Ben F. Stahl (1932 - 2024) was born in Chicago, Illinois, and lived for extended periods of time on both U.S. coasts, Europe and Canada. He was the eldest son of American illustrator and artist Ben A. Stahl (1910 - 1987).
Ben F. Stahl grew up with illustration, but never took a formal art training. He moved in 1949 to San Francisco where he finished high school. In 1953, he was drafted into the US Army and assigned to the 21st Topographical Battalion at the Presidio of San Francisco to be trained as a mapmaker. Leaving the Army in 1955, he was employed by Famous Artist School, a correspondence art school located in Westport, Connecticut, as an instructor where, using drawn and painted demonstrations, he critiqued students' work assigned to them in their course.
In 1965, he was appointed "Director of Art Education", in Amsterdam, Holland, supervising a staff of 30 artists of several nationalities. In 1968, he returned to Westport, CT, to act as "Head of Art Instruction", leaving in 1972 to develop his career as a freelance illustrator. He became particularly well known for his illustrations of young people.
During his career, Stahl’s art was commissioned by most publishers in North America including Bantam Books, Reader's Digest Condensed Books, The Franklin Library, The Limited Edition Book Club, Putnam Publishing Group, Golden Books, Holt-Rinehart, Winston, Warner Books, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, Troll Publishing Co., Scholastic Publishing Co., Albert Whitman Publishing Co., the Bradford Exchange, NBC and CBS television.
He received several national awards for his work in the publishing field including, among others, the American Institute of Graphic Arts Award for "Illustrated Teaching Materials, 1977" and an award for the "Outstanding Science Books for Children, 1976".
Stahl was a member of the New York Society of Illustrators and included in Who's Who in American Art. In addition, he was included, along with his father, in the reference book, The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000 by Walt Reed, published by the N.Y. Society of Illustrators.
In 1987, he was commissioned by Bantam-Seal to create more than 36 historical paintings for all the covers of the novels written by Canadian author L.M. Montgomery including the immensely popular Anne of Green Gables. The project led to Stahl’s decision in 1990 to move to Prince Edward Island. In 2008, one of his best-known images of Anne Shirley was featured on a Canadian postage stamp.
In the early 2000s, faced with a slowdown commercial in illustration work, Stahl decided to devote most of his time to fine art. With the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, however, he shifted his attention to the creation of abstract art.
Stahl remained creative until his final months. He died on June 15, 2024, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.