Landscape with House – Spain

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

This painting of a rural village presents an elevated view of the buildings and surrounding countryside. The steep slope of a red hillside dominates the foreground of the painting, suggesting a sense of heat and warmth. From the title of the work we know that this landscape is located in Spain, and the appearance of the flat-roofed white-washed buildings and dense clumps of olive trees enhance the Mediterranean atmosphere. This painting was created early in Ben Levene’s career whilst he was on a Boise Scholarship from the Slade School of Art which enabled him to live in Spain from 1961 to 1962. 

Ben Levene studied under Claude Rogers and William Coldstream at the Slade School of Fine Art (1956–1961). After graduating he spent time in Spain and then embarked upon an extensive teaching career as Visiting Lecturer and teacher of painting and drawing at Camberwell School of Art (1963–1989). Levene also held a post as visiting tutor at the Royal Academy Schools (1980–1995). In 1995 he was appointed Curator at the Royal Academy Schools, where he remained until 1998. Levene’s work was first exhibited at Beaux Arts Gallery, London in 1960. Following that, his work was displayed in numerous mixed shows including British Painting 1952-1977 at the Royal Academy of Arts, and Friends and Colleagues of Claude Rogers, held at the Royal West of England Academy in 1993. He also exhibited internationally at the Jasper Gallery, in Houston, Texas, and New York, and at the David Mitchell Gallery, Toronto. His work can be found in numerous public collections, including: the Guildhall Art Gallery; Hull Education Centre; Leicestershire Education Committee; the Nuffield Collection; Rochdale Museum; and Southampton Art Gallery. Levene was elected to the Royal Academy in 1986. He died in 2010.

Places

Spain

Subjects

topography, landscape C20th, tree, house

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Ben Levene (1938 - 2010)

Title

Landscape with House – Spain

Date

1961-1962

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 70.00 cm, width: 75.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the New Art Centre, May 1964

GAC number

6423