Anton Benzon - 1944

Drakensberg River

Landscape

Gum Trees

About the Artist

Despite being born to the famous South African landscape artist Johan Oldert (1912-1984), Anton Benzon did not learn his craft under direct tutorship.  In fact, from the age of 7 up until 25, Anton had no contact at all with his famous artist/sculptor father.

At school, art was the only subject which interested Anton and at which he was any good. Unable to make a living from his art, Anton was forced to seriously consider an alternative career. He chose to be a lithographic printer and spent a considerable amount of time in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, plying his trade.

In 1980 Anton Benzon reconciled fully with his father, who introduced him to Tito Fasciotti - the famous landscape and figurative painter of the Eastern Cape. Tito became a tutor and mentor to this young South African artist, a relationship which was only to be broken by the tragic murder of Fasciotti in the early months of 1993.

In the late 1990’s and early into the new millennium, Anton moved to Canada, but the winters and the different culture made him more appreciative of his native Natal. Apart from exhibitions and commissions, Anton has also set up beginner art schools where aspirant artists were exposed to his technique and dry sense of humour.

Besides painting landscape art, Anton loves to repair mechanical contrivances, which may at any one time include a maseratti, a microlite or a wind engine. Anton could be at the vanguard of contemporary South African artists, but that would involve far too much application - he has always relied on his contacts for work and sustenance, and something always turns up.

Anton Benzon often laments the loss of his friend and tutor Titta Fasciotti, saying that hardly one day goes by when he doesn’t think of him.
 

Style & Format

Anton's earlier landscape work closely resembles that of Fasciotti but his style and content is now definitely and distinctly his own. Anton restricts himself to landscape painting in oils, capturing rocky pools and the lush greenery of Natal and the Eastern Cape. His style and brushwork are very recognizable and distinctive – using a palette knife to create a more distinctive impasto effect in his landscape art.
 

Exhibitions

Anton’s works are mainly collected by South Africans who understand the landscapes, and the way they have been treated. Expatriate South Africans have to have one or two of his works to remind them of home.

Purchase landscape art by this South African artist online by emailing Fine Art Portfolio at info@fineartportfolio.co.za.