exhibition of Benney's theater drawings at The Library and Museum of the Performing Arts, the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center displayed at the Amsterdam Gallery between May 3, 1978 and June 19, 1978. The clippings refer to some highlights in his career, some of the exhibitions of his works being mentioned in these articles.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21610#c313472'>Series VI: Movie posters</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 box</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Two movie posters for the Warner Brothers' production of <span class=\"title\">The Life of Emile Zola</span> contain Robert Benney's sketch of Paul Muni. The posters are identical expect one is a reverse image.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I - Research Files <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Production Photographs</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Oversized Photographs</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Theater Photo Library Card Index</li> <li>Sub-series 4 - Theater Photo Library of Broadway Productions</li> <li>Sub-series 5 - Photo Negatives</li></ul></li> <li>Series II - Flyers, Playbills, and Posters</li> <li>Series III - Clippings</li> <li>Series IV - Scrapbooks</li> <li>Series V - Exhibitions</li> <li>Series VI - Movie Posters</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection was donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division by Dr. Alma Berson, Robert Benney's daughter.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photocopying prohibited.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- note
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{"value"=>"Robert Benney Sketches - *T-VIM 1984-005"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1926-1978", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1926/1978"}
- date_inclusive_start
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1926
- date_inclusive_end
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1978
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Benney, Robert. Original drawings and research materials</p>", "type"=>"host"}
- abstract
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{"value"=>"The Robert Benney research materials include photographs, clippings, posters, playbills, and ephemera relating to his career as a portraitist of stage and screen personalities. The bulk of the material spans 1926 to 1947, and consists of photographs, and clippings of Benney's work depicting New York stage performers in their roles. Many photographs and clippings depict entire stage scenes, and, in addition to stage actors, there are photographs and clippings of musicians, dancers, comics, and radio personalities, and a small number of items relating to films of the period."}
- keydate
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1926
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Angela Graven.</p>"}
- date_start
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1926
- date_end
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1978