art


biography

William Behnken (1943-)

William Behnken is a lifelong resident of New York. He graduated from the High School of Music and Art and received his BA and MA from the City College of New York. Behnken has taught drawing and printmaking at the Provincetown Art Association, the National Academy of Design School of Fine Arts, and is currently an instructor in printmaking at the Art Students League and The City College of New York.
Behnken is a member and former president of the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) and is an elected member of the National Academy of Design. His work has won many awards (see full biography) and has worked in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, Brooklyn Museum, New York Historical Society, Mississippi Museum, and New York Public Library, among others.
Artist’s Statement
“In my work, I try to create a harmonious & cohesive composition using elements distilled from my visual & emotional experience in order to give fleeting moments a permanence and memorable order. Over a lifetime of working, I have found that for me, tonal values and light become the expressive equivalents of mystery & introspection, as well as for the ideals of resolution and fulfillment. I have come to focus my skills on printmaking because it offers me involvement in a medium that demands disciplined control, as well as a sensual & rich material experience.”