Dan River Dracula
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph (aluminum) in light yellow and light gray-green on white Arches paper
Dimensions
image: 15 x 16 cm (5 7/8 x 6 5/16 in.) sheet: 19.6 x 19 cm (7 11/16 x 7 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1983.18.268
Art Historical Context
**Dan River Dracula**, a 1968 lithograph Billy Al Bengston, the artist's playful fusion of pop culture whimsy and precise printmaking technique. Created on luxurious white Arches paper using an aluminum plate—a modern innovation in lithography that enabled crisp lines and subtle tonal gradations—Bengston light yellow and light gray hues. The intimate image size of 15 x 16 cm invites close contemplation, evoking the cool, minimalist aesthetic of California's Finish Fetish movement, with which Bengston was closely aligned. Bengston, a key figure in 1960s Los Angeles art scenes like the Ferus Ga...
About the Artist
Billy Al Bengston
Billy Al Bengston, born on June 7, 1934, in Dodge City, Kansas, embodied the sun-soaked, rebellious spirit of postwar Los Angeles after his family relocated there in 1948. His artistic training began at Los Angeles City College in 1952, where he studied ceramics under Bernard Kester. He then pursued painting under Richard Diebenkorn and Saburo Hasegawa at the California College of Arts and Crafts ...