Thomas Benrimo
1887-1958

Thomas Duncan Benrimo is an obscure and extremely rare early American Modernist painter. His body of work first received scholarly attention by William Innes Homer in his 1975 groundbreaking show, Avant-Garde Painting and Sculpture in America 1910-1925, the first comprehensive presentation of various forms of early twentieth-century American modernism.

Little is known about Benrimo’s early artistic training and efforts. He was born in San Francisco in 1887. As a child and into his late teens, he was very interested in art. Unfortunately, his early artistic efforts were lost in 1906 when his family’s home was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake. Shortly thereafter, at nineteen years of age, Benrimo and his family moved to New York City where his older brother worked as an actor in the theater.

Initially, Benrimo found employment as a commercial artist and draftsman. Some of his artistic renderings were published in Scribner’s magazine. In 1911, he became involved in stage set design for various theater productions.

In addition to his commercial endeavors, Benrimo continued his personal painting career. He was profoundly affected by the Armory Show in 1913 and subsequently, he enrolled in the Art Students League at some point during those early years in New York. While in New York, Benrimo became close friends with Preston Dickinson, who attended the Art Students League from 1906 until 1910 before traveling to Europe. Benrimo taught at the Pratt Institute from 1935 until 1939, when he moved to Taos, New Mexico. There, he was a friend of Mabel Dodge, Andrew Dasburg, Rebecca James and Emil Bisttram. Benrimo died in Taos, in 1958.