Hero
1947
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1948.11.25
Art Historical Context
" Hero" is a 1947 lithograph by Alfred Bendiner, now part of the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art. Created in the immediate postwar period, the print exemplifies the ways artists used accessible graphic media to explore themes of courage, identity, and human experience during a time of global recovery and reflection. Lithography, the medium employed here, offered Bendiner a versatile surface on which to draw freely with greasy crayon or ink. The resulting prints capture subtle gradations of tone and spontaneous line work, qualities that made the technique especially popular...
About the Artist
Alfred Bendiner
Alfred Bendiner (July 23, 1899 – March 19, 1964) was a Philadelphia-based architect, artist, caricaturist, and writer whose career demonstrated a rare synthesis of technical precision and wit. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Hungarian immigrant parents, Bendiner moved with his family to Philadelphia, where he attended the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts before serving in the mil...