In black and white; and colour
The Suter Art Gallery has a small but growing collection of artist books. These are either handmade one-off books, boxed portfolios, sketchbooks or limited edition beautifully crafted printed pub- lications. Represented in this collection are a selection of publications, portfolios, Christchurch Group catalogues and handmade books by Leo Bensemann (1912-1986). Bensemann was born in Golden Bay and after his family moved to Nelson, he attended Nelson College where he met his lifelong friend, Lawrence Baigent.
Baigent, then Bensemann, moved to Christchurch in the 1930s and they both soon found themselves part of a vibrant cultural scene of artists, writers, poets and musicians which included Charles Brasch, Rita Angus, Douglas Lilburn and Denis Glover.
Bensemann took up painting, calligraphy, and book plate design, the latter revealing his talent for drawing. In the mid-1930s he produced a series of fine, imaginative pen and ink drawings intended as book illustrations and approached Caxton Press to publish them.
As Bensemann worked with them to produce Fantastica he demonstrated such an aptitude for printing that Denis Glover and his business partner, John Drew, immediately offered him a third share in Caxton Press.
He was to work for Caxton from 1938 until 1978 and during those same years he was a member of the Christchurch Group (an association of artists) designing the catalogues for their annual exhibitions which show his flair for design and typography.
His illustrative and design skills are also apparent in many Caxton Press publications and the quarterly literary journal Landfall.
A selection of Bensemann’s published work is displayed at The Suter Art Gallery.