Ben Messick

Messick spent his childhood growing up in the Missouri Ozarks. After World War I he enrolled in the Chouinard School of Art, Los Angeles and studied drawing and painting. He would often go through the streets and parks of Los Angeles with his sketchpad gathering material for his watercolors and paintings.. In 1939, it was suggested , Messick should use lithography in order to have his images become more accessible to a wider audience. His lithographs were printed with only his signature on the stone and margins of various sizes. Messick ignored the general procedure of signing and numbering his prints in pencil. The humanizing of his subject matter on paper prompted critics and connoisseurs to affectionately dub him as "The People's Artist."

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Ben Messick
American (1901-1981)
Joanie
9-7/8 x 9-3/4 in.

Lithograph, c.1939-1944, edition limited but unknown. Signed on the stone, right side. It was not the artist's custom to sign his lithographs in pencil. Illustrated in Arts magazine, Jan. 1953.

$300.

Joanie

Ben Messick
American (1901-1981)
Plantation Party
14-3/4 x 18 in.

Lithograph, 1940, edition limited but unknown. Signed and dated on the stone, lower right; not signed in pencil as usual.

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Ben Messick
American (1901-1981)
Rainy Morning
15-3/8 x 8-5/8 in.

Lithograph, 1939, edition limited but unknown. Signed and dated on the stone, lower right; not signed in pencil as usual. Illustrated in Santa Barbara News Press, Apr.8, 1945, and Arts magazine, Jan. 1953.

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Ben Messick
American (1901-1981)
B-Girls at Work
13 x 18 in.

Lithograph, c.1940, edition limited but unknown. Signed on the stone, lower right.

$450.

Ben Messick
American (1901-1981)
Blind Musician and Family
9-7/8 x 7-1/4 in.

Lithograph, c.1940, edition limited but unknown. Signed on the stone, lower left.

$350.

Ben Messick
American (1901-1981)
Nudist Cocktail Party
10 x 11-7/8 in.

Lithograph, 1940, edition limited but unknown. Signed and dated on the stone, lower right. The artist was known not to sign any of his lithographs in pencil.

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