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Untitled (factory chimney)
Untitled (factory chimney)
Untitled (factory chimney)

Untitled (factory chimney)

Artist (American, 1943 - 2017)
Datecirca 1984
Mediumphotograph printed on offset lithographic printer
DimensionsImage: 18 1/4 × 14 3/8 in. (46.4 × 36.5 cm)
Support: 22 3/4 × 17 in. (57.8 × 43.2 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Christopher Benson in honor of his uncle Richard Benson, 2017
Object number2017.16.1
DescriptionVertical composition dominated by a large chimney or smoke stack at center, extending above the picture pland. At right is a utility pole leaning at a slight angle. At left is a blocky brick building with a man on the roof.
Text Entries
The donor, Christopher Benson, is a painter living in Santa Fe and is Richard Benson’s nephew. He says that his uncle was sixteen years older than he but that they grew up together as two artists. He also calls Chip his teacher and describes him as a second brother. During one college summer, Christopher worked in his uncle’s shop while he was printing the deluxe volume of work from the Gilman Paper Company.
Benson was known for his inventive approach to printmaking, always trying new techniques and often running paper through a press multiple times to achieve the richest and most resonant image he could produce. This muscular composition from the mid-1980s feels like it is from another time, with its industrial subject matter, the tiny figure on the roof, and the dark printing. The picture was made in an unspecified location during the artist’s travels on the East Coast of the United States.
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