Ernest Alfred Sallis Benney ARCA (1894-1966) was Director for the County Borough of Brighton and Principal of the School of Art between 1934 and 1958, spearheading ambitious plans for the development of the institution including the design for a new building in Grand Parade, designed by Percy Billington in 1958 and eventually completed in 1969.

A painter and designer by trade, EA Sallis Benney was born in Bradford, son of the artist Derek Ward Sallis Benney, and attended first the local College of Art then the Royal College of Art, London. He exhibited landscape paintings at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) and the New English Art Club as well as designing commemorative tablets. Sallis Benney went on to hold a series of administrative posts at national art schools, moving to become Principal of schools of art in Cheltenham, Norwich and Hull College of Arts & Crafts, where he had undertaken a substantial programme of reorganisation and doubled student numbers, before taking the leadership role at Brighton.

As Principal of Brighton School of Art, EA Sallis Benney proved determined and ambitious, soon putting forward proposals for an International College of Art with progressive curricula across architecture, design, painting and graphic art. He foresaw the importance of a closer relationship with commerce and industry, believing the new plans would “result in a demand for better-designed goods which the producer will not be slow to meet” (The Evening Standard, 20 June 1935). As well as graduate and postgraduate study in the arts, he recognised that, “The present day artist and designer was not afraid of machinery; in fact, he welcomed it but he realized that it must be controlled by those whose aesthetic tastes had been properly trained.” The developing college would comprise innovative departments of textile and fabric design, industrial design and cinematographic art.

EA Sallis Benney first put forward plans for a new Municipal School of Art building in in 1936. Although this was approved, council conflict and eventually war shelved the designs and the project. Following the end of World War II, Sallis Benney’s ambitions brought rapid change. In 1947 the institution was re-designated as the Brighton College of Arts and Crafts, with The Evening News reporting in 1947 that “Brighton has become one of the most important art centres in the country.”  This evolving status and considerable expansion led to a further push towards a new fit-for-purpose building, with Benney retiring in the year the architectural plans were drawn up in 1958.

The Sallis Benney Theatre at the University of Brighton is named as a tribute to his major, innovative role in arts education. The theatre is now largely used for university internal events and lectures but for many decades was an operational theatre space with a varied programme of external companies and student productions.

Examples of Benny’s work can be found in the collection of Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Cheltenham Art Gallery, the Towner Art Gallery and Worthing Art Gallery. The artistic dynasty would continue with his son, Gerald Benney and grandson Simon Benney both becoming respected and successful silversmiths and designers.

Image: Linocut from the Aldrich/University Collection. A copy of the windmill linocut was sold through Meridian Gallery, Dorking, Surrey, with a note “This is a lino-cut given to Dorothy Avery as a wedding gift by E A Sallis Benney, August 1947.″