Article

Roloff Beny

Published Online February 1, 2010

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Roloff Beny, photographer (b Wilfred Roy Beny at Medicine Hat, Alta 7 Jan 1924; d at Rome, Italy 16 Mar 1984). Beny took up photography as a child. He also painted and had a watercolour show at age 15.

Beny, Roloff

Roloff Beny, photographer (b Wilfred Roy Beny at Medicine Hat, Alta 7 Jan 1924; d at Rome, Italy 16 Mar 1984). Beny took up photography as a child. He also painted and had a watercolour show at age 15. After studying fine arts at University of Toronto, The Banff School of Fine Arts (now the BANFF CENTRE FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION) and the University of Iowa, he concentrated on painting and printmaking. In the mid-1950s, however, he turned to photography, having his first show in 1955 in London, England.

Following his London show Beny had many exhibitions and produced over a dozen lavishly illustrated books based on his travels, including To Everything There Is a Season: Roloff Beny in Canada; Japan in Colour; India; Odyssey: Mirror of the Mediterranean; and Forty Countries in Forty Years. His works are included in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA and the ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO. His honours included the gold medal at the 1968 Leipzig International Book Fair, and in 1972 he was made an officer of the ORDER OF CANADA. He made his home in Rome for many years.