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Biography from Butler Institute of American Art:
| For an art school whose alumni include the likes of Thomas Eakins, Cecilia Beaux, Alice Ned, and more recently, Bo Bartlett, identifying one former student to single out for recognition is daunting to say the least. But the Pennsylvania Academy Alumni Association, of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, met the challenge, and this year presented Ben Kamihira with the first Distinguished Alumni Award at the academy's graduation.
About Kamihira's selection, James Lynes, an association board member, says, "Simply, he established himself as one of the leading figurative artists of this region. We wanted someone of reputation and accomplishment, and also someone who influenced generations to come." In addition to attending the Academy, Ben Kamihira later served on its faculty, and Lynes points out, "Many, many students came to the Academy to study with him."
Kamihira arrived at the Academy in 1948. He earned a traveling scholarship in 1951, allowing him to study in France and Italy, then earned another scholarship and went to Mexico. He has since received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Hallgarten Prize from the National Academy of Design, and the Pennsylvania Academy's Lippincott Prize. His work is in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, and of course, his alma mater, to name a few. |
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