With cool blue undertones and moody, dramatic shadowing, this published oil on canvas interior illustration is a departure for artist Benton Henderson Clark who primarily created warm & vibrant narrative frontier and western scenes. Accompanying an interior story for Cosmopolitan magazine titled “The King’s Son”, a handsome and sharply dressed prince smokes a cigarette during a breezy nighttime rendezvous at the docks with his aloof princess bride.

 

Clark was born and raised in Coshocton, Ohio where he came under the tutelage of artist Arthur Woelfle. A natural talent, Clark later went on to study at the National Academy of Design in New York City and at the Chicago Art Institute. The artist and illustrator found work creating cover art and calendar illustrations, including work for Liberty, Outer’s Recreation, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall’s, and Good Housekeeping magazines as well as briefly working for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s art department.

 

There is a small, handwritten inscription in the right side of the painting that appears to read: From Rod / To my … Ralph. This is not a handwritten notation from the artist and was written later, perhaps when this painting was gifted from the original owner to a friend.

 

Painting looks beautiful in its original wood painted frame.