Painting “Train Family” (1976)
About
Ben Schonzeit is an American painter, sculptor and multi-disciplinary artist based in New York City.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942, Ben Schonzeit received his BFA from The Cooper Union in 1964. Though primarily known for his photorealist paintings, Schonzeit has, over the course of his career, explored and investigated the sphere of photographic and found material through a myriad of different mediums and visual techniques. Through painting, collage, photography, drawing, and sculpture, Schonzeit has chronicled and distilled, over the decades, the rich and ever-evolving visual culture of his native New York and beyond.
Schonzeit’s most recent work builds upon this tradition, compiling his studio practice unto itself. Sculptures are depicted in paintings. Collaged material is developed into 3D work and animation.
Schonzeit’s works are included in prominent collections around the world including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, The Basel Kunstmuseum, The Denver Art Museum, and The Brooklyn Museum.
Ben Schonzeit works out of his studio on Mercer St. in the heart of SoHo.
CV
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2027
The Century Club – New York, New York (Upcoming)
2026
Ben Schonzeit: A World Elsewhere – Perry Lawson Fine Art – Nyack, New York (Upcoming)
2025
Ben Schonzeit: Imaginary Friends – Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
2023
Ben Schonzeit: 2010 - 2016 – Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
2016
Abstract Figuration – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
2015
Ben Schonzeit: Brilliant Realism – Museum of Art – DeLand – DeLand, Florida
Ben Schonzeit: The Language of Flowers – Modernism, San Francisco, California
2014
Ben Schonzeit: Baked Goods – Baker Sponder Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
2012
Ben Schonzeit | Edibles – Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art – Los Angeles, California
2011
Ben Schonzeit: Paintings – Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
2007
Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
Gerald Peters Gallery – New York, New York
2006
Plus One Gallery – London, England
2005
Holden Luntz Gallery – Palm Beach, Florida
2004
Gerald Peters Gallery – New York, New York
2003
Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
2002
Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
Gerald Peters Gallery – Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Secret Schonzeit – The Butler Institute of American Art – Youngstown, Ohio
2000
Galería Manuel Ojeda – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Elaine Baker Gallery – Boca Raton, Florida
1999
The Butler Institute of Art – Youngstown, Ohio
1998
Gerald Peters Gallery – Santa Fe, New Mexico
1995
J.J. Brookings – San Francisco, California
1991
Comedia – Tomatissimo – Cologne, Germany
1990
J.J. Brookings – San Francisco, California
1989
Modernism – San Francisco, California
1984
Delaware Art Museum – Wilmington, Delaware
1983
Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York, New York
1981
DeGestlo Gallery – Cologne, Germany
1980
Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York, New York
1979
DeGestlo Gallery – Cologne, Germany
1976
Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York, New York
1975
Galerie DeGestlo – Hamburg, Germany
1974
Carl Solway Gallery – Cincinnati, Ohio
1972
Neue Galerie – Aachen, Germany
1971
Galerie DeGestlo – Hamburg, Germany
Galerie Mikro – Berlin, Germany
1970
French & Co. – New York, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Be Still – Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
Skin – Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
Photorealism In Focus – Rose Art Museum – Brandeis University – Waltham, Massachusetts
2025-26
Real, Surreal, Photoreal – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, NY
2024-25
Seeing Red: Renoir to Warhol – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
2024
A Feast for the Eyes: Sumptuous Still Lifes – Hudson River Museum – Yonkers, New York
In Focus: A Closer Look at Photorealism – Centraal Museum – Utrecht, Netherlands
Visualizing Schubert – Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
2023-24
Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting – Asheville Art Museum – Asheville, North Carolina
2022
Primavera – Louis K. Meisel Gallery – New York, New York
2021
Songs Without Words – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
2019
50 Years of Realism – Centro Cultural Center Bank of Brazil – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2017-18
From Lens to Eye to Hand: Photorealism 1969 to Today – Parrish Art Museum – Watermill, New York
2016
Feast for the Eyes – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
50 Years of Hyperrealist Painting – Musée d’Ixelles – Brussels, Belgium
2014
The Sydney & Wanda Besthoff Collection – NOMA – New Orleans, Louisiana
Still Life: 1970’s Photorealism – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
Photorealism: The Everyday Illuminated – Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art – Los Angeles, California
2013
Still Life: 1970s Photorealism – Yale University Art Gallery – New Haven, Connecticut
Hyperreal: More Than Pop! – Saarland Museum – Saarland, Germany
50 Years of Hyperrealistic Painting – Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery – Birmingham, England
Hiperrealismo: 1967-2012 – El Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza – Madrid, Spain
2009
Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s – Guggenheim Museum – Berlin, Germany *
Shock of the Real: Photorealism Revisited – Boca Raton Museum of Art – Boca Raton, Florida *
2005
Double Take: Photorealism from the 1960s and 1970s – Rose Art Museum – Waltham, Massachusetts *
American Photorealism – Zimmerling Museum of Art – Rutgers University – New Brunswick, New Jersey *
2003
Iperrealisti – Chiostro Del Bramante – Rome, Italy *
Hyperréalismes USA 1965-1975 – Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain – Strasbourg, France *
Real Illusions: Contemporary Art from Nashville Collections – Frist Center for the Visual Arts – Nashville, Tennessee
2001
Hypermental: Rampant Reality 1950-2000: From Salvador Dali to Jeff Koons – Kunsthaus – Zurich, Switzerland — Hamburger Kunsthall – Hamburg, Germany
2000
Hypermental – Kunsthaus – Zurich, Switzerland *
1999
Into The 21st Century: Selections from the Permanent Collection – San Jose Museum of Art – San Jose, California
1997
Positions – Weserberg Museum – Bremen, Germany
1994
Synesthesia, Sound & Vision in Contemporary Art – San Antonio Museum of Art – San Antonio, Texas
1993
A Moment Becomes Eternity: Flowers as Image – Bergen County Museum of Art – Paramus, New Jersey
Contemporary American Realism – Isetan – Tokyo, Japan
1992
An Ode to Gardens and Flowers – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
Contemporary American Art Landscapes – The Tokushima Modern Art Museum – Tokushima, Japan
The 1992 Collector’s Show – Arkansas Arts Center – Little Rock, Arkansas
The Midtown Flower Show – Portland Museum of Art – Portland, Maine
1991
In Sharp Focus – Nassau County Museum of Art – Roslyn Harbor, New York
American Realism & Figurative Art: 1952-1990 – The Miyagi Museum of Art – Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Inheritance and Transformation – The Irish Museum of Modern Art – Dublin, Ireland
1985
American Realism: The Precise Image – Isetan Museum – Tokyo, Japan
American Realism: The Twentieth-Century Drawings and Watercolors – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art – San Francisco, California
1983
New Art from New York City: Contemporary Artists’ Paintings – Delaware Museum of Art – Wilmington, Delaware
1981
Contemporary American Realism Since 1960 – Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1980
ROSC / The Poetry of Vision – Dublin, Ireland
1977
Documenta VI – Kassel, West Germany
1975
25 Stills – Whitney Museum – New York, New York
1974
Biennial Exhibition – Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois
1973
Amerikanischer Fotorealismus – Frankfurter Kunstverein – Wuppertal, Germany
Prospect 1973 – Düsseldorf, West Germany
1972
Documenta V – Kassel, West Germany
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Ackland Art Museum – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Bayer AG – Leverkusen, Germany
Belfast Museum – Belfast, Ireland
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen – Rotterdam, Holland
Brooklyn Museum of Art – Brooklyn, New York
The Butler Institute of Art – Youngstown, Ohio
California Palace of the Legion of Honor – San Francisco, California
Delaware Art Museum – Wilmington, Delaware
Denver Art Museum – Denver, Colorado
Isetan Museum – Tokyo, Japan
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – New York, New York
Kunsthalle – Basel, Switzerland
Kunsthalle – Hamburg, Germany
Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mississippi Museum of Art – Jackson, Mississippi
Museo de Arte Moderno – Bogotá, Colombia
Museum of Contemporary Art – Chicago, Illinois
Neue Nationalgalerie – Berlin, Germany
Neue Galerie – Aachen, Germany
Neues Museum Weserburg – Bremen, Germany
Parrish Art Museum – Water Mill, New York
San Antonio Museum of Art – San Antonio, Texas
San Jose Museum of Art – San Jose, California
Smithsonian American Art Museum – Washington, D.C.
Ulster Museum – Belfast, Ireland
Van Abbemuseum – Eindhoven, Holland
The Winnipeg Art Gallery – Winnipeg, Canada
* Asterisk indicates substantial catalogue