Ben Fortunado Marcune

Biography

Ben Fortunado Marcune continues to work on several commissions in painting and sculpture including a major historical sculpture for the Korean Vietnam Memorial in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

"Ben demonstrates his diverse interests and vitality. Marcune has an extensive knowledge of art history, shows a mastery of anatomical draftsmanship, and possesses a fine art background that includes training at the nation's most prestigious educational and fine art institutions. A fellow of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Ben Marcune's paintings show his love of the Pennsylvania landscape and the tradition of Walter Baum and the Impressionist School which included Baum, Garber, and Redfield. Marcune's works are housed in major international collections and museums. He has received portrait commissions from political figures and dignitaries." Lori Verderame, Ph.D. Director Martin Art Gallery Muhlenberg College

Marcune was raised in Brooklyn, New York. In his youth, he moved with his family to Southern California. His artistic talent emerged early and sustained him throughout his professional work. This early interest not only served him as fine artist but also was vital to his work as a biomedical and industrial designer. While Marcune was passionate about art, intense scientific study resulted in a successful career in biomedical engineering.He attended UCLA and has a Masters degree in Human Factors Engineering and many patents for surgical and orthopedic devices. In the field of surgical instrumentation, Marcune is responsible for the invention of many of the state-of-the-art devices that are used in microsurgery today. He credits his drawing ability and creativity to his success in the sciences.

In mid-career, Marcune moved East. In Pennsylvania, he pursued his love for fine art and fully embraced both the visual and performing arts. He performed as a lead dancer with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet and continued the art education that he began at the San Francisco Art Institute in the city of brotherly love.

Marcune studied painting and sculpture at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the Academy, Ben studied with Arthur Dacosta, Ben Kamihira and the master painter and printmaker of the New York School, Will Barnet. Today, Marcune maintains a studio in Bucks County and in the Lehigh Valley, not far from Lehigh University, where he was a member of the faculty. Marcune works on plein-air paintings of New Hope and historic Bucks County in the tradition of the Pennsylvania Impressionists, like Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, Robert Beverly Hale and others. Marcune views Pennsylvania's beautiful landscape as his favored subject for his oil paintings.

A student of many of the artists of the New Hope School, the Brandywine School, the Moravian painters, and the Bucks County Impressionists, Marcune is arguably one of the most important figures in the regional art community today. He is regarded as one of Bucks County's most sought-after artists working and making art in the region. Marcune's work is included in a book about the tradition of Bucks County Impressionism and the impact of the artists of the New Hope School. Marcune has held faculty posts at Lehigh University's Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Mathematical Biology and at the department of Art and Architecture. He was a research scientist at Stanford University, CalTech and the University of Pennsylvania Science Center. He also taught at the Baum School of Art and the Banana Factory Art Center and recently he has committed himself solely to his work but makes time to discuss art with other artists as a "mentor artist." In painting, Marcune receives numerous portrait commissions for portraits of people, dignitaries, private estates, and homes. In addition, he has extended his commissioned work into the realm of bronze sculpture. His large-scale sculptures and monument commissions include: the Lehigh Workers Memorial, the portrait sculpture of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Korea Vietnam Memorial and Education Center, and the Millennium Sculpture for the City of Bethlehem. His latest commission in the Lehigh Valley is a life-size sculpture of children, A Celebration of the Future.