Thomas Hart Benton (Neosho, Missouri, 1889 - Martha's Vineyard, 1975) was an American painter and one of the central figures of Regionalism, the movement that depicted everyday life in the Midwestern United States. Alongside Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he is regarded as its leading representative. His significance lies in giving shape to a painting of national themes, built on sculptural, fluid figures.
The son of a lawyer and congressman, he trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and then at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he met Diego Rivera and Stanton Macdonald-Wright, whose Synchromism briefly influenced him. Back in New York in 1912, and after serving in the navy during the First World War, he moved away from modernist experiment and adopted a documentary realism that marked his later work. At the Art Students League of New York he taught Jackson Pollock. His murals in Indiana and Missouri brought him fame, though they sparked controversy for depicting uncomfortable episodes of local history. In 1935 he settled in Kansas City, where he taught at the Kansas City Art Institute and painted many rural scenes. His Persephone, held by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, remains one of his best-known paintings.
His legacy lies in spreading a view of the Midwest seen from within and in having taught younger artists, although his rejection of modern art set him apart from much of the criticism of his day. He also published his autobiography, An Artist in America, and produced an extensive series of lithographs.
Works (2)
Where to see the work
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. · 1
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Washington, D.C. · 1
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Jean-Paul Laurens 1838–1921
Curiosities
A scandalous nude
Persephone was considered scandalous by the Kansas City Art Institute. The showman Billy Rose borrowed it and hung it in his New York nightclub, the Diamond Horseshoe. The art historian Karal Ann Marling called it one of the great works of American pornography. Today it belongs to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
A camouflage painter
During the First World War, Benton served in the United States Navy, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia. There he was classified as a “camoufleur” and drew the camouflaged ships entering the harbor. His drawings helped ensure that American ship painters applied the camouflage schemes correctly, aided in identifying ships that might later be lost, and kept records of the camouflage of other Allied navies. Benton later said that this work was the most important he had ever done for himself as an artist.
An early color cover
On December 24, 1934, Benton appeared on one of the earliest color covers of Time magazine. The article “The U.S. Scene” presented Benton, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry as the new heroes of American art and described Regionalism as a significant movement. It was an early recognition that placed him at the center of the country's artistic debate.