James Ben Ali Haggin III

Who was James Ben Ali Haggin III?

James Ben Ali Haggin III was an American portrait painter and stage designer, most commonly referred to as "Ben Ali Haggin". The grandson of James Ben Ali Haggin, he was born in New York and, after extensive education, began exhibiting formally in 1903. He was awarded the Julius Hallgarten Prize in 1909. A founding member of the National Association of Portrait Painters, he was also an associate academician of the National Academy of Design from 1912. In the 1930s, Haggin turned his abilities to stage design and created sets for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Ziegfeld Follies.