Masonite

Near the ruins of what was once his father’s art studio, he bent to pick up a piece of shattered white Masonite board.

Her small studies — preparatory exercises for the large-scale works that follow — are tightly organized, keyhole views onto the grandeur of the city; most are on Masonite boards around 16 or 20 inches tall.

Architect Philip Johnson, who designed the fair’s New York State Pavilion, gave him the $6,000 commission for a big painting on a 20-square-foot Masonite panel that would hang on the building’s façade.

Most of the tablecloth-like plaids were made with acrylic paint on Masonite panels, although some employ both acrylic and graphite and are on paper.

Mr. Bengston was known for his abstract, heavily lacquered paintings, sometimes on industrial surfaces like Masonite or dented aluminum sheets.