Color Me New York: Photographs by Benn Mitchell

Press Release

Boca Raton, FL -- The Boca Raton Museum of Art enthusiastically showcases the work of Florida resident, Benn Mitchell in the exhibition, Color Me New York: Photographs by Benn Mitchell. The exhibition honors Benn Mitchell as a forerunner in realistic photography, documenting life in New York City during the 1930s through the 1980s. The exhibition will run through July 30, 2009. A collection of Mitchell’s black and white photography from the1940s was exhibited at the Boca Raton Museum of Art from 2003 to 2004.

This exhibition presents 16 color images shot in the streets of New York City between 1947 and 1980, which capture Benn Mitchell’s acute observations, and his award-winning eye for both the artistic and the incidental. Mitchell uses his talent to express his personal vision while his contemporaries only objectively recorded the sights around them. His sustained success as a photographer is not strictly from his ability to capture images; it lies more often in his ability to transform the photo from an image into a statement requiring no words. 

Benn Mitchell (born in New York City, New York, 1926 - ) has been capturing images on film since the age of thirteen. Mitchell sold his first photograph at the age of 16 to Life magazine. A year later he went to Hollywood, California, working as an on-set photographer for Warner Brothers Studios. During this time, he produced classic images of Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, and others. Mitchell then did a short tour with the navy and upon his discharge, returned to New York City where he opened his own commercial studio in 1948, beginning his career that has spanned over five decades. Throughout his lifetime he has worked for several journals, has been published internationally in advertising, books, and magazines, including Life, The New York Times Magazine, and Popular Photography. Mitchell now lived with his wife Esther in Boca Raton.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10am – 5pm; Wednesday 10am – 9pm; and Saturday and Sunday 12pm – 5pm.  Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens (65 and older), $4 per person for group tours and $4 for students. For more information call 561.392.2500 or visit www.bocamuseum.org.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art has evolved into one of the leading cultural institutions in South Florida achieving international recognition as a world-class visual arts institution, presenting dynamic traveling exhibitions from acclaimed and emerging artists, and an outstanding permanent collection. Some of the Museum’s programs include art films, artist lectures, family programs, the Annual Art Festival and more than145 classes a week at its studio Art School. Museum Auxiliaries include the Artists’ Guild, Friends Auxiliary, BAM and Collectors’ Forum.