WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Benny Andrews

Benny Andrews

American, 1930–2006

WA-00022432

New York City

PaintingExpressionism

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ4889934

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

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No image

Committed to Print

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

American Drawn and Matched

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1977

No image

The Artist as Adversary

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

No image

Untitled I

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

Field Verification (3 fields)

3 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyWikidata· 92%✓
Birth yearWikidata· 92%✓
NationalityWikidata· 92%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/180
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Benny Andrews was an American painter and printmaker known for figurative work addressing social injustice and the African American experience. Working primarily in oil, acrylic, and collage throughout the postwar period, Andrews developed a gestural style that combined expressionist mark-making with direct representation of working-class subjects and protest imagery. He was active in civil rights advocacy and maintained a studio practice spanning nearly five decades until his death in 2006.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Expressionism

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (23)

WattsOS

Benny Andrews : portraits : a real person before the eyes

2020

188 pages : illustrations, portraits (chiefly color) ; Height: 12 3/16 in. (31 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

The Family

2000 · Oil paint and torn and cut paper and textiles on paper

39 3/8 × 27 1/2 in. (100 × 69.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Juke Joint

1998 · Torn and cut paper and textile and oil paint on paper

30 × 22 3/4 in. (76.2 × 57.8 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Sweet Back Man

1996 · Cut and pasted fabric and paper and glossy opaque paint on paper

22 1/2 in. × 15 in. (57.2 × 38.1 cm) Frame (F.1997.164 Dark wood frame w/ reg. plexi): 30 in. × 22 1/2 in. × 1 1/2 in. (76.2 × 57.2 × 3.8 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Growing Up from Impressions: Our World, Volume I

1973 · Etching and aquatint from a portfolio of seven etchings (five with aquatint, two with embossing)

plate: 13 5/8 × 11 1/2" (34.6 × 29.2 cm); sheet: 29 7/8 × 22" (75.9 × 55.9 cm)

Benny Andrews

Cultural Positioning

Authority Records (2)

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

Field Verification (3 fields)

Source Registry (1)

Why this artist matters now

Taste overlap and adjacency

Museum Collections

Artworks (23)

Artwork sources (3)

Images

Relationships

Representation & Collections

Auction sale history

Exhibitions and timeline