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Lester W. Bentley

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Lester W. Bentley

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Lester W. Bentley's History

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2 Memories, Stories & Photos about Lester

Jeanne Mease

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08/11/2015

Lester W. Bentley

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Jeanne Mease

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08/11/2015

Born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, Lester Bentley decided he wanted to be an artist at an early age. His first exhibit was at the Manitowoc county fair. The thirteen-year-old eighth grade student, earned two firsts and two seconds in competition with professional artists.

While working as a sign painter, he was urged to apply for a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago, which he won and was awarded for four years. His travels took him to Haiti, Florida and Mexico where he learned the egg tempera technique. During the summers of 1933-1934 he taught art at Two Rivers Vocational School and completed six murals for Sacred Heart Church. In 1935 he worked for the WPA’s Federal Arts Project and in 1942 painted three small murals for the new De Pere (WI) Post Office that are now displayed at the Neville Museum in Green Bay.

During World War II, Chief Petty Officer Bentley produced art as his service in the U.S. Coast Guard. His most famous works of this time were his recruitment posters. His original SPARS, a woman in the U.S. Coast Guard, can be seen at the Washington House Museum. He also painted portraits of military officers until his discharge in 1946. After the war he stayed in White Plains, New York where he met and married Constance Lolien. They eventually moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, building a home and a studio in 1953 and returning to his summer studio in Two Rivers.

Specializing in portraiture, Bentley worked for Portraits Incorporated and did private commissions. Among his subjects were: President Dwight D. Eisenhower (the Two Rivers collection includes one of the two that were painted), U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William O. Douglas, four Wisconsin Governors and University of Wisconsin president Conrad Elvehjem. His portraits and paintings are represented in over 300 private and public collections. Bentley was also an accomplished lithographer and an art teacher.

Bentley has been represented in many important shows such as the Carnegie, the San Francisco, Chicago and New York World’s Fairs, American Annual and Chicago show at the Art Institute of Chicago and his work was displayed at the National Gallery in London and the Kremlin in Moscow.

In addition to the Two Rivers, WI, Historical Society display Bentley’s work can be found in the permanent collections of Columbia University, and in these Wisconsin museums: the Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin – Madison, the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, and the Miller Art Museum in Sturgeon Bay.

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