Benjamin Britt

Benjamin Franklin (Ben) Britt (May 5, 1923 – June 26, 1996) was a figurative, surrealist and abstract painter, and art teacher. His subjects were African American culture, religion and children, which he captured in oil and charcoals. Britt signed his works "B. Britt," dotting the "i" with tiny round circles.

Early life and education Benjamin Franklin Roundtree was born on May 4, 1923, in Winfall, North Carolina. His parents changed their surname to Britt after being forced to flee from their home state to Philadelphia. According to Britt's son Stanford, the name change came about as follows: Britt's father got into a fight with his white employer, hit him with a shovel and killed him. The father went into hiding. His mother's white employer told her to use his last name and leave town, fearing that the Ku Klux Klan would come after the family.

When his family moved to Philadelphia, Britt was around six or seven years old. In North Carolina, he was close to his mother's father, a Baptist minister, who read Bible verses to him. Several of Britt's earliest paintings bear religious titles – "Yield Not," "Wife of Lot," "Prodigal Son."

For two years, Britt served in the Coast Guard, traveling to France and England.

He paints "intangibles – ideas and moods – ‘things which exist but cannot be handled,’ as he calls them," noted one writer. "His use of color depends on the concept or emotion which he is describing and range from monochromatic to multicolored."

Britt could not live off his art alone, so he worked various jobs – including machinist and cab driver - while painting in his studio.

He gave up the day jobs and started painting full time in 1963. It had taken him 15 years to reach that milestone. To pay the bills, he painted custom-made artwork for clients, sitting down with them over a cup of coffee to determine their tastes and attitudes, and even taking a look inside their homes and the wall where the painting will be hung. He acknowledged to a reporter that it was not the traditional way to paint but it beat working an eight-hour job that he hated. He was being practical and esthetic at the same time.

Awards and shows In his 1960 book American Negro Art, author Cedric Dover predicted that Britt would be among the young artists who, although missing from his book, would have a "prominent place" in the history of Black art.

Starting in the 1950s, Britt began and maintained a long relationship with the Wharton Centre, a social service agency in North Philadelphia that hosted a youth arts program. He was a member of the board of directors, art director and art teacher. In 1952, his painting "Red Moon" won second place in a juried Wharton exhibit, which featured five artists associated with the center. One of the judges was African American artist Paul Keene. The painting was purchased by the center. In 1965, he won the first annual Popular Prize for his painting "Yield Not" in a show at the Wharton's Rosenbaum Art Center.

Britt was a member of the Les Beaux Arts club (along with artist Reba Dickerson-Hill) and worked on its art committee in the late 1940s into 1950s. He won the group's first prize for best abstract.

He also taught at YMCAs in Germantown and Center City, a Salvation Army branch and the Kensington Neighbors United Civic Association.

The 1950s was a stellar decade for Britt, who won several monetary awards in the prestigious Atlanta University’s "Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Prints by Negro Artists." He won three times in both juried and popular ballot competitions, along with a win in 1964. In 1951, Britt was one of four runners-up for the Purchase Prize, the top prize, for his entry "Salutamos Mortamus." In 1957, he won the Purchase Prize for the best figure painting in oil for "Yield Not," a jury award.

In 1958, he won by overwhelming popular vote the Purchase Prize for oils, this time for "Pink Sand No. 2," a photo of which ran in the university's 1958 quarterly bulletin. The NAACP’s Crisis magazine acknowledged his win in its June–July issue that year. In 1964, he won the first prize for any subject in oil by popular vote for his painting "Barbara."

Prize-winning works in the yearly competition became part of Atlanta University's collection.

Britt's "Pink Sand" was exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1955. He also was represented in the October Gallery's annual Art Expos.

Britt was a staple at the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show and the Atlantic City Show on the Boardwalk. In 1981, his work was among those in an exhibit at the Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion mounted by the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum (now the African American Museum in Philadelphia). The paintings were from the museum and Philadelphia collectors. The Britt piece was "Man with a Conscience" from a private collection.

At Studio Five in New York in 1975, he painted live models during the show, where he was touted as "one of the most talented artists of this era…His surrealistic paintings and semi-abstracts are conversational pieces that are easily understood and appreciated." In 1988, he was one of four Philadelphia artists, including Leroy Johnson, in an exhibit titled "Directions 4" at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum where he also gave a gallery lecture.

In 1960, he was represented in the Pyramid Club, a social organization of Black professional men that held an annual art exhibit starting in 1941. He was joined in its 1960 show by Howard N. Watson, Reba Dickerson-Hill, Robert Jefferson, Samuel J. Brown Jr. and Dox Thrash.

Later years In 2015, an untitled abstract that Britt completed in the 1950s was featured in an exhibition of Black artists at the Woodmere Art Museum. The exhibition was titled "We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s." Britt's painting is in the museum's collection.

In 2021, Britt was included in the re-creation of artist Percy Ricks exhibition titled "Afro-American Images 1971" at the National Guard Armory in Wilmington, DE. He submitted "Alpha" and "Taurus" in Ricks' show. The 2021 show was organized by the Delaware Art Museum, which snubbed Ricks and his organization Aesthetic Dynamics Inc. when he reached out for support in 1971.

Britt, who was divorced, died in his home in Kensington, Philadelphia on June 26, 1996, of heart failure. Philadelphia School District W. Leon and Doris Bullock Collection Free Library of Philadelphia, Print and Picture Collection

Exhibitions

Atlanta University 1951, 1957, 1958, 1964 Wharton Centre, 1952, 1965 Finkel Gallery, 1959, 1963 Friends Neighborhood Guild, 1959 Zoar United Methodist Church, 1966 Southwest-Belmont Branch YWCA, 1967 The Art Barn, 1967 Facison Art Gallery, 1968, 1971 La Salle College, 1969, 1977 Philadelphia Civic Center Museum, 1969 Smith-Mason Gallery of Art, 1971 National Guard Armory, 1971 Ridgeway Recreation Center, 1974 Studio Five, New York, 1975 Uchoraji Gallery, W.E.B. DuBois College House, University of Pennsylvania, 1976 Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1980 Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum 1987, 1988 Heritage Art Gallery, 1989 Chosen Image Black Art Gallery, 1990 Art Gallery at Gloucester County College, 1990 October Gallery, 1987, 1991 Gallery 50, 1995 Frank Guaracini Jr. Fine & Performing Arts Center, Rowan College, 1995 Woodmere Art Museum, 2015 Delaware Art Museum, 2021