Ben Long (American, b. 1945), Whispers

Oil on canvas, 2001, signed with artist's monogram and dated at lower right, retaining museum exhibition label to the verso, presented in a very fine ebonized and gilt frame.

Stretcher size 72 1/4 x 60 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 80 x 67 in.

Exhibited:
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, Ben Long: Paintings and Drawings, November 11, 2009 - February 7, 2010

Benjamin Franklin Long IV is an internationally recognized North Carolina artist and one of the few contemporary masters of fresco painting. Born in Texas and raised in Statesville, North Carolina, Long studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before moving to New York to study at the Art Students League. After serving over two tours of duty in Vietnam as a Marine Corps Combat Officer and Commander of the Combat Art Team, he traveled to Florence, Italy, where he apprenticed under Maestro Pietro Annigoni for nearly eight years. His apprenticeship culminated in 1976 when he was awarded the prestigious Leonardo da Vinci International Art Award. Long mastered the ancient technique of buon fresco, the same method Michelangelo used in the Sistine Chapel, where pigments are applied to wet plaster and become permanently part of the wall.

Long returned to North Carolina in the 1970s and offered to donate his services if anyone would give him a wall to paint. Beginning with St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Jefferson in 1974, he has since created over 30 frescoes across North Carolina and internationally, including the largest secular fresco in the United States at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte. His work has been featured in numerous one-person and group shows, including those at the Greenville County Museum of Art, the Gibbes Museum of Art, Hickory Museum of Art, and the Royal Portrait Society. Long divides his time between Europe and the United States, continuing to create monumental works and teach the ancient art of fresco painting.

Slight draw in upper left corner; minor rubbing to frame; overall in good estate condition.