Benton - "Forward Pass" Realistic lithograph of quarterback throwing football down the field

Thomas Hart Benton • American: 1889-1975

Forward Pass • Lithograph on Paper 12-7/8” x 19-3/4”

“He is the perfect mirror of the American character.” This is how filmmaker Ken Burns described Thomas Hart Benton in a chapter of his PBS documentary American Stories. Benton was a character as broad as the American Plains, as jagged as her mountains, as deep as her seas, as sophisticated as New York and as simple as Neosho, Missouri where he was born.

He was a sophisticate who honed his image as a hard-drinking Ozark hillbilly. He rebelled against modern art, yet his most famous student was Jackson Pollock, one of America’s wildest abstractionists.

His father was a rough-hewn U.S. Congressman known as the “Little Giant of the Ozarks” and his uncle a famous U.S. Senator known as the “Champion of Manifest Destiny.” Yet, when Thomas Hart Benton appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1934, it was due to his heroic portrayals of everyday Americans.

His giant murals hung in state capitol buildings and his painting, Persephone, thought of as pornographic in its’ day, hung in Billy Rose’s famous New York nightclub, The Diamond Horseshoe.

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Thomas Hart Benton made his fame and fortune painting typical Midwestern scenes, yet remained happily married to an Italian immigrant for 53 years, separated only by death a scant 10 weeks apart.

Benton was a man of contradictions. One museum curator claims “Benton was driven out of New York.” and it appears he fought the eastern art establishment tooth and nail, to a near stand-off. Yet he studied in Paris, made his long-time home in New York and summered on Martha’s Vineyard for over a half-century. It’s just that his sensibilities never seemed to match the prevailing wisdom.

Benton saw America as a collection of stories waiting to be told. He is known as one of the leaders of the Regionalist movement an off-shoot of American Scene painting, that gained steam during the Depression. Although known for his paintings of Midwestern life, during his lifetime he painted cotton pickers down south and teenagers dancing the Twist in New York during the span of his long life. In the end, he is remembered for what he set out to do, tell the story of America by telling the stories of its people.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Purchased by the Canton Museum of Art 78.34

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“While one of the most famous artists in America, he cut a harmonica record for Decca Records. Can’t make this stuff up.”

2.
“He studied art in Chicago, Paris and New York, but styled himself a ‘hard-drinking Ozark hillbilly. Must have been a fun guest at parties.”

3.
“He got in hot water from Hoosiers angry at his mural panel depicting the popularity of the KKK in Indiana. He wasn’t always subtle.”

4.
“In 1934 he was the first artist to appear on the cover of Time Magazine. Still one of the few to share this honor.”

Benton Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1889

Born in Neosho, Missouri. His father, Colonel Maecenas Benton, was a U.S. Congressman known as the “Little Giant of the Ozarks.” His uncle, for whom he was named, was a prominent U.S. Senator known as the “Champion of Manifest Destiny.” His mother was an artistic woman raised in Texas.

1905-06

His father sent him to Western Military Academy, hoping to get him ready for a political career. Benton had other ideas and shared his mother’s love of art.

1906

Started work as a cartoonist for The Joplin American newspaper. His mother encouraged his artistic ambitions although his father hated artists, thinking all were like the portrait artists of the day “who clung to women’s skirts.”

1907

Although only 18, Benton decided to escape small town life and enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago, studying under Frederick Oswald.

1909

Moved to Paris to study at the famed Academie Julian. There he was exposed to the curvilinear forms of the Impressionists and made the acquaintance of Diego Rivera, the Mexican artist famed for his scene-style murals. He was also greatly influenced by the more modern compositions of Cezanne.

1915-16

Served as an architectural draftsman and painted camouflage for the U.S. Navy during WWI. Spent his free time sketching scenes from the shipyards and life onboard Navy ships.

1920

Returned to New York and promptly picked a fight with the art establishment by announcing himself as “an enemy of modernism.” Became involved with leftist artists groups, however, ended up alienating other artists of the day by turning his back on politics.

1922

Married Italian-immigrant Rita Piacenza, one of his students in art classes he taught at a local New York neighborhood organization.

1925

Began work as an instructor at the New York Art Students League where he taught for over 10 years. Among his better-known students were Jackson Pollock, who became a leading Abstract Expressionist, and Clyde Singer, who became a well-known American Scene artist.

1926

The first of his two children, Thomas Piacenza Benton was born. His daughter, Jessie Benton was born 13 years later in 1939.

1930

New School of Social Research in New York City commissioned a suite of murals entitled “America Today.” These currently are displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1930s

Gained fame as a leader of the Regionalist movement along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry. The American Scene style was championed by rabid nativist and anti-semite, Thomas Craven, although his views were not apparently shared by the artists, themselves.

1932

Completed the Arts of Life in America murals for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s library.

1933

Completed a series of 22 mural panels titled the Cultural and Industrial History of Indiana for the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago. One panel was highly criticized for its’ portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan’s prominence in Indiana.

1934

one of the highest paid artists in America while known for his portrayals of Depression-era life in America.

1935

At the height of his fame he wrote an article attacking New York art critics and modern art in general. Basically, he got run out of New York. The Paris art establishment was also at odds with his “folksy” style. Returned to Missouri and became a teacher at the Kansas City Art Institute.

1936

Commissioned to paint a huge mural for the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. He would later say that A Social History of Missouri was “my best work.”

1937

Although only 48 years old, he decided to publish his autography An Artist in America. It was critically acclaimed. In subsequent years he updated this autobiography with new chapters as his life unfolded.

1941-45

During WWII he created a series of almost propagandist paintings portraying the threat to the American way of life posed by Nazism and fascism.

An accomplished harmonica player he recorded an album for Decca Records in 1942, titled “Saturday Night at Tom Benton’s.”

1954

Elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Member. Became a full member in 1956.

1975

Died in his studio, just as he completed his final mural The Sources of Country Music for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Wife, Rita, died 10 weeks later.