# Roloff Beny

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Canadian photographer

Roloff Beny Born Wilfred Roy Beny (1924-01-07)January 7, 1924 Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada Died March 16, 1984(1984-03-16) (aged 60) Occupation photographer Awards Order of Canada

**Roloff Beny** [OC](/source/Order_of_Canada) [RCA](/source/Royal_Canadian_Academy_of_Arts) (1924–1984) was a [Canadian](/source/Canadians) [photographer](/source/Photographer) who spent the better part of his life in Rome and on his photographic travels throughout the world. Born Wilfred Roy Beny in [Medicine Hat, Alberta](/source/Medicine_Hat%2C_Alberta), he later took as his first name *Roloff*, his mother's maiden name.

## Life

Beny was born in [Medicine Hat, Alberta](/source/Medicine_Hat%2C_Alberta) on January 7, 1924.[1][2]

Beny studied at the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) and took art classes at the [Banff Centre for the Arts](/source/Banff_Centre_for_the_Arts) and the [University of Iowa](/source/University_of_Iowa). At Iowa, he studied with master printmaker [Mauricio Lasansky](/source/Mauricio_Lasansky), who gave him one of his prints. Beny began photographing in the 1950s simply as a way to capture scenes for his paintings before growing more interested in the medium.[3]

He maintained a photographic studio in [Lethbridge, Alberta](/source/Lethbridge%2C_Alberta) throughout his life and used the studio while visiting his relatives.

## Development of fame

Beny had a considerable reputation and exhibition record as the maker of progressive painting, drawing and printmaking in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He was recognized as one of the leading abstract artists of his day with works of the period exhibited and collected at that time by the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art), the [Art Gallery of Ontario](/source/Art_Gallery_of_Ontario), and the [National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada), among others. His work in painting, drawing and prints is discussed in *Roloff Beny Visual Journeys*.[4]

His book *To Every Thing There is a Season* was presented to visiting heads of state during [Canada's 1967 centennial celebration](/source/Canadian_Centennial). In 1968 his book *India* was chosen by the Indian Government to celebrate the centenary of [Gandhi's](/source/Gandhi) birth.[3]

Canada, as Beny remarked, had "no temples two thousand years old, no paths worn hard by passionate travelers."[5] But the photographer soon found his way to those paths and temples in the course of "insatiable wanderings in Europe and Asia," and, above all, around the perimeter of the Mediterranean.[5] Beny was in early days a protégé of [Peggy Guggenheim](/source/Peggy_Guggenheim) and [Herbert Read](/source/Herbert_Read). The circle of friends around him—actors, artists, collectors, writers—included [Laurence Olivier](/source/Laurence_Olivier), [Stephen Spender](/source/Stephen_Spender), [Rose Macaulay](/source/Rose_Macaulay), [Bernard Berenson](/source/Bernard_Berenson), [Jean Cocteau](/source/Jean_Cocteau), [Henry Moore](/source/Henry_Moore), and other makers of art and literature. His books have been published in America, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iran, and Japan.

## Career in its peak; life's end

Beny was obsessed with the beauty of the world. He has been called "a poetic photographer"[5] and he was a passionate aesthete. His photographic journeys were recorded in a series of large-scale volumes which appeared over the years. Beny's work is in the collections of the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art), the [National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada), and the [Yale University Art Gallery](/source/Yale_University_Art_Gallery). "I see majestic ruins even in the architecture of the skies," he wrote in the Preface to his book, *Pleasure of Ruins*.[6]

Roloff Beny died March 16, 1984, of a heart attack, aged 60, in his Roman studio overlooking the Tiber.[1][3] His last four volumes appeared posthumously.

Beny donated his artwork including collections of Canadian and international art, together with his papers, to the [University of Lethbridge Art Gallery](/source/University_of_Lethbridge_Art_Gallery).[7]

## Roloff Beny's books

- 1958 – *The Thrones of Earth and Heaven*, H.N. Abrams

- 1962 – *A Time of Gods*, Studio, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780670714131](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780670714131)

- 1964 – *Interprets in Photographs: Pleasure of Ruins*, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780030210914](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780030210914)

- 1967 – *To Every Thing There is a Season, Roloff Beny in Canada*, Thames and Hudson

- 1967 – *Japan in Color*, McGraw-Hill

- 1969 – *India*, Roloff Beny and [Aubrey Menen](/source/Aubrey_Menen), Thames & Hudson Ltd, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780500240694](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780500240694)

- 1970 – *Island Ceylon*, Studio, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780670402090](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780670402090)

- 1974 – *Roloff Beny in Italy*, McClelland and Stewart, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780771000171](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780771000171)

- 1974 – *Persia, Bridge of Turquoise*, Roloff Beny, [Seyyed Hossein Nasr](/source/Seyyed_Hossein_Nasr) and Mitchell Crites, New York Graphic Society, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780821206713](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780821206713)

- 1978 – *Iran, Elements of Destiny*, Everest House, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780896960008](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780896960008)

- 1981 – *The Churches of Rome*, Roloff Beny and [Peter Gunn](/source/Peter_Gunn), Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780297779032](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780297779032)

- 1981 – *Odyssey: Mirror on the Mediterranean*, Harpercollins, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780060148799](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780060148799)

- 1983 – *The Gods of Greece*, Roloff Beny and [Arianna Stassinopoulos](/source/Arianna_Stassinopoulos), Harry N. Abrams

- 1984 – *Rajasthan, Land of Kings*, McClelland & Stewart, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780771012013](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780771012013) (Beny died while this book was in publication.)

- 1985 – *The Romance of Architecture*, H.N. Abrams, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780810915893](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780810915893) (posthumous)

- 1985 – *Iceland*, McClelland & Stewart, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780771011900](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780771011900) (posthumous)

- 1994 – *Visual Journeys*, Roloff Beny, Mitchell Crites and Michael Crites, Thames & Hudson, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780500974148](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780500974148) (posthumous)

- 1995 – *People, Legends in Life and Art*, Roloff Beny, Mitchell Crites and Jack McClelland, Thames & Hudson, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780500974261](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780500974261) (posthumous)

## Awards

His books won awards throughout a long career, beginning with *The Thrones of Earth and Heaven* in 1958. *To Every Thing There is a Season: Roloff Beny in Canada* is a study of his native land. In 1972 he was made an Officer of the [Order of Canada](/source/Order_of_Canada). He was a member of the [Royal Canadian Academy of Arts](/source/Royal_Canadian_Academy_of_Arts).[8]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CreativeCanada_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CreativeCanada_1-1) [*Creative Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-century Creative and Performing Artists*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ienlDQAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA1941). University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. 15 December 1972. pp. 1–. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4426-3784-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4426-3784-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Cochran1989_2-0)** Bente Roed Cochran (1989). [*Printmaking in Alberta, 1945-1985*](https://archive.org/details/printmakinginalb0000coch). University of Alberta. pp. [28](https://archive.org/details/printmakinginalb0000coch/page/28)–. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-88864-139-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-88864-139-7).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-nyt_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-nyt_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-nyt_3-2) "Roloff Beny Is Dead at 60; Painter and Photographer." *The New York Times*, published: March 17, 1984 [\[1\]](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/17/obituaries/roloff-beny-is-dead-at-60-painter-and-photographer.html) | [| Archived](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1984/03/17/058742.html?pageNumber=17) via the [TimesMachine](/source/The_New_York_Times#TimesMachine), Retrieved 13 January 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Roloff Beny and Michael Crites, *Visual Journeys*, 1994.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Season_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Season_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Season_5-2) Roloff Beny, *To Every Thing There Is a Season*. The Viking Press, New York, 1967.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Roloff Beny, *Pleasure of Ruins*, Thames and Hudson: London, 1964.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Roloff Beny – People – eMuseum"](http://artcollection.uleth.ca/people/109/roloff-beny).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Members since 1880"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110526215339/http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/since1880.asp). *[Royal Canadian Academy of Arts](/source/Royal_Canadian_Academy_of_Arts)*. Archived from [the original](http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/since1880.asp) on 2011-05-26.

## External links

- [Library and Archives Canada: Legends in Life and Art: The Portrait Photography of Roloff Beny](http://www.collectionscanada.ca/roloff-beny/index-e.html)

- [Roloff Beny, Lethbridge College Buchanan Art Collection](http://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOBOX1=Beny%2C%20Roloff%2C%201924-1984&CISOFIELD1=creato&CISOROOT=/lc)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France 2 BnF data 2 Japan Italy Czech Republic Portugal Netherlands Norway Latvia Greece Poland Vatican Israel Belgium Academics CiNii Artists ULAN RKD Artists Museum of Modern Art Photographers' Identities National Gallery of Canada People DDB Other IdRef Open Library SNAC Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Roloff Beny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roloff_Beny) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roloff_Beny?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.