Thomas Hart Benton (April 15, 1889 – January 19, 1975) was the Woodie Guthrie of Americana Art. He, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry were the main artists of the Regionalist art movement, where artists depicted rural and small-town America during the Great Depression.
His work is like a Steinbeck novel on canvas. When I look at some of these farm scenes I feel that Tom Joad or George and Lennie are going to crawl out of it like the girl in The Ring coming out of the TV. That’s probably because he did do illustrations for The Grapes of Wrath along with Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography & Other Tales.
Early Life
Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri, just outside of Joplin to a political family. His father, Colonel Maecenas Benton served four terms as a U. S. Congressman. Maecenas named his son after his great-uncle, one of the first U.S. senators from west of the Missouri River, Senator Thomas Hart Benton.
Benton spent his childhood between Washington, D.C., and Missouri because of his dad’s work in Congress. He found work early on as a cartoonist for the Joplin American newspaper, in Joplin, Missouri when he was a teenager. His father wanted him to go into the family business of politics but Thomas wanted to pursue his art career further. Luckily, his mom was in his corner and she encouraged him to enroll in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago he moved to Paris to study at Académie Julian.
After Europe, Benton moved back to the states and lived in New York City teaching art classes. He ended up marrying one of his students Rita, an Italian immigrant. They were married for 53 years until Benton died in 1975.
World War I
With the US entering WWI Benton joined the Navy. During the war, he worked as a “camoufleur,” where he documented the camouflaged ships that entered Norfolk harbor.
The ‘dazzle camouflage‘ of these ships were not intended to make the ships blend into the ocean. They were designed to make it difficult for the enemy to estimate the ship’s type, size, speed, and direction of travel. Benton’s job documenting these designs aided in identifying ships that may later be lost. It also helped to have records of the camouflage of other allied ships.
After the war he went back to teaching and painting, eventually having Jackson Pollack and even Dennis Hopper among his many pupils.
World War II
Benton was deeply moved by the attack on Pearl Habor on December 7, 1941. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he worked on “The Year of Peril,” a series of powerful war paintings financed by Abbott Laboratories.
He worked with Abbott again in 1943 on a series of submarine paintings. He mostly worked on this project aboard the USS Dorado. A US submarine that was later lost in action with all hands.
Murals and other Work
Further Reading:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – This article is about the restoration of the Missouri State capital murals Benton did, it’s got some pictures.
The Daily Beast – How Thomas Hart Benton Enraged Harry Truman
Kansas City Business Journal – Book details when Disney met Benton
KBIA (NPR out of Columbia Missouri) – Thomas Hart Benton War Paintings and Sketches
The New York Times – Thomas Hart Benton Masterwork Goes to Met
The Intellectual Take Out – The Misguided Campaign to Remove this Thomas Hart Benton Mural
