GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The following essay is adapted from the 1982 publication Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern: An Exhibition of Paintings from Private Collections in Dallas.
The most popular of America's regionalist painters, Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosha, Missouri, the son of a United States Congressman, and grew up in an atmosphere of concern for Midwestern political and social issues. An early talent for drawing brought him work as a newspaper cartoonist in Joplin, Missouri, but he soon decided to enroll instead at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1906. Two years later he went to Paris to continue his training at the Academie Julian. Having been introduced to the various avant-garde European styles, he returned to the States in 1912 and began working in a Sychromist vein, combining abstract figures with brilliant color patterns. During World War I Benton served as a draughtsman in the Navy and his interest in figurative art was rekindled, with a subsequent turn toward American historical and social subjects. Trips through rural America reinforced his interest in the traditions, dignity, and energy of common country folk. In order to express his sense of the natural rhythms and forces at work in the farmlands, he developed a figurative and landscape style of swelling distortions based to a certain degree on El Greco and Michelangelo. He was best able to project his image of America through large-scale historical and allegorical murals, for which he received numerous commissions. He also produced many lithographs after his paintings and drawings. In 1935 Benton moved permanently to Kansas City while continuing to show at galleries in New York. He received several awards and retrospective exhibitions and remained busy for the rest of his life with mural commissions. Benton passed away in Kansas City in 1975.
Adapted from
Steven A. Nash, "Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)", in Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern, ed. Robert V. Rozelle (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982), 148.
NOTES
Thomas Benton has become in recent years one of the foremost leaders of the school which is headed under the general "slogans" of Regionalism and the American Scene. His direct and unblushing representation of American life, the embodiment of its strength and even its crudeness, with honest defiance lifts Benton's art to its high estate - an art of swinging rhythms, plastic color painted in his personal baroque manner.
His father was a criminal lawyer and his great uncle was the famous Missouri senator for whom he was named. Parental plans not withstanding, Benton had to paint . He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and later studied in Paris, wallowing with all the intensity of his nature in the cultural movements of the Latin Quarter.
Back in America he floundered until a return visit to his native state gave him the earthy inspiration that finally "jelled" in the murals of the Missouri State capitol. His choices of representative subject matter were not the legendary heroes; they were instead, the lusty figures of Jesse James, Boss Pendergast and Frankie and Johnnie. He painted with the doors open so that all who liked might come to criticize. Many criticized . The wrath of the state government came down upon him. But Benton is a pioneer, painting as he feels and as he sees. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where his recent paintings show an intensified interest in the study of textures and his Tom Sawyer country.
In classic literature Persephone was the Greek goddess of nature and abundance. In th is modern version of the rape of Persephone, Benton is showing the greed of those who cultivate the land to exhaustion, to the point of drouths, erosion and dust storms.
From Famous American Paintings Assembled for the State Fair of Texas, 1948. Catalogue from Piction
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FUN FACTS
- Thomas Hart Benton played harmonica on the 1942 album Saturday Night at Tom Benton's produced by Decca Records.
- When Thomas Hart Benton taught at the Art Students League of New York in the late 1920s to mid 1930s, Jackson Pollock was one of his students.
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General Description
The following essay is adapted from the 1982 publication Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern: An Exhibition of Paintings from Private Collections in Dallas.
The most popular of America's regionalist painters, Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosha, Missouri, the son of a United States Congressman, and grew up in an atmosphere of concern for Midwestern political and social issues. An early talent for drawing brought him work as a newspaper cartoonist in Joplin, Missouri, but he soon decided to enroll instead at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1906. Two years later he went to Paris to continue his training at the Academie Julian. Having been introduced to the various avant-garde European styles, he returned to the States in 1912 and began working in a Sychromist vein, combining abstract figures with brilliant color patterns. During World War I Benton served as a draughtsman in the Navy and his interest in figurative art was rekindled, with a subsequent turn toward American historical and social subjects. Trips through rural America reinforced his interest in the traditions, dignity, and energy of common country folk. In order to express his sense of the natural rhythms and forces at work in the farmlands, he developed a figurative and landscape style of swelling distortions based to a certain degree on El Greco and Michelangelo. He was best able to project his image of America through large-scale historical and allegorical murals, for which he received numerous commissions. He also produced many lithographs after his paintings and drawings. In 1935 Benton moved permanently to Kansas City while continuing to show at galleries in New York. He received several awards and retrospective exhibitions and remained busy for the rest of his life with mural commissions. Benton passed away in Kansas City in 1975.
Adapted from
Steven A. Nash, "Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)", in Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern, ed. Robert V. Rozelle (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982), 148.
Fun Facts
- Thomas Hart Benton played harmonica on the 1942 album Saturday Night at Tom Benton's produced by Decca Records.
- When Thomas Hart Benton taught at the Art Students League of New York in the late 1920s to mid 1930s, Jackson Pollock was one of his students.
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Notes
Thomas Benton has become in recent years one of the foremost leaders of the school which is headed under the general "slogans" of Regionalism and the American Scene. His direct and unblushing representation of American life, the embodiment of its strength and even its crudeness, with honest defiance lifts Benton's art to its high estate - an art of swinging rhythms, plastic color painted in his personal baroque manner.
His father was a criminal lawyer and his great uncle was the famous Missouri senator for whom he was named. Parental plans not withstanding, Benton had to paint . He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and later studied in Paris, wallowing with all the intensity of his nature in the cultural movements of the Latin Quarter.
Back in America he floundered until a return visit to his native state gave him the earthy inspiration that finally "jelled" in the murals of the Missouri State capitol. His choices of representative subject matter were not the legendary heroes; they were instead, the lusty figures of Jesse James, Boss Pendergast and Frankie and Johnnie. He painted with the doors open so that all who liked might come to criticize. Many criticized . The wrath of the state government came down upon him. But Benton is a pioneer, painting as he feels and as he sees. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where his recent paintings show an intensified interest in the study of textures and his Tom Sawyer country.
In classic literature Persephone was the Greek goddess of nature and abundance. In th is modern version of the rape of Persephone, Benton is showing the greed of those who cultivate the land to exhaustion, to the point of drouths, erosion and dust storms.
From Famous American Paintings Assembled for the State Fair of Texas, 1948. Catalogue from Piction
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