Ben Messick (1901 - 1981)
Painter and printmaker Ben Messick was born and raised in Strafford, Missouri. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917, and served in the Allied Expeditionary Force. Returning to America, Messick moved to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in the arts, studying at the Chouinard Art Institute. He is best known for paintings and lithographs that captured southern California in the inter-war years when the film industry and industrial expansion transformed Los Angeles from sleepy backwater to cultural and commercial powerhouse. He captured the passing scene of vagrants, panhandlers, and prostitutes with bemused warmth, and was an especially devoted student of the circus and its quirky, colorful ways.
Messick worked on several WPA murals, most of them in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and three at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. He worked at Disney Studios and MGM while also teaching art at Chouinard. His work was widely exhibited and is held by numerous institutions and private collections. He died in Los Angeles.
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Lithograph, ca. 1940; sheet size 11¼” x 13½” with scant margins. Signed in the stone and estate signed in pencil. Fine overall condition.
$275
Another copy
Sheet size 11-5/8” x 13½. Fine
$275
Card Players
Lithograph, ca. 1940; edition not stated. Sheet size 6-5/16” x 11-3/16” with scant margins. Signed in the stone by the artist. Overall fine condition.
$250
Gospel Singer (Carol Singer)
Lithograph, 1939; edition not stated. Sheet size 9-3/8” x 12¾” with scant margins. Signed in the stone by the artist and in pencil by the Messick estate. Overall fine condition.
$225
Heavy Load
Lithograph, ca. 1940; edition not stated. Sheet size 8-1/8” x 11-7/8” with scant margins. Signed by the artist in the stone. Overall fine condition.
$225
Another Copy
Sheet size 8-5/8” x 13¼” in overall fine condition.
$225
Mexican Character
Lithograph, ca. 1940; edition not stated. Sheet size 8” x 13-1/16” with scant margins. Signed by the artist in the stone; signed in pencil by the estate; Messick estate stamp in lower portion of the image. Fine overall.
$225
Circus People
Lithograph, ca. 1940; edition not stated. Sheet size 8-11/16” x 12-7/8” with scant margins. Signed in the stone and estate signed in pencil in the image area. Very good overall condition, with minor darkening at the lower edge of the sheet.
$225
Another Copy
Sheet size 9-1/16” x 12” with scant margins. Very good overall condition.
$150
Polo Player
Lithograph, ca. 1940; edition not stated. Image size 12” x 10”; sheet size 15” x 12½”. Signed by the artist in the stone, signed in pencil by the estate, and estate blind stamped in the image area.. Fine overall condition with a faint crease in the right margin well away from the sight area.
$250
The Big Cat
Woodcut, ca. 1940; edition not stated. Image size 12-3/8” x 10½”; sheet size 15¾” x 12”. Signed in the block. Annotated “Proof #2” and titled in pen in the lower margin. Very good overall condition.
$125