Frank W. Benson (1862-1951), Swans in Flight

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The Sporting Sale 2024, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Jul 11, 2024

Set Reminder 2024-07-11 10:00:00 2024-07-11 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Sporting Sale 2024, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-sporting-sale-2024-day-1-16089
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• Lot Description

  Frank W. Benson (1862-1951)
  Swans in Flight, 1926
  signed and dated "F.W. Benson '26" lower left
  watercolor, 14 1/2 by 19 1/2 in.
  
  This watercolor of swans displays Benson's expertise in the medium, as well as in depicting waterfowl. With its classic composition and gentle colors, this work shows the artist at the height of his abilities. It combines his masterful impressionist painting technique with his life-long passion for birds and the outdoors.
  
  “The shore of the small inlet looks as though it is beaded with white pearls. So numerous are the swans that the long, snowy line at a distance resembles foam. Benson sits transfixed in his shallow boat. He has seen swans before, of course–even painted them–but never has he seen so many in one place. There must be literally hundreds of the snow-white birds here, he thinks, as he shakes his head in amazement. When his friends told them that Currituck was the home of the swan, they were right. This sight is certainly worth the trip. Some are feeding, some arch their graceful necks over their wings. Others, with their wings set, allow the breeze to buoy them gently along; the birds seem to be enjoying themselves as they bask in the weak sun of the winter day.
  
  “Benson knows that swans have been clocked at speeds of eighty miles per hour, but their massive bodies, long necks, and low slow-beating wings impart an appearance of regal leisure to their flight. In the distance their heads look like spear points set upon slender lances, yet the overall effect is so ponderous as they approach that their speed is difficult to assess.
  
  “Some of his hunting companions shoot swans. Benson does not. It is not because they are too difficult to shoot, too challenging. On the contrary, they are easy prey. Because of their size they usually set their wings while they are still far away from the swimming group they wish to join. They glide in toward the site where they will land, circling at least once and sometimes several times, as they descend lower and lower. Then finally they pitch into the water gracefully, often without the splash and crash of the other birds. It is during their gentle, vulnerable descent that the swans make an easy target.
  
  “As Benson watches them he realizes that another reason swans afford plenty of shooting opportunities is their behavior. Swans are both gregarious and restless, constantly moving about, leaving one group and joining another, seeking new areas for forage.
  
  “As the swans glide slowly past Benson’s boat, he makes mental notes. One of the first paintings of wildfowl that he ever exhibited was of swans against the sky. His art has come a long way, but he still has many paintings in him. Someday he’ll do another one of swans, he thinks, as his snap-shutter eye captures the scene.” - Faith Andrews Bedford
  
  Provenance: Ralph T. King Collection
  Private Collection, by descent in the family
  Private Collection, acquired from Copley Fine Art Auctions, Sporting Sale 2015, lot 27
  
  Literature: Faith Andrews Bedford, "The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson," 2000, pp. 247-248.

  Condition

  Please email condition report requests to leah@copleyart.com. 

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