Shown is Thomas Hart Benton’s oil painting “Self-Portrait with Rita,” circa 1924. Rita was Benton’s wife of nearly 53 years. Photo provided by the National Portrait Gallery.

By Darla McCammon
and DeeAnna Muraski
Guest Columnists

WARSAW — In our journey across American art and its influence, we have discussed the introduction of realism by William Harnett; American impressionism by Mary Cassatt; the AshCan School/realist movement led by Robert Henri; synchromism through Stanton MacDonald-Wright; Charles Sheeler’s precisionism; realist Reginald Marsh; and Harlem Renaissance champion Aaron Douglas. And that only brings us from late 1800s through the early 1930s in American art.

We are extremely fortunate that these thought creators fashioned an artistic opus frozen in time to be viewed for ages. Our artist this week continues the genealogy of American art through regionalism.

Thomas Hart Benton was born in 1889 in Missouri to a family with a strong political bent. While he never ran for any civic office, he would grow to be very outspoken and considered a populist. Encouraged by his mother, Benton attended the Art Institute in Chicago, a stark change from his Missouri upbringing. Like almost all of our other artists in this series (Art in America), Benton traveled to Paris to experience firsthand the historic pieces of artists from centuries ago.

Benton returned to the United States and decided he would settle himself in another large city: New York. He remained there until World War I. Similarly to Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), while stationed with the Navy, Benton’s art abilities were put to use. Also, like Dr. Seuss, the artistic war experience would be pivotal to Benton’s art career. His skills were essential to create quick sketches and drawings of strategy and daily life in warfare.

The New York Art Students League hired Benton in 1925 as an instructor. During this time is when he was mentoring one of his most famous students, Jackson Pollack. His daily frequent work during this time afforded him a chance to hone his identity first discovered during World War I: regionalism. Regionalism in art depicts rural and pastoral settings — “regions” — and a true, accurate account of the activities. These were essentially Polaroid pictures set to canvas but way before the Polaroid was even conceived.

However, it was this very desire to depict regionalism that got Benton into trouble in the late 1930s. He was commissioned to create a significant mural of life in Indiana. While he was used to unabashedly depicting gruesome warfare, in his Indiana mural he illustrated the prominence of the Ku Klux Klan. Benton allegedly intensely opposed the KKK and was “outing” Indiana for its regional acceptance. Unfortunately, the immediate response to Benton’s mural was that he aligned with KKK’s ideology.

This harsh turn of events prompted Benton’s exit from New York to relocate back to his roots. He took a teaching position at Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Mo. From there, he continued to be commissioned to depict large-scale murals.

Benton is also noted for his ability to mass-produce his work on lithographs and sell them for a nominal fee. As a mediocre musician, his artwork took on a feel of synchromism with rounded undulating scenes in bright colors bouncing around the confines of the canvas. The curves of his subjects help carry the eye around the painting in a pleasing arc.

Benton passed away in 1975 after a robust career in art, which ended with him putting the finishing touches on a mural for the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Darla McCammon is an artist, columnist and author. DeeAnna Muraski is executive director of Operation Read USA Inc. Send an email to the mother/daughter team at either [email protected] or [email protected].