Welcome to the "Bring Benjamin West Home to Newtown Square!" fundraiser, a heartfelt initiative by the Benjamin West Society dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Benjamin West, the father of American painting. Our mission is to celebrate his remarkable achievements and his  connections to Newtown Square, here he first learned to paint and spent his formative years.

Benjamin West left our shores as a young artist, journeying through Italy and ultimately making London his home. There, he achieved extraordinary success, becoming the court painter to King George III and a notable figure in the art world as one of the founders of the Royal Academy of the Arts. His London studio became a nurturing ground for aspiring American artists such as Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, Ralph Earl, Washington Allston, Thomas Sully, and Samuel F.B. Morse, among others. 

The town seems to have forgotten about its most famous hometown boy, Benjamin West, and the tavern that once was an active witness at the crossroads of history, but now sits largely vacant at a traffic light at a busy suburban intersection. We seek to change that situation.  Benjamin West’s fame is international; his work hangs in the great museum of the world; and he is studied in all of the great art schools, and considered the father of American painting.   His life is a colorful tale that needs to be told.  And his connection to his home town is one that needs to be remembered and promoted.  We do not need to gather at a small bronze marker on the side of a modern building to remember where he lived and worked.  The tavern building is still there, waiting for us to fill it with a suitable use that recalls West and his family and the events that it witnessed in the 18th century.  

We have in Newtown today one of the foremost sculptors of historic monuments in the United States, Terry Jones.  He studied West in art school, and is surprised that West is the proverbial prophet without honor in his home town.  Jones has created a wonderful scale model of a proposed statue honoring Benjamin West.  The model shows the young man who would have lived in Newtown, being shown by a local Indian how to mix colors gathered from nature.  The story is taken from a memory that West shared with his biographer.  The Indian figure is one no doubt drawn from childhood memory, and used by West in several of his historical paintings.  The statue would be cast in bronze, and dedicated at a location on the Tavern grounds to be determined.  The Tavern itself would be used as a museum on West and his local roots, and the times in which he lived. 

It is hoped that a visitors and conference center could be built on the grounds, with a modern kitchen and bathroom facilities, to be able to host meetings, parties and weddings with a view of the historic Tavern and its tavern green.  By creating a focus on West, it is hoped that the statue would continue to attract visitors, who could then tour the Tavern and its exhibits, and groups could also use the conference center for small gatherings in this historic setting.  We thus bring new life to the old building, and assure that we can pay it forward to future generations to keep alive West’s life and work, and his connection to this historic Tavern. This statue will not only honor West’s legacy but also serve as an economic engine for the preservation and promotion of the Tavern site, which houses exhibits celebrating his life and works.

Your support for this fundraiser is vital in bringing Benjamin West back to his roots and creating a lasting tribute to his impact on American art. Let us unite in remembering and celebrating his incredible journey, ensuring that his contributions are forever etched into the landscape of Newtown Square. Join us in bringing Benjamin West home!