Rainey Bennett (June 14, 1907 – July 26, 1998) was an American artist, illustrator and muralist. His works have been displayed in major museum art collections.

Work

The art collections of

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York include some of Rainey's artwork. The

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

contains a watercolor, ''Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1952'', as part of its permanent collection. The

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

has three of Bennett's pieces in its collection.

Illustrator

In addition to his painting, Bennett also worked as a freelance book illustrator and had a longtime working relationship with

Scott Foresman Scott Foresman was an elementary educational publisher for PreK through Grade 6 in all subject areas. Its titles are now owned by Savvas Learning Company which formed from former Pearson Education K12 division. The old Glenview headquarters ...

publishers. Every holiday season, he illustrated the daily Christmas newspaper ads for

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (colloquially Marshall Field's) was an American department store chain founded in 1852 by Potter Palmer. It was based in Chicago, Illinois and founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, ...

. In 1960, Bennett wrote as well as illustrated his own children's book, ''The Secret Hiding Place'', about a baby hippopotamus in search of a secret hiding place.

Murals

Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

through the

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

, later called the

Section of Fine Arts Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

, of the Treasury Department. In 1938 Bennett painted oil on canvas murals for the post offices in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

titled ''Ten Eyck’s Tavern on Chicago Road'' and Rushville, Illinois titled ''Hart Fellows - Builder of Rushville''. In 1941, he painted an oil on canvas mural for the

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 United State ...

post office titled, ''George Martin's Home Overlooking Old Naper Hill''. He painted a 13 panel mural for the Neil House Hotel in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. The building was destroyed to make way for the Huntington Center and the whereabouts of the panels are unknown.

Paintings

The Oak Room at

Robert Allerton Park The Robert Allerton Park is a park, nature center, and business conference, conference center located in the rural Piatt County township of Willow Branch Township, Piatt County, Illinois, Willow Branch, (T 18 N, R 5 E) near Monticello, Illinoi ...

contains four floral paintings by Rainey Bennett, who was a friend of the Allerton family. He painted oil painting for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Exec Offices
new Deal/WPA bios

Watercolors

In 1939, Bennett produced a series of 36 watercolors of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

on commission of the Stanford Oil Company and

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...

, who purchased 24 of the paintings after a two-year traveling tour as an exhibit of the Museum of Modern Art. In 1940, the watercolors were shown at the prestigious Downtown Gallery in New York. They are currently part of the collection of the St. Louis Art Museum. Another commission from Rockefeller for paintings of other South American countries followed in 1949.

Death

Bennett died on December 11, 1998, in his

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

home at the age of 91. His wife, Ann, was a professional dancer and had died in 1975. He was survived by his companion, two daughters, and a son.

Exhibits

*Downtown Gallery, New York *Art Institute of Chicago
Art in Illinois, In Honor of the Illinois Sesquicentennial, June/September, 1968
''Quiet Blue'' *University of Illinois, Exhibit of Contemporary American Painting, Feb-April, 1949

''Pamela and Renee'' *Cleveland Museum; *Toledo Museum; *Whitney Museum; *Fairweather Hardin Gallery, Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Rainey 1907 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American painters American children's book illustrators 20th-century American illustrators American male painters American muralists American watercolorists Art Students League of New York alumni Federal Art Project artists American modern painters People from Marion, Indiana Painters from Illinois School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Section of Painting and Sculpture artists University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American male artists