About

Painting “Train Family” (1976)

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 National Gallery in Washington D.C., The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 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

2026 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, Massachusets *

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

Ulster Museum – Belfast, Ireland

VanAbben Museum – Eindhoven, Holland

The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada

* Asterisk indicates substantial catalogue