Painting “Train Family” (1976)
About
Ben Schonzeit is an American painter, sculptor and multi-disciplinary artist based in New York City.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942, Ben Schonzeit received his BFA from The Cooper Union in 1964. Though primarily known for his photorealist paintings, Schonzeit has, over the course of his career, explored and investigated the sphere of photographic and found material through a myriad of different mediums and visual techniques. Through painting, collage, photography, drawing, and sculpture, Schonzeit has chronicled and distilled, over the decades, the rich and ever-evolving visual culture of his native New York and beyond.
Schonzeit’s most recent work builds upon this tradition, compiling his studio practice unto itself. Sculptures are depicted in paintings. Collaged material is developed into 3D work and animation.
Schonzeit’s works are included in prominent collections around the world including The National Gallery in Washington D.C., The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art , The Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, The Basel Kunstmuseum, The Denver Art Museum, and The Brooklyn Museum.
Ben Schonzeit works out of his studio on Mercer St. in the heart of SoHo.
CV
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Ben Schonzeit: 2010 - 2016 — Louis K. Meisel Gallery — New York, New York
2016 Abstract Figuration – Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York
2015 Ben Schonzeit: Brilliant Realism – Museum of Art, Deland
Ben Schonzeit: The Language of flowers – Modernism, San Francisco, California
2014 Ben Schonzeit: Baked Goods – Baker Sponder Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
2012 Ben Schonzeit | Edibles – Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
2011 Ben Schonzeit: Paintings – Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
2007 Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
Gerald Peters Gallery – New York, New York
2006 Plus One Gallery – London, England
2005 Holden Luntz Gallery – Palm Beach, Florida
2004 Gerald Peters Gallery – New York, New York
2003 Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
2002 Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
Gerald Peters Gallery – Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Secret Schonzeit – The Butler Institute of American Art – Youngstown, Ohio
2000 Galería Manuel Ojeda – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
1999 The Butler Institute of Art – Youngstown, Ohio
1998 Gerald Peters Gallery – Santa Fe, New Mexico
1995 J.J. Brookings – San Francisco, California
1991 Comedia – Tomatissimo – Cologne, Germany
1990 J.J. Brookings – San Francisco, California
1989 Modernism – San Francisco, California
1984 Delaware Art Museum – Wilmington, Delaware
1983 Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York, New York
1981 DeGestlo Gallery – Cologne, Germany
1980 Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York, New York
1979 DeGestlo Gallery – Cologne, Germany
1976 Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York, New York
1975 Galerie DeGestlo – Hamburg, Germany
1974 Carl Solway Gallery – Cincinnati, Ohio
1972 Neue Galerie – Aachen, Germany
1971 Galerie DeGestlo – Hamburg, Germany
Galerie Mikro – Berlin, Germany
1970 French & Co. – New York, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Primavera- Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, New York
2021 Songs Without Words- Nassau County Museum of Art
2019 50 Years of Realism- Centro Cultural Center Bank of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Brazil
2017-18 From Lens to Eye to Hand: Photorealism 1969 to Today- Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, New York
2016 Feast for the Eyes – Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York
50 Years of Hyperrealist Painting – Musee d’Ixelles. Brussels, Belgium
2014 The Sydney & Wanda Bestoff Collection – NOMA, New Orleans, Louisiana
Still Life: 1970’s Photorealism – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
Photorealism: The Everyday Illuminated – Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art – Los Angeles, California
2013 Still Life: 1970s Photorealism – Yale University Art Gallery – New Haven, Connecticut
Hyperreal: More Than Pop! – Saarland Museum, Saarland, Germany
50 Years of Hyperrealistic Painting – Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery – Birmingham, England
Hiperrealismo: 1967-2012 – El Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza – Madrid, Spain
2009 Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s – Guggenheim Museum, Berlin, Germany *
Shock of the Real: Photorealism Revisited – Boca Raton Museum of Art – Boca Raton, Florida *
2005 Double Take: Photorealism from the 1960s and 1970s – Rose Art Museum – Waltham, Massachusets *
American Photorealism – Zimmerling Museum of Art – Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey *
2003 Iperrealisti – Chiostro Del Bramante – Rome, Italy *
Hyperréalismes USA 1965-1975 – Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain – Strasbourg, France *
Real Illusions: Contemporary Art from Nashville Collections – Frist Center for the Visual Arts – Nashville, Tennessee
2001 Hypermental, Rampant Reality 1950-2000 From Salvador Dali to Jeff Koons – Kunsthaus – Zurich, Switzerland, Hamburger Kunsthall – Hamburg, Germany
2000 Hypermental – Kunsthaus – Zurich, Switzerland *
1999 Into The 21st Century: Selections from the Permanent Collection – San Jose Museum of Art – San Jose, California
1997 Positions – Weserberg Museum – Bremen, Germany
1994 Synesthesia, Sound & Vision in Contemporary Art – San Antonio Museum of Art – San Antonio, Texas
1993 A Moment Becomes Eternity: Flowers as Image – Bergen County Museum of Art – Paramus, New Jersey
Contemporary American Realism – Isetan – Tokyo, Japan
1992 An Ode to Gardens and Flowers – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
Contemporary American Art Landscapes – The Tokushima Modern Art Museum – Tokushima, Japan
The 1992 Collector’s Show – Arkansas Arts Center – Little Rock, Arkansas
The Midtown Flower Show – Portland Museum of Art – Portland, Maine
1991 In Sharp Focus – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
American Realism & Figurative Art: 1952-1990 – The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Inheritance and Transformation – The Irish Museum of Modern Art – Dublin, Ireland
1985 American Realism: The Precise Image – Isetan Museum – Tokyo, Japan
American Realism: The Twentieth-Century Drawings and Watercolors – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art – San Francisco, California
1983 New Art from New York City: Contemporary Artists’ Paintings – Delaware Museum of Art – Wilmington, Delaware
1981 Contemporary American Realism Since 1960 – Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1980 ROSC / The Poetry of Vision – Dublin, Ireland
1977 Documenta VI – Kassel, West Germany
1975 25 Stills – Whitney Museum – New York, New York
1974 Biennial Exhibition – Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago Illinois
1973 Amerikanischer Fotorealismus – Franfurter Kunstverein – Wuppertal, Germany
Prospect 1973 – Dusseldorf – West Germany
1972 Documenta V – Kassel, West Germany
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Ackland Art Museum – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Bayer AG – Leverkusen, Germany
Belfast Museum – Belfast, Ireland
Boymans Museum – VanBoynigen Rotterdam, Holland
Brooklyn Museum of Art – Brooklyn, New York
The Butler Institute of Art – Youngstown, Ohio
California Palace of the Legion of Honor – San Francisco, California
Delaware Art Museum – Wilmington, Delaware
Denver Art Museum – Denver, Colorado
Isetan Museum – Tokyo, Japan
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – New York, New York
Kunsthalle – Basel, Switzerland
Kunsthalle – Hamburg, Germany
Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mississippi Museum of Art – Jackson, Mississippi
Museo de Arte Moderno – Bogota, Colombia
Museum of Contemporary Art – Chicago, Illinois
Neue Nationalgalerie – Berlin, Germany
Neue Galerie – Aachen, Germany
Neues Museum Weserburg – Bremen, Germany
Parrish Art Museum
San Antonio Museum of Art – San Antonio, Texas
San Jose Museum of Art – San Jose, California
Ulster Museum – Belfast, Ireland
VanAbben Museum – Eindhoven, Holland
The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
* Asterisk indicates substantial catalogue