Roloff Beny
Encyclopedia
Roloff Beny, OC
(January 7, 1924 – March 16, 1984) was a Canadian
photographer who spent the better part of his life in Rome and on his photographic travels throughout the world. Born Wilfred Roy Beny in Medicine Hat, Alberta
, he later took as his first name Roloff, his mother's maiden name.
Beny studied at the University of Toronto, took art classes at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Iowa. At Iowa, he studied with master printmaker Mauricio Lasansky. A print by Lasansky was given by Beny along with his entire collection of International and Canadian art, the collection of his own art along with his archival papers to the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. The collection is searchable online. Beny established this extensive study archive at the university in the city of his upbringing,Lethbridge AB. He maintained a photographic studio in Lethbridge throughout his life. He utilized the studio when returning to visit his relatives, many of whom continue to live there.
Beny had a considerable reputation and exhibition record as the maker of progressive painting, drawing and printmaking in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He was recognized as one of the leading abstract artists of his day with works of the period exhibited and collected at that time by distinguished institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada among others. His work in 'fine art': painting, drawing and prints is discussed in the book by Mitchell Crites: "Roloff Beny Visual Journey"
Canada, as Beny remarked, had "no temples two thousand years old, no paths worn hard by passionate travelers." [1] But the photographer soon found his way to those paths and temples in the course of "insatiable wanderings in Europe and Asia," and, above all, around the long, richly-indented perimeter of the Mediterranean. [1]
Roloff Beny, as he called himself, was a man obsessed with the beauty of the world. He has most justly been called "a poetic photographer". [1] and he was a passionate aesthete whose eye transfigured everything he saw. His photographic journeys were recorded in a series of splendid large-scale volumes which appeared over the years. His visual journey led from his hometown of Medicine Hat, Alberta, in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies, to a penthouse overlooking the Tiber in Rome, which was his base for more than 30 years.
His books won awards throughout a long career, beginning with The Thrones of Earth and Heaven in 1958. To Every Thing There is a Season: Roloff Beny in Canada is a study of his native land.
In 1972, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
.
Beny was, in early days, a protege of Peggy Guggenheim and Herbert Read. The circle of friends around him - actors, artists, collectors, writers - included such figures as Laurence Olivier, Stephen Spender, Rose Macauly, Bernhard Berenson, Jean Cocteau, Henry Moore, and other luminaries of art and literature.
His readers, like his travels, are international, and his books have been published in America, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iran, and Japan.
Roloff Beny died in 1984, age only 60, in his Roman studio overlooking the Tiber. His last four volumes appeared posthumously.
Beny's work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
"I see majestic ruins even in the architecture of the skies," he wrote in the Preface to one of his splendid and marvelous books. [2]
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(January 7, 1924 – March 16, 1984) was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
photographer who spent the better part of his life in Rome and on his photographic travels throughout the world. Born Wilfred Roy Beny in Medicine Hat, Alberta
Medicine Hat, Alberta
Medicine Hat, known to locals as "The Hat", is a city of 61,097 people located in the southeastern part of the province of Alberta, Canada. It is enclaved within Cypress County along with the nearby Town of Redcliff, although neither is part of the county....
, he later took as his first name Roloff, his mother's maiden name.
Beny studied at the University of Toronto, took art classes at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Iowa. At Iowa, he studied with master printmaker Mauricio Lasansky. A print by Lasansky was given by Beny along with his entire collection of International and Canadian art, the collection of his own art along with his archival papers to the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. The collection is searchable online. Beny established this extensive study archive at the university in the city of his upbringing,Lethbridge AB. He maintained a photographic studio in Lethbridge throughout his life. He utilized the studio when returning to visit his relatives, many of whom continue to live there.
Beny had a considerable reputation and exhibition record as the maker of progressive painting, drawing and printmaking in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He was recognized as one of the leading abstract artists of his day with works of the period exhibited and collected at that time by distinguished institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada among others. His work in 'fine art': painting, drawing and prints is discussed in the book by Mitchell Crites: "Roloff Beny Visual Journey"
Canada, as Beny remarked, had "no temples two thousand years old, no paths worn hard by passionate travelers." [1] But the photographer soon found his way to those paths and temples in the course of "insatiable wanderings in Europe and Asia," and, above all, around the long, richly-indented perimeter of the Mediterranean. [1]
Roloff Beny, as he called himself, was a man obsessed with the beauty of the world. He has most justly been called "a poetic photographer". [1] and he was a passionate aesthete whose eye transfigured everything he saw. His photographic journeys were recorded in a series of splendid large-scale volumes which appeared over the years. His visual journey led from his hometown of Medicine Hat, Alberta, in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies, to a penthouse overlooking the Tiber in Rome, which was his base for more than 30 years.
His books won awards throughout a long career, beginning with The Thrones of Earth and Heaven in 1958. To Every Thing There is a Season: Roloff Beny in Canada is a study of his native land.
In 1972, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts is a Canadian arts-related institution founded in 1880, under the patronage of the Governor General of Canada, Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne. Canadian landscape painter Homer Watson was a member and president of the Academy...
.
Beny was, in early days, a protege of Peggy Guggenheim and Herbert Read. The circle of friends around him - actors, artists, collectors, writers - included such figures as Laurence Olivier, Stephen Spender, Rose Macauly, Bernhard Berenson, Jean Cocteau, Henry Moore, and other luminaries of art and literature.
His readers, like his travels, are international, and his books have been published in America, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iran, and Japan.
Roloff Beny died in 1984, age only 60, in his Roman studio overlooking the Tiber. His last four volumes appeared posthumously.
Beny's work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
"I see majestic ruins even in the architecture of the skies," he wrote in the Preface to one of his splendid and marvelous books. [2]
Roloff Beny's Books
- The Thrones of Earth and Heaven, 1958
- A Time of Gods, 1962
- Pleasure of Ruins, 1964
- To Every Thing There is a Season, Roloff Beny in Canada, 1967
- Japan in Color, 1967
- India, 1969
- Island Ceylon, 1970
- Rajasthan, Land of Kings, 1984 (Beny died while this book was in publication.)
- Roloff Beny in Italy, 1974
- Persia, Bridge of Turquoise, 1975
- Iran, Elements of Destiny, 1978
- The Churches of Rome, 1981
- Odyssey: Mirror on the Mediterranean, 1981
- The Gods of Greece, 1983
- The Romance of Architecture, 1985 (posthumous)
- Iceland, 1985 (posthumous)
- Visual Journeys, 1994 (posthumous)
- People, Legends in Life and Art, 1995 (posthumous)
Sources
- [1] Roloff Beny, To Every Thing there is a Season, The Viking Press, New York, 1967.
- [2] Roloff Beny, Pleasure of Ruins,Thames and Hudson, London, 1964