Thomas hart benton painter biography

Thomas Hart Benton—painter, muralist, and writer from Missouri—developed, along with artists Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, a style of painting in the 1920s that became known as regionalism. Benton was influenced early in his career by a sketching trip he took through northwest Arkansas in 1926. He returned to Arkansas to sketch and paint periodically, primarily in the Buffalo River area. Benton also enjoyed floating and fishing on the Buffalo River and opposed efforts to dam it during the 1960s.

Tom Benton was born on April 15, 1889, in platsnamn, Missouri. He was the oldest of four children born to Maecenus Eason (M. E.) and Elizabeth (Wise) Benton. M. E. was a lawyer and served as a congressman from 1897 until 1905. Benton was named for M. E.’s grand uncle, Missouri medlem av senat Thomas Hart Benton.

Benton began to have interest in art as a boy. He attended high school in platsnamn in 1905–06, but he quit when he got a job drawing cartoons at The Joplin

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Thomas Hart Benton (painter)

American painter (1889–1975)

For other uses, see Thomas Hart Benton.

Thomas Hart Benton (April 15, 1889 – January 19, 1975) was an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States.

His work is strongly associated with the Midwestern United States, the region in which he was born and which he called home for most of his life. He also studied in Paris, lived in New York City for more than 20 years and painted scores of works there, summered for 50 years on Martha's Vineyard off the New England coast, and also painted scenes of the American South and West.

Early life and education

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Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri, into an influential family of politicians. He had two younger sisters, Mary and Mildred, and a younger brother, Nathaniel

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Thomas Hart Benton

THE MURALS OF THOMAS HART BENTON

In 1932 a set of large wall murals was unveiled on 10 West 8th Street in New York City. It was Arts of Life in America - four huge wall panels and four more around the ceiling. These panels depict the 'Arts' of everyday life - music, games, dance, and sports. They also show regional diversity, unemployment, crime, and political nonsense. They give a comprehensive portrait of life in the 1930's.

A GLIMPSE AT THE FIVE MAJOR PANELS

Benton had a fascinating working method, and was a controversial figure in the world of mural art, often in public conflict with others. He was a pivotal figure in the story of art in America. He was originally influenced by the old masters of European art, then by modern artists experimenting with abstraction. He turned away from abstraction to paint his own country and its people, becoming a 'Regionalist' painter. As the tutor of the young Jackson Pollock, his influence passed on to the next generat