Born in New York City, Painter, printmaker, and muralist Claude Bentley grew up in Chicago and studied at Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago where he would later teach. As a member of the armed forces during WWII, with time mostly spent in Africa, Bentley acquired an appreciation and curiosity for the art of Africa, Oceania, and that of Pre-Columbian South America adopting many of their symbols and geometry into his own works as well as becoming an avid collector.

Bentley has exhibited nationally at institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, Denver Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art and has work included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.