Art Peritus Selects

Benson, Harry (Scottish, b.1929)

Scottish born photojournalist Harry Benson has been witness to historical events over the decades capturing on film the Beatles arrival to America in 1964, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, Richard Nixon’s resignation, the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., movements by the IRA, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Benson’s fine art photographs include portraits of Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Truman Capote, Michael Jackson, Halston, Jacqueline Kennedy, Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Nicholson, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse, Dolly Parton, USA for Africa, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand; Sir Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Muhammed Ali, The Who, James Brown, Queen Elizabeth II, and The Rolling Stones.

Benson worked for LIFE magazine from 1970 to 2000, and his photographs appear in other major publications including, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, Time, Newsweek, Vice, Paris Week and the London Sunday Times. In 2009 Harry was appointed a CBE, A Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for service to photography.  He has received three Honorary Doctorates: Glasgow University and the Glasgow School of Art; St. Andrews University, Scotland; and Glasgow Caledonian University. Over the years, Benson has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Center of Photography (ICP) New York; two Leica Medals of Excellence; a LUCIE Award for Lifetime Achievement; two NPPA Magazine Photographer of the Year Awards. Benson is an Honorary Fellow of London’s Royal Photographic Society and his photographs are in the permanent collection of several museums including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. and The National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.