Biographical Note
Alfred Bendiner was a Philadelphia based architect who also established a reputation as an artist, printmaker, caricaturist, and theatrical reviewer for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. He travelled extensively between 1920 and 1964 and recorded his travels in sketches, drawings, and prints. He and his wife, Elizabeth Sutro Bendiner, also collected prints and drawings, primarily satires and works by Mid-Atlantic artists.
Although he trained and worked as an architect for most of his life, Bendiner also established a regional reputation as an artist, printmaker, and caricaturist. Bendiner's own work contained in the collection reflects the full scope of his graphic achievements, from student drawings he created while attending the School of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1920s, to caricatures published in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and lithographs exhibited at print shows in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington from the 1940s through the 1960s. He participated in the popular World War II Artists for Victory program.
That Bendiner travelled widely is reflected in the collection which contains sketches from around the world, including the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, Central America, and the Near East. During his travels he assiduously observed and sketched people, landscapes, and architecture. His wife, Elizabeth Sutro Bendiner, joined him on many of his trips after their marriage in 1937 and recorded his travels in a detailed log book, which she willed to the Library of Congress. Some of the compositions that Alfred Bendiner captured in sketchbooks and on hotel stationery were later transformed into finished watercolors and prints.
Date | Event |
---|---|
1899, July 23 | Alfred Bendiner is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, son of Herman Armin and Rachel Hartman Bendiner, Jewish immigrants from Hungary. The family moves to Philadelphia in the autumn of that year. |
1917 | Alfred Bendiner graduates from Northeast High School in Philadelphia. |
1917-1918 | Attends Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. |
1918, June | Joins Army, becomes sergeant in charge of all architectural students. Receives honorable discharge on Dec. 13, 1918. |
1919-1922 | Enrolls in the School of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Receives B. A. in Architecture in June 1922. |
1923-1927 | Attends School of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Receives M. A. in Architecture in June 1927. |
1925-1936 | Employed in the office of Paul P. Cret. Works on Delaware River Bridge. (Continues to actively practice architecture until his death in 1964). |
1926 | Travels to Italy. |
1928-1929 | On a leave of absence from Cret's office to study and travel in Europe and the Near East. Many of his drawings from this trip are published in the T. Square Club Journal in Philadelphia. |
1928-1964 | Exhibits in one man and group shows in such venues as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Watercolor show, Sixth Annual National Exhibit of the Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Print Club, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Delaware Watercolor Club, and the Pennell Exhibit (Library of Congress). |
1932 | Visits Mexico. |
1936-1937 | As an artist, accompanies the archeological expedition of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania to Tepe Gawra, near Mosul, Iraq, and Kafaje, near Baghdad in Iran. Visits Europe en route. |
1937, Aug. 24 | Married Elizabeth Sutro (born Aug. 22, 1905). |
1939-1964 | Newspaper artist for the Philadelphia Evening & Sunday Bulletin; caricatures prominent people in the theater, music, & architecture. |
1941 | Visits Puerto Rico. |
1943 | Participates in Artists for Victory. Elizabeth Bendiner volunteers at the Aircraft Warning Center, for which Alfred Bendiner produces drawings. |
1946 | Visits Haiti. |
1948 | Visits San Francisco. |
1951 | Visits Bermuda. Serves as President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. |
1953 | Visits Europe and North Africa. |
1956 | Tours the United States, including Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Fe, New Orleans, and Atlanta. |
1957 | Visits Portugal and Spain. |
1960 | Visits Mexico and Guatemala. While in Guatemala draws archeological site Tikal. Spends summer in Nantucket. |
1962 | Visits the West Indies. |
1963 | Visits Europe. |
1964, Mar. 19 | Dies at home. His autobiography, translated from the Hungarian, is published posthumously. |
1991, July 12 | Elizabeth Bendiner dies. |