An English portrait painter:
Christine BENSON

After a stint in Bargemon, Christine Benson settled in Montauroux where she opened her studio. This artist, who came from Portsmouth¹ where she taught fine arts in a secondary institution, was seduced by the shapes and colors of Provence Var, but even more by the soul of the place and its inhabitants.

An extremely sensitive portrait specialist, she fixed with expressive delicacy and firmness of facial lines known or unknown: politicians (such as W. Churchill), writers, Asian dancers, American personalities. In Bargemon she fixed on the canvas faces that she wanted to highlight with an appropriate environment, such as that of Mrs. Goletto² at the fountain of Couchoire.

We regret that Mrs Benson did not choose to settle in Bargemon where she would have been an element of value in life artistic and cultural life of this pleasant village. It’s Montauroux who will have this chance.

¹Portsmouth is either misheard or a typo, should be Bournemouth.

²Mrs, Goletto, a resident of Bargemon, is pictured in the painting in the background of the photograph. She was painted taking a load of laundry to wash in the fountain.