Filters

color

era

format

location

nationality

publisher

scape

style

subject

technique

year

Ben STAHL

Benjamin Albert Stahl (1910-1987), or Ben Stahl as he was known, was born and raised in Chicago.  Thanks to a precocious artistic talent he was offered a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of his native city at a young age.  With paintings and watercolors exhibited and reproduced for illustrative purposes while still in his teens, Stahl never had to look for his calling after that.  He is today remembered as a prolific painter and illustrator.  He seems to have divided his time between Chicago and Florida.  In the Windy City he taught at his alma mater, at times.  He also taught in various prestigious art schools in New York, and even recorded a series of lectures for television.  He seems to have sold his paintings easily, and his illustrations were in high demand, with publications in Esquire, The Chicago Tribune, Cosmopolitan, as well as hundreds of stories in The Saturday Evening Post.  His style is regarded as narrative, in the vein of the paintings of Norman Rockwell.  His technique was quick, and can be called facile at times.  This causes his work today often to be regarded with some disdain.  Yet, when Stahl was “on”, his narratives, portraits, his religious subjects and even some of his boudoir pictures, can be quite effective and attractive.  Stahl only created three black and white lithographs, apparently.  Each show off his excellent draftsmanship and eye for composition.