“Thomas
Hart Benton: Working with Composition”
Ø Father
was a member of the House of Representatives
Ø Quote-
“I don’t think an artist can help but express himself. Anything he does
automatically expresses his inner character and his mind” (1).
Ø Made
strong political statements through his art
Ø Came
of age when factory-made goods & machinery revolutionized the way people
lived/worked
Ø Large
casualties from WWI(1914-1918) changed the way people looked at life itself
Ø Stock
market crash-1929
Ø Benton’s
work started controversy with art & politics
Ø The Artists’ Show-
Used smooth, organic shapes in the foreground; contrasts with the geometric/
angular shapes in the background
Ø Characteristics
of his artwork include: simplified, exaggerated shapes, overlapping forms,
rhythmic compositions, and bright colors (uplifting to help create positivity
for Americans fighting the Great Depression)
Ø Artwork
included all races working in harmony
Ø Captured
the lives of farmers, construction workers, housewives, office workers, etc….
Ø Artistic
style-emphasis on social reform and local culture known as Regionalism
Ø Critics
sought his work as unrealistic of its industrial life portrayal
Ø 1908-left
to study art in Paris “the center of the art world”
Ø Settled
in New York and experimented with different artistic styles
Ø Designed
sets for early motion pictures
Ø Worked
with Realism on battleships
Ø Began
working on portraying American history through multi-paneled murals. He planned
75 but completed only 18. His techniques used in these helped form his mature
art style
Ø Modeled
the figures in clay, and rearranged them until he has a rhythmic, dynamic
composition, and worked directly from the final figure
Ø 1929-created
a series of murals called America Today-
shows Americans dancing, socializing, and having fun, watching a movie
Ø Concave and Convex- elements
of composition that strain and heave
against each other; figures appear
to burst from the wall
Ø Used
strips of diagonal molding to divide the panel into separate scenes that have
cinematic quality
Ø 1935-
accepted teaching position in Kansas City, Missouri- returned permanently to
his home town
Ø Quote-
“I have an inner conviction that, for all the contradictory struggles I have
gone through , I have finally come to something that is in the image of
America”(6)
Ø By
the 1940s, the “American Scene” had changed-life became urbanized & towns
had grown in likeness
Ø Popularity
of Regionalism decreased, Benton worried about where his art would fit in
Ø Focus
goes off of human machinery and Benton practices more landscapes- Threshing Wheat
Ø Quote-
“America is a land of pioneers and farm folk, and when art reflects with
culture, then it is art.”
