Ben Austrian (1870-1921)
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1870, Ben Austrian left school at fifteen to work in his father’s shop. To promote his father’s drygoods store, Austrian gave every client who placed an order an original painting. A self-taught artist, he struggled to escape the family business and “make a success in my art or die in the attempt.” His mother supported his vocation, allowing him to sell the business and in other ways encouraging him. This may partly account for Ben’s loving depictions of mother hens and their chicks in painting after painting. He directly observed these birds in his studio coop and elsewhere. “I paint chickens because I love them,” he told a newspaper reporter in 1900 (for some reason he seldom painted roosters).
His artistic reputation grew quickly. In 1902, Austrian opened a studio in Paris, where he was as well received as he had been in the United States. During his lifetime, Austrian’s work was highly coveted. Austrian was a painter of still lifes, landscapes, and domestic scenes, but it was his paintings of chicks and hens that received the most acclaim. He painted the famous chick for the Bon Ami Soap Company, which was their trademark for many years. Austrian died in 1921 at the height of his career. His work can be found in many public and private collections.
Information courtesy of Skinner Inc.