Bennet A. Swanson (1897 - 1968)

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Born in Winthrop, Minnesota, Swanson lived and had his studio in St. Paul.  He studied at the St. Paul Institute of Art, the Art Students League in New York City and with Andre Lhote and others in Paris. 

 

Swanson was a prolific artist, exhibiting his work in the Twin Cities from early in the 1920s to 1954, a span of over thirty years.  He was a WPA artist and taught at the Art Crafts Center in St. Paul.  He received an honorable mention in the prints and drawings category at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1923, and 31 years later in 1954, a lithograph of his was exhibited at the Institute’s Third Biennial of Prints and Drawings. 

 

To support his art he worked as a sign painter for an outdoor advertising company.  His work is held in collections at the Minnesota Historical Society; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; University of Minnesota, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; National Red Cross, Washington, D. C.; and Central Lakes College, Brainerd, Minnesota.   

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