Frank W. Benson

Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, Frank Benson spent a great deal of time in the salt marshes that surround this coastal town studying, as well as hunting various waterfowl. He painted his first oil paintings of shore birds at the age of twelve. At nineteen he attended the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. While attending the school, he produced his first etching, "Salem Harbor". In 1883 he traveled to Paris to study at the Academie Julian and for the next thirty years, devoted his artistic talent to painting and watercolor. In 1912, at the age of fifty, he again, began to produce prints. At first, these prints were of people, then of waterfowl and nature oriented subjects, totaling over 355 various prints. Today, Benson is considered the founder of the school of American sporting art and his prints are some of the most desirable. (Source: International Fine Print Dealers Association website, Accessed August 26, 2004, )