Listing Details
Leo Bensemann OBE (1912 – 1986) was a New Zealand artist, printer, typographer and editor.
Born in Takaka, he attended high school in Nelson before moving to Christchurch with his friend Lawrence Baigent to attend Canterbury Collage Art School. Artist Sydney Thompson owned a house at 97 Cambridge Terrace where several art students lived including Bensemann and Baigent. The house became a gathering place for young artists in Canterbury including Rita Angus, Louise Henderson, Olivia Spencer Bower, Allen and Betty Curnow, Evelyn Page, Denis Glover and Douglas Lilburn among others. These artist formed a collective known as ‘The Group’ which held exhibitions together from 1938 – 1977.
Bensemann’s ‘Fantastica: Thirteen Drawings’ was the first publication of Denis Glover and John Drew at the Caxton Press in 1937. Bensemann helped with the printing, then became a partner at Caxton working in the business until 1978.
Bensemann’s paintings are held in all major New Zealand public galleries. Both his portraits and landscapes are highly collectable.
Image Dimensions: 685mm W x 535mm H
Framing: Framed
Framed Dimensions: 745mm W x 545mm H
