John Everett Benson (born 1939), known as Fud, is an American

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, stonecarver and typeface designer who has created inscriptions for monuments including the John F. Kennedy memorial at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, the

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington D.C., dedicated to the memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, and to the era he represents. The memorial is the second of two ...

, and the

Vietnam Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a List of national memorials of the United States, U.S. national memorial in Washington D.C., Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the Military of the United States, U.S. armed forces who served in the V ...

in Washington, DC.

Work

John Everett Benson was born in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. He began working for his father,

John Howard Benson John Howard Benson (July 6, 1901 – February 23, 1956) was an American calligrapher, stonecarver, incised letter designer, author, and educator. Career He was educated at Rogers High School, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students ...

, at the age of fifteen at

The John Stevens Shop The John Stevens Shop, founded in 1705, is a stone carving business on Thames Street in Newport, Rhode Island, that is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the United States. History John Stevens was born in Oxfordshire, En ...

. He studied sculpture at

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. In 1964, Benson and John Hegnauer were commissioned to design and carve the inscriptions on the

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

memorial at

. In Rhode Island, Benson carved a number of inscriptions at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

's Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons. JFK grave

He has designed and carved gravestones for

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted aft ...

, and

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

. He has created monumental architectural inscriptions for famous buildings such as the Prudential Center in Boston, the

, the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

, Rockefeller Center, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Center, and the

Armand Hammer Museum of Art The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He lettered the date stones of the

in Washington, DC, the

Civil Rights Memorial The Civil Rights Memorial is an American memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, created by Maya Lin. The names of 41 people are inscribed on the granite fountain as martyrs who were killed in the civil rights movement. The memorial is sponsored by t ...

in Montgomery, Alabama, the

in Washington, DC and the Federal Courthouse in Boston. He designed the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

headquarters lintel,

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

's MacArthur Monument, and the reverse of a medal for the National Gallery of Art. He has drawn various photo-typefaces for architectural applications and a titling typeface, called Aardvark, for

The Font Bureau The Font Bureau, Inc. or Font Bureau is a digital type foundry based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The foundry is one of the leading designers of typefaces, specializing in type designs for magazine and newspaper publishers. History ...

in Boston, ''

Alexa Alexa may refer to: Technology *Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by Amazon * Alexa Internet, a defunct website ranking and traffic analysis service * Arri Alexa, a digital motion picture camera People *Alexa (name), a given name and ...

'', ''Balzano'', and ''Caliban''. In 1993, he left the direction of

to his son, Nicholas "Nick" Benson and returned to sculpting full-time. Benson is currently doing portrait and figurative work in clay and bronze at his studio in Newport, Rhode Island.

Awards

Frederic W. Goudy Award The Frederic W. Goudy Award & Lecture were established in 1969 by funds donated to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust in memory of her late husband, Melbert Cary, Melbert B. Cary, Jr., a typographer, ...

, 2019

References

External links

''Final Marks, The Art of the Carved Letter''
(1979), by Frank Muhly, Jr., Peter O'Neill
The John Stevens Shop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, John 1939 births Living people American typographers and type designers Artists from Newport, Rhode Island Rhode Island School of Design alumni Stone carvers