This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Alon Bement was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts on August 15, 1876, and died in 1954. He studied in Paris with Leon Bonnat and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, then went on to teach drawing, painting and design at Columbia University, the Maryland Institute of the Arts, and the University of Virginia. His interest was not just in the practice of art, but in theory and art education as well. In 1921, he wrote an influential book titled Figure Construction, editions of which are still available.
He was also avidly interested in the design theories of Arthur Wesley Dow, whose book on Composition (1899) was widely used in art schools in the early 20th century. Bement is mostly remembered today as a pivotal influence on Georgia O’Keeffe. She met him in 1912, took courses from him at Columbia University (where Dow was Art Department Head), and was even his teaching assistant. It was Bement who introduced her to Dow’s Japanese-influenced approach to composition, which O’Keeffe made use of in her work. As documented by Robinson (1989), “the encounter with Bement, and with Dow’s theories, altered Georgia’s life.”
It is less commonly known that Bement was actively involved in ship camouflage during World War I. He served as a camoufleur for the US Shipping Board, and was probably part of a New York-based camouflage team that was headed by William Andrew Mackay. In addition, in 1917-1919, he published four substantial articles on the artistic underpinnings of camouflage. His involvement in the subject is noted in the biographical entry in Behrens (2009). Among other sources, there is a file of newspaper clippings and other ephemera about him in the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Books:
Alon Bement (1921). Figure Construction: a brief treatise on drawing the human figure for art students, the costume designer, and teachers. NY: Gregg Publishing Company.
Roy R. Behrens (2009). Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage. Dysart IA: Bobolink Books.
Roxana Robinson (1989). Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life. Lebanon NH: University Press of New England.
Sources:
Bement, Alon (1917). “Camouflage,” in Teachers College Record 18 No 5, pp. 458-462.
___(1919a). “The Report of the U-16,” in St Nicholas XLVI (November 1918-April 1919), pp. 495-498.
___(1919b). “Tricks by Which You Can Camouflage,” in American Magazine 87 (May),
pp. 44-46.
___(1919c), “’Camouflage’ for Fat Figures and Faulty Faces,” in Washington Times. American Weekly Section, June 15.
Information provided by Roy R. Behrens | |
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| | Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts on Aug. 15, 1876, Bement was an instructor of design and still life painting at Columbia University. He arrived in San Francisco via Alaska in 1916 for a brief period of sketching in and around the San Francisco Bay area and in Yosemite. The rest of his career was spent on the East Coast. | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
SF Chronicle, 8-16-1916, p.19; Who's Who in American Art 1940-53. | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
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