Claude R. Bentley

American, 1915 - 1990


Born in New York City, Claude Bentley studied at Northwestern University and at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was a student of Louis Ritman and Max Kahn. Known for his work as an abstract painter, Bentley took inspiration partly from the simplified geometric forms of pre-Columbian, Mexican Indian and primitive African art. The artist served a tour of duty with the armed forces in North Africa during World War II.

Bentley’s work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art and is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.

  • Black Diamond, 1959
    Oil on canvas
    45 x 34 inches

    Signed and dated Claude Bentley ‘59, lower left; signed and titled (twice) on reverse

    #20001
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1958
    Oil on canvas
    60 1/4 x 28 1/4 inches

    Signed Claude Bentley, lower left

    #20325
  • Plumed Serpent, ca. 1959
    Gouache on artist board
    19 x 29 inches

    Signed Claude Bentley lower left; signed and titled on reverse.

    #8492
  • Untitled (Abstraction), 1958
    Watercolor and ink on paper
    12 3/4 x 18 1/2 inches

    Signed and dated Claude Bentley 58, lower left

    #20324

Born in New York City, Claude Bentley studied at Northwestern University and at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was a student of Louis Ritman and Max Kahn. Known for his work as an abstract painter, Bentley took inspiration partly from the simplified geometric forms of pre-Columbian, Mexican Indian and primitive African art. The artist served a tour of duty with the armed forces in North Africa during World War II.

Bentley’s work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art and is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.

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