Wednesday, September 28, 2011

When Eduardo Benito Was in Vogue


Eduardo Benito (1891-1981) was an icon of the Art Deco era. When I was young I enjoyed seeing his work while flipping through library copies of old issues of the Art Directors Annual, a publication that taught me more than any other about the history of commercial art from the late 1920s into the 1950s.

Here is the best biographical information I could find about Benito on the Internet. It seems that magazine publishing magnate Condé Nast kept Benito busy doing covers for Vanity Fair when he wasn't producing Vogue covers for him. Not a bad gig for an illustrator from Spain.

Gallery

Vogue cover - April 1927

Vanity Fair cover - August 1931

Vogue cover - August 1929

Vanity Fair cover - March 1929

Illustration - 1928

4 comments:

  1. I don't suppose I'm the first to wonder why, for much of the twentieth century, a lot of popular art was better stuff than much high art.

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  2. Bonjour,

    L am the owner of a large pastel by Eduardo Benito. If you want a photo, i'll send you.
    Sylvain Schwartz Paris
    sylvain.schwartz@hotmail.fr

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  3. I have s beautiful picture of the French bride from Eduardo Benito. It is really different almost like a resin version with gold in it. It’s stunning. Like a seLed paining. Framed and matted no glass. It’s sbout 16 x 22. Maybe bigger. Do you know what this style is concidered and it’s value? Thank you Lisa

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  4. Lisa -- There is no image of what you're discussing, I can only guess. Labels can be tricky because they're somewhat arbitrary, judgmental. Benito's style in this post's images might be called "Moderne" or "Art Deco" -- I prefer Moderne. As for value, I have no expertise on values: you need to talk to a dealer.

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