Ben Austrian left school at the age of fifteen and worked as a salesman for several years, while teaching himself to be an artist. He helped promote the business by giving every person that placed an order-no matter how small- an original painting.
His painting career began by exhibiting a trompe l'oeil painting called A Day's Hunt that received attention in Philadelphia. However, Austrian's success came from his paintings of chickens. In 1902 he went to Paris, where he opened a studio and in London he was acclaimed "The Landseer of Chickens."
One of his chickens became the famous trademark for the Bon Ami slogan - "hasn't scratched yet."
His paintings for the advertisements were full-color oils. Unfortunately at the height of his success he died of a stroke in 1921.
Twenty-five Chicks and a Yellow Butterfly, Oil on canvas, 1901, 10 x 35