Ben Abril - the Iconic Pasadena Suicide Bridge - Oil Painting

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Ben Abril - The Iconic Pasadena Suicide Bridge - Oil painting

California impressionist oil painting on canvas -Signed -circa 1960
… Read more Ben Abril - The Iconic Pasadena Suicide Bridge - Oil painting

California impressionist oil painting on canvas -Signed -circa 1960
Canvas Size 24x36" Frame size 37x48"

Colorado Street Bridge - Completed in 1913 - Cost $200,000 / 160 Feet Above Arroyo Seco - 1,467 Feet Long - Bridge Engineer Mr. John Drake Mercereau - Nicknamed 'Suicide Bridge' Over 100 People Have Jumped from the Bridge to their Death - Since 1913"
in the Colorado Street Bridge", Ben Abril captures an iconic view of the historic concrete arch bridge scene from the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena, CA. Built in 1912 by the firm of Waddell & Harrington, based in Kansas City, MS. This major structure was designed to replace the small Scoville Bridge near the Bottom of the Arroyo Seco, to form an east-west route that connected Pasadena with Eagle Rock and Glendale to the west, and with Monrovia to the east. The Colorado Street Bridge also stands as a visual backdrop in many movies like Charlie Chaplin's 1921 film, "The Kid," and almost 100 years later, appearing during an evening stroll scene of the protagonist in the 2016 film, "La La Land."


Artist Biography
(1923 - 1995)
Ben Abril was active/lived in California. He is known for painting of Historical sites, landscape, structure.
He became an active painter who taught oil painting and belonged to art clubs in Laguna, Beverly Hills, San Gabriel, and Brea. The romance of old California and nostalgia for a lost past of high-rises and vintage Los Angeles coalesce around the work of artist Ben Abril. Old LA is caught in a time capsule in each Abril work, frozen in time in dazzling brushwork and vibrant colors. Capturing a city between the Golden Age of Hollywood and the end of the midcentury, Abril's work sees the passing of the old, the new, and the old again.Born in 1923 in Los Angeles, Abril served in World War II in the Air Force. After a short stint at the Glendale School of Allied Arts, where he learned painting under Arthur Beaumont, Abril worked as a clerk in a post office at night to spend his days painting. Abril was eclectic in his schooling and training. He studied landscape painting at the Art Center School of Design, architectural rendering at Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal Arts), and watercolor classes at Otis Art Institute. While an accomplished artist on the side, Abril mainly worked as a cartographer and draftsman for the County of Los Angeles until a series of artistic projects and exhibitions in the mid-1950s and early 1960s cemented Abril's reputation as a noted painter. At a 1964 exhibition, actor and art collector Vincent Price was so impressed with the artist that he bought out his entire studio. Abril received a number of high-profile commissions, including a series for the US Navy and a gift for Pope John Paul II.
Abril passed away in La Canada Flintridge in 1995 after complications from cancer. A stand-out from many of the other California Scene Painters, Abril's work was glowingly described in an exhibition at the Cowie Wilshire Galleries in Los Angeles:
"There are, nevertheless, few artists among the many southern California scene painters who so obviously enjoy their profession and also manage to convey this vitality to the observer as does Abril. Whether his subject is taken from the rolling hills, beaches, sunlit slums, or suburbs, he makes swift bold statements in pure blazing colors that emphasize his enthusiasm and his often injudicious compositions."Ben Abril's work, nostalgic yet timeless, celebrates the classic cars, old houses, skyscrapers, landmarks and vistas both urban and rural, of California.His paintings are at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, and the U.S. Navy collection, and the King of Spain has one of the San Luis Rey Mission near Oceanside. When he visited Los Angeles, Pope John received a painting of Abril's.Abril studied at the School of Allied Arts, Glendale College, and the Los Angeles Art Center. From 1966 to 1977, he was Architectural Coordinator for Los Angeles County. While working for the County of Los Angeles at the Hall of Administration, Ben made time after work to render Bunker Hill scenes including Angels Flight, located two blocks away. He has also taught art at several community colleges. His residence has been in La Canada near Pasadena,CA See less