Claude Bentley, painter, lithographer, and muralist, was born in New York City on 9 June 1915. He studied at Northwestern University, the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Between 1941 and 1945, Bentley served with the Armed Forces, spending much of his time in Africa. He returned to Chicago and taught at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, the Art Institute of Chicago and the North Shore Art League in Winnetka. He joined the Chicago Society of Artists in 1949.

Bentley was included in the Contemporary American Painting exhibition mounted at the Whitney Museum of America Art, November 1955 to January 1956. His work was also included in the 45^th Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1941. He is represented in the permanent collections of the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign; the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts.

As a collector, Bentley sought out destinations to acquire African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian art and amassed an impressive collection. Claude Bentley died on 21 September 1990 in Illinois.