Ben Stahl

September 7, 1910 – October 19, 1987

Biography Courtesy of the Dabbert Gallery

Painter, author, illustrator, and lecturer, Ben Stahl (1910-1987) won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago at age 12. At 16, Stahl had work accepted for the International Watercolor Show at the Art Institute. Stahl won more than 25 medals including the Saltus Gold Medal from the National Academy of Design, Audubon Society's Silver Medal, and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1979.

Stahl illustrated more than 750 stories for the Saturday Evening Post and illustrated and/or wrote several books. He regularly illustrated for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire. He also illustrated national advertising campaigns for such corporations as John Hancock, Bell Air Cobra, International Silver, Coca Cola, Packard Motorcars, etc and won over 25 major art director awards.

In 1951, Stahl was commissioned to paint "The 14 Stations of the Cross" for a special edition Bible published in 1952 by the Catholic Press of Chicago. For this assignment Stahl spent over three months in Jerusalem making preliminary sketches and conducted extensive research before beginning the paintings. These 45"x34" oils on canvas became part of the collection of the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale.

Stahl was co-founder of the largest school in the world, the Famous Artists School, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Offices were located in Westport, CT, Amsterdam, Chicago, London, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington DC. It grew to offer classes in photography, writing, cartooning, and reading. Founding and guiding faculty includes such names as: Norman Rockwell, Rod Serling, Al Capp, Rube Goldberg, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Fletcher Martin, Bert Stern, Ben Shan, and 57 other top names.

Stahl was assigned to paint for the U.S. Air Force in Formosa, Bangkok, and the Philippines and given the rank of Brigadier. These paintings hang in the Pentagon and the Air Force Academy. In 1958 he was commissioned by MGM Studios to create six paintings for the movie Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston (the photo by Joe Steinmtez shows Stahl painting the chariot race scene for Ben Hur). Other movie commissions were for Universal Studios, the Oscar winning movie Song Without End.

In 1965 Stahl opened the Museum of the Cross in Sarasota, Florida, to house a second, much larger set of The 15 Stations of the Cross, each measuring 6 x 9 feet. In April of 1969 all 15 painting were stolen. The second largest art theft of the decade, with the value being assessed at over $1.5 million.

Also in 1965, his first book "Blackbeard's Ghost" was published by Houghton Mifflin. In 1969, Disney adapted Blackbeard's Ghost into a successful movie and later publishing the sequel titled, "The Secret of Red Skull". Stahl taught at the Art Institute of Chicago, American Academy of Art, New York Art Students' League, Brooklyn's Pratt Institute, as well as numerous universities. In 1976, Stahl was featured in the television program "Journey into Art with Ben Stahl", 26 half-hour programs consisting of lectures and painting demonstrations by the artist.

Stahl has also been the subject of or illustrated numerous articles in the Women's Home Companion, American Artist, North Light, The Chicago Tribune, Picture Post, and Southwest Art.