Andrews, Benny 1930-2006

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born November 13, 1930, in Plainview, GA; died of cancer, November 10, 2006, in New York, NY. Artist, educator, and author. A painter and collage artist, Andrews was noted for his narrative pieces that communicated his interest in human rights, the black experience, and other social concerns. One of ten children growing up in a poor, rural community near Madison, Georgia, Andrews helped support his family by picking cotton. He only managed to attend school sporadically because of this work, but nevertheless became the first person in his family to complete high school. After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1950 to 1953, he attended the University of Chicago, earning an M.F.A. in 1958 from the Chicago Art Institute. After graduating, Andrews pursued his art in New York City and had his first solo exhibition in 1962. Influenced by folk art, surrealism, and expressionism, he did not pursue the abstract style popular at the time, yet his artwork still gained considerable attention. He also taught at the New School during the late 1960s, and in 1969 Queens College hired him as an art instructor. He would remain on the faculty there until 1997. From 1982 to 1984, Andrews was also director of the visual arts program for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC. Andrews's concern for the disadvantaged was evident in his art throughout his life. His paintings and critically acclaimed collages touched on such subjects as the Holocaust, the plight of Native Americans, and poverty. Most recently, he was involved in a project in which he organized the art of children displaced by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Andrews's art is housed at museums and galleries around the country, including a large collection at New Orleans's Ogden Museum of Southern Art and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was the author of Between the Lines: Seventy Drawings and Seven Essays (1978) and the two-novella book Jessie and Jesus [and] Cousin Claire (1991).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2006, p. B11.

New York Times, November 12, 2006, p. A28.

Washington Post, November 17, 2006, p. B7.