Bernard Brussel-Smith (1914 - 1989) was active/lived in New York.
Benjamin Franklin, ca. 1950s
Wood Engraving
Sheet: 8 by 6 1/4 inches; 6 by 4 1/4 inches (Image)
Signed and titled in ink
Fine vintage condition, as shown. Strong impression.
From AskArt, The following is from "Bernard Brussel-Smith, A Memorial Exhibition," text by Alan Tompkins, 1989, Susan Teller Gallery, New York: Born in Greenwich Village, New York, Bernard Brussel-Smith became one of the few artists to excel at the exacting medium of wood engraving. Among his collectible works are the many drawings he did for these engravings. He was a teacher at the Brooklyn Museum, Cooper Union, City College and the National Academy.
He studied for five years on a scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and from 1957 to 1958, in France on a Cresson Fellowship. There he was in the studio of W. Stanley Hayter where he developed color-relief etchings inspired by the work of William Blake. By the late 1950s, Brussel-Smith was also a regular visitor to the south of France where he did numerous town and genre scenes as well a figures.
In 1952, he was elected to the National Academy of Design. He has had exhibitions there as well as the Society of Graphic Artists, and Artworks International in Thornhill, Ontario.