About Thomas Hart Benton:
Born in Missouri into a politically influential family in 1889, Thomas Hart Benton is remembered as one of America’s greatest painters and most captivating storytellers. As a leading painter, teacher, and inspiration to generations of artists, Benton led the Regionalist movement in the early 20th century and created many of this nation’s greatest figurative paintings, frequently focusing on life in rural America. His bold palette and dynamic style made him one of the most recognizable painters of the 20th century. Benton’s fame rose in the 1930s and on March 15, 1937, he was the first artist to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. While Thomas Hart Benton is best known for his mural paintings and depictions of America’s heartland, he is also well known for his early modernist work in Paris and New York and inclusion in the groundbreaking Anderson Galleries 1916 Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters which heralded the development of a unique American brand of modern art.
![Placeholder image]() ![Placeholder image]() Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?![Thomas Hart Benton, Study for "The Kentuckian", 1954]() Thomas Hart BentonStudy for "The Kentuckian", 1954
Thomas Hart Benton's The Kentuckian stands at the intersection of art, cinema, and popular culture in mid-century America. Commissioned in 1953 by Norma Productions, a leading film production company, the painting was intended to promote their film, which starred well-known actor and producer Burt Lancaster. Admirers of Benton's work, Lancaster and his team extended an invitation to the artist to observe the film's production and read the script for inspiration. Set in 1820s Kentucky, the film chronicles the story of Elias "Big Eli" Wakefield, a frontiersman, and his son, "Little Eli," as they venture to Texas to start a new life, encountering a host of challenges along the way. Exploring themes of family, survival, and the pioneering ethos of the American frontier, Benton captures this archetypal frontiersman, clad in buckskins, leading his family westward toward a frontier village. Against the backdrop of a vibrant natural landscape, the figure of the Kentuckian dominates the composition, his confident stride accentuated by the dynamic diagonal positioning of the figures.
Inquire![Thomas Hart Benton, Wyoming Landscape, c. 1955-60]() Thomas Hart BentonWyoming Landscape, c. 1955-60Out of the city, in the landscape, Benton explained that while portions of the Midwest might be flat, the clear horizon line “acts as an enclosure and sets a limit to things.” In contrast, the West seemed to extend “indefinitely” with “no limits.” Even the mountains rise in such a way, tier behind tier, that they carry your vision on and on, so that the forward strain of your eyes is communicated to all the muscles of the body and you feel actually within yourself the boundlessness of the world. You feel that you can keep moving forever without coming to any end. This is the physical effect of the West. —Lauren Kroiz, excerpt from Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, Schoelkopf Gallery, 2024
Inquire![Thomas Hart Benton, The Desert, 1956]() Thomas Hart BentonThe Desert, 1956
Thomas Hart Benton's The Desert, painted in 1956, exemplifies his ability to capture the atmosphere of the American West. Benton's use of highly saturated colors in The Desert evokes the intensity of the desert sun, while his undulating forms create a dynamic, visually engaging composition. Rather than directly conveying the majesty of the West through sweeping mountain views, as traditionally seen in the nineteenth-century American tradition from artists such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and Albert Bierstadt, Benton's subtle approach blends two of his favored genres, still life, and landscape, to create a characteristically Western scene. While the background showcases the vast, open expanses typical of portrayals of the West, in the foreground, Benton presents a still-life arrangement of weathered logs, lichen-covered rocks, and an assortment of desert flora, including sagebrush, desert marigolds, and grasses. These elements are rendered in vibrant colors, contrasting against the red rock terrain.
Inquire![Thomas Hart Benton, Desert Still Life, c. 1951]() Thomas Hart BentonDesert Still Life, c. 1951
Desert Still Life merges two of Benton's favored genres: still life and landscape. The vast, open landscape of the American West forms the backdrop, while the foreground features a dramatic still life consisting of a weathered log, sun-bleached cattle bones, and dusty rocks. The cow skull and bones evoke Georgia O'Keeffe's use of skulls in her works. In both artists' work, the skulls serve as Vanitas symbols of nature's cycle of life and death, encapsulating their connections to the natural world and their engagement with the environment of the American Southwest.
Inquire![Thomas Hart Benton, The Plains, 1953]() Thomas Hart BentonThe Plains, 1953Although the scene in The Plains, and other of Benton’s Western paintings look initially pastoral, the painter articulated unsettling experiences in the vast spaces. Many found it “unbearable,” especially those he termed “cozy-minded people” who need “the sense of intimacy.” Some experienced “the monotony, the weariness, the oppressiveness” of the plains landscape. Benton felt a “releasing effect” and “immense freedom of spirit” that allowed him to escape even beyond his own busy mind.[1] —Lauren Kroiz, excerpt from Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, Schoelkopf Gallery, 2024
Thomas Hart Benton, An Artist in America, New York: R. M. McBride & Co., 1937, p. 199-200.
Inquire- Trail Riders features a wide-angle view of a valley leading up to the towering, snow-covered Mount Assiniboine. Flanked by dark ridges, the mountain’s peak nearly touches the edge of the composition. In the foreground, three tiny horses and two riders, representing the artist himself and his traveling companion traverse the valley. The third horse, the “remount” was likely kept on hand to allow the riders to switch horses when one became tired or needed rest. The scale of the horses and riders emphasize the vastness of the majestic landscape. Known as the “Matterhorn of North America” due to its triangular shape, Mount Assiniboine is situated on the Continental Divide, straddling the border between British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Benton’s portrayal includes Lake Magog at the center.
![Thomas Hart Benton, Wyoming Landscape, 1967]() Thomas Hart BentonWyoming Landscape, 1967
Oil on Masonite
10½ x 19½ inches
26.7 x 49.5 cm
Inquire![Thomas Hart Benton, Study for "The Arts of Life in America: Indian Arts", 1932]() Study for "The Arts of Life in America: Indian Arts", 1932ON LOAN Study for The Arts of Life in America: Indian Arts serves as an entry point into Thomas Hart Benton's ambitious mural series, The Arts and Life of America, produced in 1932 for the library of the Whitney Museum of Art, then located at 10 West 8th Street. Amidst the Great Depression, the Bentons faced foreclosure on their Chilmark, Massachusetts home. Rita Benton implored Julia Force, the museum's founding director, to acquire some of Benton's paintings. In response, lacking acquisition funds, Force extended a $3,000 personal loan, which Benton interpreted as a downpayment for the mural commission. Comprising eight panels, the series' overarching theme is American creativity and leisure, aiming to uplift and inspire viewers. Benton segmented the panels to represent different regions of the country—the West, the city, the South—along with a historical segment acknowledging Native American contributions. Noteworthy is the inclusion of Black Americans in the Southern section and the emphasis on Native Americans in the initial panel, challenging contemporary societal norms. However, Benton's portrayal still reflected prevalent stereotypes, catering to his primarily white audience. In the accompanying Whitney Museum publication, Benton's caption for Indian Arts describes scenes such as "Dancing, Chasing the 'Great Spirit,' Basket Weaving, Preparation of Skins, Hunting." In his choice of subject matter, Benton acknowledged his reliance on romanticized portrayals from literature and popular culture rather than firsthand observation, underscoring the profound impact of fictional representations on his compositions and subjects: "I have seen in the flesh everything represented except the Indian sticking the buffalo. ![Thomas Hart Benton, Trading at Westport Landing (Old Kansas City), 1956]() Thomas Hart BentonTrading at Westport Landing (Old Kansas City), 1956The gallery is honored to present Benton's masterpiece, Trading at Westport Landing (Old Kansas City), 1956, generously loaned by The River Club of Kansas City, Missouri
Thomas Hart Benton painted overtly historic murals in the 1950s, including a 1955 commission from the River Club, which he described as "an exclusive businessmen's organization in Kansas City." The group requested an overmantle mural for the lounge "depicting Old Kansas City-pioneer Kansas City." [1] The assignment suggests Benton's increasing integration into Kansas City and willingness to depict a more harmonious vision of Western settlement. The white settler family engages in trade with a Native American man and woman, rendered with some ethnographic specificity likely to evoke the Pawnee Tribe. The Native American man holds a pipe rather than a weapon, although the white man has a revolver on his hip, as stagecoaches and cattle stream upward from the Missouri River and boats below. Benton idealized and abstracted, but he did capture the sharp bend in the river that characterized the elevated view from the Northwest edge of downtown Kansas City, where the prestigious club is located, suggesting environmental continuity contributed to the resonance of imagined history.
[1] There are four editions of Benton's 1937 autobiography. He authored new chapter updates appended at the end "After" (1951 edition) and "And Still After" (1968 edition), both are included in the posthumous edition that I cite: Thomas Hart Benton, "And Still After," An Artist in America, (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989), p. 330
-Excerpt from Lauren Kroiz,Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, Schoelkopf Gallery, 2024
![Thomas Hart Benton, Study for "Trading at Westport Landing (Old Kansas City)", c. 1956]() Thomas Hart BentonStudy for "Trading at Westport Landing (Old Kansas City)", c. 1956
Oil on board
6⅜ x 11⅞ inches
16.2 x 30.2 cm
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