His aunt
Esther Bensusan was the wife of
Lucien Pissarro, son of
Camille Pissarro, and Bensusan-Butt grew up with their work around him, at the Minories,
Colchester, now a museum and art gallery. From 1935, Lucien Pissarro became his adviser and artistic mentor, and the two men worked together at
Cotignac and at the Minories, where Pissarro often stayed.[2] Bensusan-Butt exhibited at the
Royal Academy[1] and was the art critic of the Essex County Standard from 1950 to 1966.[2]
He died in August 1997, while still living in Colchester.[3]
Selected publications
John Bensusan-Butt, Lucien Pissarro 1863-1944 (London: Anthony d’Offey, 1963)
John Bensusan-Butt, The House That Boggis Built: a Social History of the Minories, Colchester (Victor Butte-Lay Trust, 1972)
John Bensusan-Butt, The Eragny Press 1894–1914 (Colchester, 1973)
John Bensusan-Butt, Recollections of Lucien Pissarro in his seventies (London: 1977)