logo

Archives Photo of the Week: Hi!


December 13, 2013

148901
“Hi!” (Tikal, Guatemala). Drawing by Alfred Bendiner, 1960. Pen and ink on paper.
Penn Museum Image #148901

This week’s image is an illustration by Alfred Bendiner, a Philadelphia cartoonist. He received his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Later in his career, Bendiner served as an artist-architect for the Museum’s archaeological expeditions to Tepe Gawra and Khafajeh in Iraq in 1936 and to Tikal in Guatemala in 1960. His drawings while in the field were donated to the Museum by his late wife, Elizabeth Bendiner. Bendiner also served as a newspaper caricaturist for Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Sunday Bulletin Magazine, Philadelphia Record, and Washington Times Herald.

This particular drawing, entitled “Hi!”,  was done during the 1960 Tikal Expedition using pen and ink on paper. The drawing depicts two arms holding up a statuette from a hole in the ground, while archaeologists and photographers gather all around (hanging from trees and peering over rocks) to see what has been found. Alfred Bendiner himself and his wife, Elizabeth, are drawn seated next to the statue.