An Exhibition of the Drawings and Paintings of Benjamin C. Steele
Prisoner of War

Benjamin C. Steele was born in Roundup, Montana in 1917. He grew up in a ranch environment. After graduating from high school he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Eighteen months later he was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines. For the next forty-two months he endured the wretched life of a Japanese prisoner of war, including the Bataan Death March, the terribly dangerous trip to Japan locked in the holds of the ships under attack, and slave labor in the coal mines. His survival was an extraordinary feat of courage and will power.

Somehow Ben Steele managed to draw sketches of the cruel and demanding life that he and his colleagues were forced to endure. Some of his sketches were lost at sea during the war and were redrawn after his liberation. Some he managed to get home.

After the war he continued his art work, studying and painting. He earned two degrees including a Masters in Art from the University of Denver. During Ben Steele’s twenty-two years on the faculty of Eastern Montana College he taught art and in later years served as Chairman of the Art Department. He now serves as Professor of Arts Emeritus. Ben Steele’s rich career in art started in a most improbable way and has flourished through the years.

 

The Benjamin Steele Art Collection

This collection of eighty drawings and three paintings is part of the collection of art in the Northcutt Gallery of Art at Eastern Montana College in billings, Montana. Ben Steele commenced these drawings without any formal art training. He also worked under incredibly difficult circumstances. He was constantly at risk for illustrating Japanese gross violations of human decency and the conventions of war. He was also involved most of his captivity in exhausting slave labor on subsistence rations. Ben Steele gives considerable credit for his survival to the beneficial therapy he obtained from his art work.

The drawings fall into three categories. The first includes the original drawings done in the prison camps. Most of these were done in Bilibid Prison in the Philippines and were lost at sea. The remaining original drawings were done in 1945 in Japan. The second category includes the drawings done immediately after the war while Steele was recuperating from his ordeal. Those replaced the lost originals. Later after formal art training he did the remaining drawings and paintings.

Popular interest in America’s military history is currently quite high. Attention has understandably also focused on art that speaks candidly to our past where there was neither fanfare nor glory. In addition to its gripping realism, this remarkable collection sends a sobering message of man’s potential for brutality to his fellow man.

The Exhibit Opening

From the April 1996 Newsletter:

On March 15, 1996, The Friends sponsored their second Annual Lecture and Exhibit. Over 150 friends and Academy cadets attended the evening event on the main floor of the Academy Library. The collection of drawings and paintings will be on public display until May 15 and the public is invited to view the exhibit.

Benjamin C. Steele, a Montana native, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at age 18. A year and a half later, while serving in the Philippines, he was captured by the Japanese. For the next 42 months he endured the wretched life of a Japanese prisoner of war. He survived the Bataan Death March and was then sent to Japan locked in the hold of a ship under attack and wound up as a slave laborer in a coal mine in Northern Japan.

During his horrendous ordeal, Steele managed to draw sketches of the cruel and demanding life he and his fellow American were forced to ensure. Some of his sketches were lost at sea during the war and were redrawn after his liberation. He spent months in American military hospitals and occupied his time by redoing sketches.

After he recuperated, Ben Steele continued his interest in art work. He earned two degrees in Art from the University of Denver. He joined the faculty of the Eastern Montana College at Billings as an art teacher and later became the Chairman of the Art Department. After 22 years of service, he retired as Professor Emeritus.

The Ben Steele Art Collection is now part of the Northcutt Gallery of Art at Eastern Montana College. The 80 drawings fall into three categories. The first includes the original drawings done in the prison camps. Most of these were done in Bilibid Prison in the Philippines and were lost at sea. The remaining original drawings were completed in 1945 in Japan. The second category includes drawings done after the war while Steele was in various hospitals. Later, after formal art training, he completed the remaining drawings and the three paintings.

In his lecture, Professor Steele stressed that he attributes considerable credit for his survival to the beneficial therapy he obtained from his art work.