An interview of Susan Benay conducted 2000 November 30, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Karlstrom's office, San Marino, California.
This interview focuses on Benay's brief career as a model in her late teens and early twenties, during which time she posed for most of the leading artists in the Los Angeles area. Benay recollects posing for prominent artists, including Richard Diebenkorn, Charles White, John Altoon, Sam Clayberger, Jirayr Zorthian, and physicist/artist Richard Feynman.
Biographical / Historical:
Susan Benay (1949- ) was an artists' model from San Marcos, California. Susan Benay (neé Brown) grew up in Pasadena where she took art classes at various schools and studied music with Ravi Shankar at Villa Cabrini.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 3 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Funding for the transcription provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance.
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
