Fletcher Benton

Fletcher C. Benton

Fletcher Benton passed away on June 26, 2019. Born in Jackson, Ohio in 1931, Fletcher graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, earning a BFA in 1956. After graduation, Fletcher moved to San Francisco. He was a painter for most of his life, later becoming a sculptor. Fletcher first garnered international acclaim in the mid-1960's for his unique kinetic works, which were among the most radical aesthetic experiments of the day. In the 1970's, Fletcher shifted from kinetic sculptures to steel and bronze works, incorporating welding into the construction of his sculptures.

Fletcher was one of the country's most inventive and consistently challenging artists, whose formidable contribution to contemporary art has been recognized internationally. In 1980, Fletcher received the President's Scholar Award from California State University, San Jose. In 2008, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center. Fletcher's refined, welded, polished and sometimes painted metal constructions attain a sense of rhythmic motion, and evokes a certain musicality. His work is included in many prominent public and private collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Museum Ludwig, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Kroller-Muller Museum and Sculpture Garden. He taught at the San Francisco Art Institute and was a professor at California State University, San Jose.

He is survived by his wife Roberta "Bobbie" Benton, daughter Ashlie Benton, son Fletcher Benton III and grand-daughter, Stella Smith.