Eduardo Garcia Benito: Los Años de Nueva York (1921-1940)

Vogue and Vanity Fair, two of the brightest jewels in Condé Nast’s crown, have been required reading for the elite and fashionable set for nearly a century. Condé Nast, the company’s founder, had a collector’s eye when it came to formidable artistic and editorial talents; and in the 1920s, Nast considered none as talented as the artist Eduardo Garcia Benito.
Born in the town of Valladolid, Spain in 1891, Benito showed artistic talent from very early on. In 1912 he won a scholarship from the town council of Valladolid to study at L’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and by 1915, he had participated in his first group exhibition, at the Galerie du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Over the next five years, he continued to exhibit his artwork, culminating in 1921 with his prestigious ascension to the title of “Sociétaire of the Salon.”

Benito made his living in Paris by painting society portraits, including those of the self-proclaimed king and queen of fashion, Paul and Denise Poiret, and illustrating fashions in the Gazette du Bon Ton, a Parisian fashion journal published by Lucien Vogel. Benito belonged to Vogel’s exclusive group of artist-illustrators known as the “Beaux Brummels of the Brush,” which also included Charles Martin, Georges Barbier, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, Pierre Brissaud, Georges Lepape, and André Marty. Conde Nast had been keenly aware of this talented group, Benito in particular, since the mid-1910s but it was not until Paul Poiret threw one of his famous parties that the two men finally met in 1920. Within a year’s time, Benito was one of Vogue and Vanity Fair’s most important artists and would remain so for two decades.

Benito’s signature style – what Condé Nast referred to as the “Big Head” – captures the look and spirit of art deco. Art movements of the day such as Cubism and Constructivism inspired his iconic and highly stylized geometric forms. His illustrations of fashionable women, reduced down to a few strokes of the pen, feature long necks topped with heads resembling the African-figure sculptures of the tragic Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, a personal friend of Benito’s in Paris. The typical Benito cover features stark backgrounds with solid planes and few colors. In contrast to the “Big Heads,” Benito’s cartoon-like drawings are light and witty images, bringing to life all the events of civilized society and matching the gay frivolity of the era. Similarly lighthearted sketches were also published in Vanity Fair, though with added comic appeal, caricature, and satire.

The Condé Nast Archive is proud to announce a special exhibition of Benito’s work, curated by Shawn Waldron, Condé Nast Archive Director, and Juan González-Posada, Director of Museums and Exhibitions of the City of Valladolid. “Eduardo Garcia Benito: Los Años de Nueva York (1921-1940)” presents the nearly 100 covers Benito created for Vogue and Vanity Fair, as well as original fashion illustrations, magazines, and photographs from the Condé Nast Archive in New York. This select body of work is currently on display through November 1, 2009 at the Sala de Exposiciones in the Museo de Pasión in Valladolid. It is the first exhibition ever to celebrate Benito’s life in New York and his work for Condé Nast Publications.

Museo de la Pasión, Valladolid (Spanish)