Biography

Born in Indiana, Bennett drew cartoons for his high school newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He payed banjo in Chicago jazz bands to work his way through the University of Chicago, after which he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and (under George Grosz) at the Art Students League in New York. In New York he completed a number of murals and was chosen to produce three murals for U.S. Post Offices. In 1939 Nelson Rockefeller and Standard Oil of New Jersey commissioned him to paint a series of watercolors on Venezuelan themes. This series formed a traveling exhibit for the Museum of Modern Art, and Nelson Rockefeller repeated the commission a decade later with a focus on other South American countries.

After the war Bennett was successful as a commercial artist and illustrator, and he wrote an illustrated a popular children's book "The Secret Hiding Place." His renown in the art world was as a master watercolorist.

Critical Analysis

Bennett's mastery of watercolor technique gave him free rein with his chosen subjects. He was able to create images of great precision, as in "La Salinas." Or he could construct a tropical landscape with a sci-fi flair as in "Untitled (abstract landscape)." And he was willing to let his imagination (and that of his readers) run wild in "the Secret Hiding Place."

Murals

• Chicago, Illinois - UI Medical Center, College of Medicine, Room 106 Foyer: Map of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Evanston, Illinois - Haven Middle School, Drama Room: Landscape
• Naperville, Illinois - Post Office: George Martin's Home Overlooking Old Naper Hill
• Rushville, Illinois - Post Office: Hart Fellows, Builder of Rushville
• Dearborn, Michigan - Henry Ford Community College: Ten Eyck's Tavern on Chicago Road

References

1. Rainey Bennett (Wikipedia).
2. Rainey Bennett (Modernism in the New City).
3. Meg McSherry Breslin and Tribune Staff Writer, Rainey Bennett, Watercolorist, Teacher, Chicago Tribune December 15 (1998).