Self Portrait, by Thomas Hart Benton Thomas Hart Benton, an American artist (1889-1975), was only 5’3” but had a cantankerous, larger-than-life personality. He came across as a plain-talking, small-town roughneck, but in reality he was educated in Chicago and Paris, and came from a prominent Missouri family. Early in his career Benton lived in New York City, experimenting with abstract compositions and following the latest art world trends. But they didn't take. So he turned with a vengeance to a representational style, and antagonized artists and critics with his hot-tempered heckling. When he finally got fed up with the New York art establishment, Benton moved back to the Midwest. There he joined a Regionalist art movement that painted everyday people in a distinctly American landscape.
Recently I had the pleasure to watch Thomas Hart Benton, a 1988 documentary by Ken Burns. This fascinating introduction to the artist’s complicated and dynamic personality inspired me to pay a visit to the Benton mural, America Today, now residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The mural, a series of ten panels originally commissioned by the New School for Social Research in 1930, was sold to AXA Equities in 1984, and then given to the Met in 2012. You can watch a video about the Met’s acquisition here.
Recently I had the pleasure to watch Thomas Hart Benton, a 1988 documentary by Ken Burns. This fascinating introduction to the artist’s complicated and dynamic personality inspired me to pay a visit to the Benton mural, America Today, now residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The mural, a series of ten panels originally commissioned by the New School for Social Research in 1930, was sold to AXA Equities in 1984, and then given to the Met in 2012. You can watch a video about the Met’s acquisition here.
America Today: Steel, by Thomas Hart Benton
America Today
In the 1920s Benton took a trip around the United States making sketches of ordinary working people. He was struck by the enormous changes in their lives brought on by the brand new big industries and technologies springing up all over the place. America Today is largely based on these first-hand observations and sketches.
From a technical point of view the mural is impressive, especially when you consider that it was designed in just six months, and painted in only three. The compositions are vibrant and electric, crammed with animated scenes of human figures and machinery in perpetual motion. It’s fun to inspect every little scene and try to figure out what's going on in them. You can go and look for yourself at the Metropolitan Museum's slideshow.
From a technical point of view the mural is impressive, especially when you consider that it was designed in just six months, and painted in only three. The compositions are vibrant and electric, crammed with animated scenes of human figures and machinery in perpetual motion. It’s fun to inspect every little scene and try to figure out what's going on in them. You can go and look for yourself at the Metropolitan Museum's slideshow.
It's Alive, It's Alive!
Well, maybe it’s my introverted tendency and basic longing for peace and quiet. But even though I'm in love with the theme and the individual scenes, I confess that the overall effect doesn’t really make it for me. Benton learned his lighting and compositional tricks from the great masters El Greco and Tintoretto, but in his hands they're violent and over-dramatic. At least to me. Because everything heaves and sways in stark, contrasting values and garish colors, making me slightly dizzy. The compositions nearly shout, and contain very little rest for the eyes. On the other hand, maybe that’s just what Benton was going for. After all, he was trying to express the incredible speed of societal change in the early 20th century.
The Soft, Gooey Center
Aaron, by Thomas Hart Benton When I got home I rummaged through my art book collection and rediscovered a beautiful book, Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, by Henry Adams. It's a catalog for a Benton retrospective exhibition and became the initial spark for the Burns documentary. While looking over the book I noticed how different Benton’s portraits and still life paintings are from the America Today mural. They show a softer, more personal side of Benton with a sensitivity that I didn’t find in the mural paintings.
The book has loads of large color plates, and is an interesting read. It explains in detail just how complex a painter and human being Thomas Hart Benton was. So I recommend checking out the mural, the book and the DVD even if, like me, Benton didn't make your top ten list of favorite painters.
The book has loads of large color plates, and is an interesting read. It explains in detail just how complex a painter and human being Thomas Hart Benton was. So I recommend checking out the mural, the book and the DVD even if, like me, Benton didn't make your top ten list of favorite painters.
