Ben Mahmoud (October 6, 1935 – June 2, 2009) was a contemporary American artist.

Life and work

Mahmoud was born and grew up in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

. He received his higher education at the Columbus (Ohio) Art School and Ohio University, graduating in 1960. For most of his professional career, he taught at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

in DeKalb, Illinois, where he also kept his art studio. He was an emeritus professor at Northern Illinois before his death. Painting was his most successful medium, attracting critical acclaim and commercial success, but he also worked in other media, including print making, photography, and sculpture. In 1972 he established an affiliation with the Sonia Zaks Gallery in Chicago that would last thirty years. His work currently remains affiliated with the Patricia Rozvar galleries in Washington. Mahmoud has exhibited his work at galleries and museums throughout the American Midwest, and also in Washington, Holland, and Germany. His work has been added to over 25 permanent, public collections, including the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, and the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

. Mahmoud lived the last several years of his life in

New Port Richey, Florida New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census. History By ...

, where his fascination with the surrounding flora influenced a collection of sculptures he called ''The Florida Series''.

References

External links

Obituary in the Chicago Tribune
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmoud, Ben 1935 births 2009 deaths Northern Illinois University faculty Painters from West Virginia Artists from Charleston, West Virginia People from New Port Richey, Florida Photographers from West Virginia Sculptors from West Virginia 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors 20th-century American painters American male painters