about Portrait of a Lady

Benjamin Benno’s swirling abstract portrayal of a woman is entirely comprised of two overlapping circles filled with curving brushstrokes and two distinct black dots at the center of each shape.

Drastically different from typical portraits of women, this watercolor features considerable contrast between the illuminated subject and the shadowy background that further enliven the work. An original gouache on paper by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980).  By the early 1930s he had established a reputation as a member of the international avant-garde and exhibited with the most significant European artists including Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Hans Arp, and Fernand Léger. Pablo Picasso sponsored Benno’s first one-man show in Paris in 1934.