Thomas Hart Benton (1889 - 1975)
Introduction
Thomas Hart Benton was a major American artist from Missouri. His paintings are famous for showing ordinary people doing common things. He drew and painted portraits, landscapes, and scenes of people at work in farms, factories, and busy cities. His best-known works are public murals, or scenes on the inside walls of buildings. Benton’s murals are lively records of life in America from pioneer times onward.
Early Years
Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri, on April 15, 1889. He was the oldest child of
Maecenas Eason Benton
Maecenas Eason Benton (1848 – 1924)
[SHS 006386] and Elizabeth Wise Benton. He was named after his great-great-uncle,
Thomas Hart Benton, the famous Missouri senator. Tom’s father was a successful lawyer. He served as U.S. attorney for Missouri and was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1896.
Young Thomas Hart Benton loved to draw. While his mother encouraged him to draw, his father did not. When the Bentons moved to Washington, DC in 1896, Tom loved the art he saw in the capital city. He really liked seeing the Library of Congress murals. They made him want to become a mural painter or muralist. Tom also learned how to make cartoon like figures, or caricatures, by reading cartoons in the Washington Post.
In 1904 Maecenas Benton was defeated, and the family returned to Missouri. Thomas Hart Benton
grew restless
Newspaper accounts of the day present Benton as an accident-prone, perhaps overly adventurous, young man.
The Neosho Daily News reported that Benton had a close call with a train.
[Newton County Historical Society]
The Neosho Daily News reported on August 15, 1907, that Benton had a serious accident while swimming.
[Newton County Historical Society]
in Neosho and left home in 1906. He took a job as staff artist for a local newspaper in Joplin, Missouri. From there he went to Illinois to study painting for one year at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Benton wanted to study art in Europe. In 1908 he moved to
Paris, France
Paris, France, around 1909.
[SHS 027301], and took art classes. Soon Benton began to study on his own. He spent half his time inside the art museum drawing important paintings. He spent the rest of his time outside, painting what interested him. He tried different styles of painting. He found out that he liked using bright colors to show real people in real places doing a variety of activities.
An Artist for America
Benton’s summer home on Martha’s Vineyard
Martha’s Vineyard.
Exterior of Benton’s summer home on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, around 1942.
[Courtesy of Jeanne Kline]
A landscape photograph of cottages on Martha’s Vineyard taken by Henry Warten, a friend of Benton’s from Joplin, Missouri.
[Henry Warten Photo Collection, SHS 1996.0031]
From about 1912 to 1935, Thomas Hart Benton lived and worked in New York City. He painted during the summer months on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He married Rita Piacenza in 1922. Together, they had two children, Thomas Piacenza (T. P.) and Jessie.
Missouri Farmyard, 1936
Missouri Farmyard, 1936, by Thomas Hart Benton.
[© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]
Shallow Creek, 1939, by Thomas Hart Benton.
[© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]
Wreck of the Ol 97, 1940, by Thomas Hart Benton.
[© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]
In 1924, Benton came back to Missouri to visit his father who was very sick. This visit changed Benton’s life. His interests became clearer. He took pride in his Midwestern roots and began painting ordinary Americans not often shown in art. He started making drawing trips that took him across America. He visited steel mills, coal mines, and logging camps. He floated down rivers in canoes. He watched workers picking cotton in the South. He observed everything he could about ordinary American life during the 1920s and 1930s and recorded what he saw in his sketches. He then used his sketches as the basis for his paintings and murals. Benton built small clay models
Study Model for the Mural ‘Jacques Cartier and the St. Lawrence’ at the New York Power Authority, Massena, New York.
[Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia], or maquettes, for each painting. Then he painted his scenes while looking at his clay models.
Embarkation, c. 1942
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Benton painted many images about the war.
[© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]
Thomas Hart Benton became the leader of a movement in American art called
regionalismBenton with fellow regionalist painters Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry in Benton’s Kansas City home.
[SHS 017152]. He based his art on
personal observation.
Benton sketching by a river.
[SHS 009589]
Benton sketching in the mountains.
[Missouri Department of Natural Resources] He showed working people in all regions of America, including poor, rural areas. Benton called attention to problems that he thought all Americans should know about. Benton’s style of painting made
common people
Instructor, 1940, by Thomas Hart Benton.
[© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]
The Music Lesson, 1943, by Thomas Hart Benton
[© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]
into heroes. He gave them big bodies with lots of muscles and painted them using deep, rich colors. Benton also painted villains into his pictures. The villains were usually rich and powerful people Benton did not respect because they got ahead by taking advantage of others.
References and Resources
For more information about Thomas Hart Benton's life and career, see the following resources:
Society Resources
The following is a selected list of books, articles, and manuscripts about Thomas Hart Benton in the research centers of The State Historical Society of Missouri. The Society’s call numbers follow the citations in brackets. All links will open in a new tab.
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- “Benton, Beloved Muralist, Dies at 85.” Independence Examiner. January 20, 1975. p. 1.
- “Benton Thought of Southwest Missouri as ‘Home Country.’” Joplin Globe. January 21, 1975. p. 1A.
- “Perspective: Thomas Hart Benton.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat. January 21, 1975. p. 8B.
- “Thomas Hart Benton dies.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat. January 20, 1975. p. 13A.
- “Thomas Hart Benton dies late Sunday night.” Neosho Daily News.
. January 20, 1975. p. 1.
- “Thomas Hart Benton, 85, Dies; Era of American Painting Ends.” Kansas City Times. January 20, 1975. p. 1A.
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- Adams, Henry. Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. [REF F508.1 B447a]
- Benton, Thomas Hart. An American In Art: A Professional and Technical Autobiography. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1969. [REF F508.1 B447be1]
- Benton, Thomas Hart. An Artist in America. 4th rev. ed. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983. [REF F508.1 B447]
- Christensen, Lawrence O., William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. pp. 61-64. [REF F508 D561]
- Fath, Creekmore, comp. The Lithographs of Thomas Hart Benton. New ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979. [REF F508.1 B447be2 1979]
- Hurt, R. Douglas, and Mary K. Dains, eds. Thomas Hart Benton: Artist, Writer, and Intellectual. Columbia: The State Historical Society of Missouri, 1989. [REF F508.1 B447st]
- Symington, Stuart. “Thomas Hart Benton—Painter, Sculptor, Raconteur, and Author.” Congressional Record; Proceedings and Debates of the 94th Congress, First Session, Senate. v. 121, no. 8 (January 27, 1975) pp. S 952–954.
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- Brookfield, Dutton (1917-1979), Papers, 1844-1979 (C2732)
This collection contains the business, political, and personal papers and photographs of a community leader from Kansas City, Missouri. References to Benton can be found throughout the collection.
- Morrison, I.G., Papers, 1940 (C2174)
The Morrison Papers contain copies of a letter written by Benton and a lecture given by I.G. Morrison on Benton's murals in the Missouri State Capitol. Morrison presented description, history, and symbolism of the murals. Benton defined the purpose of art and expressed approval of Morrison's lecture.
- State Historical Society of Missouri, Audio Cassette Collection, 1976-2000 (C3963)
The State Historical Society of Missouri Audio Cassette Collection is a collection of miscellaneous interviews, lectures, and speeches collected over the years. Audio cassettes 1-3 and 33 contain information about Benton.
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Other
- Thomas Hart Benton Mural Techniques. Video. Produced by the City of Joplin, 1999. [Video Collection]
Outside Resources
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