Benn Mitchell
BENN MITCHELL: Works from 1940’s & 50’s
ONLINE EXHIBITION: February 15- March 6, 2021
As the snow begins to melt and there is the faintest breath of spring in the air, we have all begun to collectively exhale: we are moving through this time. We are and have always been a New York gallery, a New York family. The toll that this past year has taken on our city and our lives is something we now live with. But we are not the first to walk a tenuous path, as art lovers we can look to our very own for evidence of the strength of the city we love and all of its eternal qualities. This is ever present in the work of Benn Mitchell. These images gather for us the city that holds us and the poetry we have built our lives upon that dwells on every street corner revealing to us who we are and who we always have been.
Forever New York, a love letter.
Benn Mitchell (b.1926, New York City) from the age of 13 when he received his first camera, has been producing photographs that capture a particularly American vitality. Born in New York City, he sold his first photograph to Life magazine when he was 16. At the age of 17 he headed west, gaining permission from Warner Brothers to frequent the studios shooting the Hollywood stars on the various sets and sound stages. One of his most valued photographs is one of Humphrey Bogart.
After two years of duty as a navy photographer, he returned to New York City and was employed in a large commercial studio. In 1951 he started his own commercial studio in New York City.
During the weekends and holidays he continued to photograph for his own satisfaction and has won many awards both domestic and international. He was been published in many photo annuals and today his work appears in Fortune 500 companies, and all over the world in advertising, books and major magazines. Collectors buy his fine art photographs.
For press and other inquiries, please email: info@benrubigallery.com
BIOGRAPHY
Born: January 1926, New York City.
Benn Mitchell, from the age of 13 when he received his first camera, has been producing photographs that capture a particularly American vitality. Born in New York City, he sold his first photograph to Life magazine when he was 16. At the age of 17 he headed west, gaining permission from Warner Brothers to frequent the studios shooting the Hollywood stars on the various sets and sound stages. One of his most valued photographs is one of Humphrey Bogart.
After two years of duty as a navy photographer, he returned to New York City and was employed in a large commercial studio. In 1951 he started his own commercial studio in New York City.
During the weekends and holidays he continued to photograph for his own satisfaction and has won many awards both domestic and international. He was been published in many photo annuals and today his work appears in Fortune 500 companies, and all over the world in advertising, books and major magazines. Collectors buy his fine art photographs.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2009
"Urban Abstractions"; Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
2008
"Color Me New York"; Boca Raton Museum of Art
2007
"Black and White Prints of New York City"; Elaine Baker Gallery
2006
"20/30 Vision: An Anniversary Celebration"; Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY
"Black and White Prints of New York City"; Gallery Camino Real
2005
The Metropolitain Museum of Art aquired photographs for the permanent collection.
2004
"57 on 57th", Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NYC
"New York, New York: Photographs by Benn Mitchell and Theresa Bernstein: An Early Modernism"
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton , FL
2003
Mizel Center for the Arts and Culture, Denver, CO
2002
"Star spangled Spirit", Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NYC
"At Play", SoHo Triad Fine Arts, NYC
2001
"Nightlife, " Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NYC
"The Streets and Beyond: New York Photographs, Museum of the City of New York, NYC
Hackelbury Fine Art, London, England
2000
Bright Lights, Big City, Winston Wachter Mayer Fine Art, NYC
1999
Bright Lights, Big City, Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA
1998
"Flashback: The Fifties", Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NYC
"An American Century, Part II", James Danziger Gallery, NYC
SoHo Triad Fine Art, NYC
"Fifty from the Fifties", Gallery Uterman, Dortmund, Germany
1997
"Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.", Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY
1996
"By Night," Foundation Cartier, Paris, France
"Summer Salon III," Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NYC
At the Movies, Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles
Pace/Wildenstein/MacGill, Los Angeles, CA
1995
"Let's Go to the Movies," Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NYC
"The Cinema," Galerie Utermann, Munich, Germany
Janet Borden Gallery, NYC
Julie Saul Gallery, NYC
"Summer Salon II", Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY
1994
"Five on New York", Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY
"Up in Smoke," Knoedler Gallery, NYC
1992
"New York City," Houk Friedman Gallery, NYC
PUBLICATIONS
Black & White Magazine
LIFE Magazine
New York Times Magazine
US Air Magazine
Popular Photography
Photography Annual
Modern Photography
AMFAR Christmas
US Camera
Fotofolio
New Yorker Magazine
Memoirs: Mary Cantwell, Penguin Publications
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Reader's Digest
Showtime
Merrill Lynch
J. P. Morgan
Banana Republic
Museum of the City of New York
Siegel & Gale, Inc
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Viacom
US Trust
The Buhl Collection
Various private collections
Feb 15 - Mar 6, 2021