The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson

This handsomely produced, definitive book is replete with reproductions of paintings, etchings, and lithographs of waterfowl and related works of Frank W. Benson, a pivotal artist of the American Impressionist movement. Benson's accurate depictions of birds have commanded high prices, and rightly so. This book will be an invaluable addition to the libraries of art collectors.

Faith Andrews Bedford gathered diverse and firsthand source material. She covers Benson's career by melding his primary interests: his family, his art, and the sporting life, not to mention his lifelong passion for birds. By interlacing her text with commentary from interviews with Benson's family, diaries, letters, photographs, and historical articles, she creates a lively, immediate flavor.

Chapter three, "A Sense of Place," begins by telling how the Benson family first visited North Haven island in Maine's Penobscot Bay in June 1901. They eventually bought Wooster Farm and summered there for about 40 years. I have a particular fondness for that island and was transported by the descriptions of their initial visits and their farm on Crabtree Point. To exemplify how neatly Bedford packs information, here is a quote from early in that chapter: "Benson's North Haven paintings of his family were praised by critics and collectors for capturing the `joyous gaiety' and `holiday mood' of life on the island. They sold almost as soon as they were seen by the public...Benson was not an indoor man by nature and far preferred the `life outside the studio.' Although his wife and daughters enjoyed the theater and music and for decades held the same two seats for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he did not often accompany them. Nor did he enjoy the confines of church. He felt the place to worship God and respect His handiwork was through nature."

There is mention also of their tennis court at the farm, interest in golf, and of course the birds and fishing. Bedford adds other significant information about how the island affected Benson's art: "It was to become the site of many milestones, not only in his family life but in his art as well. Benson began his etching career on North Haven. Originally, this aspect of his work was merely a diversion, an experiment." This taste gives an inkling of the abundant information compiled. It is clearly presented and a good biographical resource.

Benson lived a long, fruitful life. Bedford, who has become a scholar capable of making such statements, says, "Benson was, perhaps, that rarest of humans, a happy man. Not that he ever rested on his laurels, not that he did not look constantly for challenges...He had reaped rewards and financial success from his art, had won fame and recognition in his own lifetime-something he realized few artists ever achieved...In Benson's own words, the secret to both tranquil enjoyment and success was in doing what you love."