Benjamin Rutherford Fitz
{{Short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Benjamin Rutherford Fitz
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| birth_date = February 2, 1855{{cite web|last1=Strasser|first1=Joy Ann|title=Benjamin Rutherford Fitz|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69221987|publisher=Find A Grave|accessdate=13 December 2015}}
| birth_place = New York, New York, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1891|12|27|1855|02|05}}
| death_place = Peconic, New York, United States
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| nationality = American
| education = Art Students League of New York
National Academy Museum
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| style = Landscape painting{{cite web|title=A Pool in the Forest|url=http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=8392|website=Search Collections|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=13 December 2015}}
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| spouse = Harriett R. Fanning
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File:Brooklyn Museum - Portrait of Edwina M. Post - Benjamin Rutherford Fitz - overall.jpg]]
Benjamin Rutherford Fitz (1855–1891) was an American artist.
Early life and education
Fitz was born in New York, New York in 1855.{{cite web|title=Benjamin Rutherford Fitz|url=http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=1563|website=Search Collections|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=13 December 2015}} In 1868 his father died and his family moved to Peconic, New York. Starting in 1877, he studied art at the National Academy Museum. He studied there until 1880, when he briefly studied at the Art Students League of New York. That same year, he relocated to Munich, Germany. In Munich, he studied under Ludwig von Löfftz.{{cite web|title=Benjamin Rutherford Fitz|url=http://www.nationalacademy.org/collections/artists/detail/377/|website=Artists & Architects|publisher=National Academy Museum|accessdate=13 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824223100/http://www.nationalacademy.org/collections/artists/detail/377/|archive-date=24 August 2016|url-status=dead}}
Career and mid-life
Fitz returned to the United States in 1884. He painted The Reflection, which depicts a pond with a nude woman standing at the edge of the pond. The piece is credited with helping popularize the nude figure as a main subject in painting. The National Academy Museum named The Reflection his "most famous work."
Fitz exhibited at the National Academy seven times. When not painting, he sailed, often with his friend Dwight William Tryon.
Death
Notable collections
- A Pool in the Forest, oil on canvas, 1909; Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Portrait of Edwina M. Post, oil on canvas, 1890–91; Brooklyn Museum{{cite web|title=Portrait of Edwina M. Post|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/359/Portrait_of_Edwina_M._Post|website=Collection|publisher=Brooklyn Museum|accessdate=13 December 2015}}
References
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Category:People from Suffolk County, New York