“Thomas Hart Benton has long been one of my favorite muralists!
Since I am an autodidact, I never learned what a bad and out of touch artist he was, and what an inconsequential and backward
‘Hick’ all of the critics and art-philosophers considered him to be.
I only saw his fantastic designs and figurative work, his beautiful handling of color, and his innovative use of the picture plane, light, and space!
I consider him right up there with the other great North American Muralists: Orosco, Siqueiros, and Rivera!
Shows you what I know!
Here’s a great article from the Met and a few videos on the mural, and his life.” -RQ
Since I am an autodidact, I never learned what a bad and out of touch artist he was, and what an inconsequential and backward
‘Hick’ all of the critics and art-philosophers considered him to be.
I only saw his fantastic designs and figurative work, his beautiful handling of color, and his innovative use of the picture plane, light, and space!
I consider him right up there with the other great North American Muralists: Orosco, Siqueiros, and Rivera!
Shows you what I know!
Here’s a great article from the Met and a few videos on the mural, and his life.” -RQ
America Today
Thomas Hart Benton
Article from the MET Collection
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/499559
Offering a panorama of American life throughout the 1920s, America Today is a room-sized mural comprising ten canvas panels. Missouri native Thomas Hart Benton painted America Today to adorn a boardroom on the third floor of the New School for Social Research, a center of progressive thought and education in Greenwich Village, New York. The mural was commissioned in 1930 by the New School's director Alvin Johnson.
Benton finished it very early in 1931, when the school opened a new building designed by architect Joseph Urban.
Although the artist received no fee for his work on commission, he was "paid" with free eggs, the yolks from which he created the egg tempera paint.
Eight of the America Today panels depict life in different regions of the United States: the South, the Midwest,
the West, and New York.
In the 1920s, Benton traveled throughout these areas of the country, creating a body of studies from life, mostly in pencil, on which he based many of the details in America Today.
Thomas Hart Benton
Article from the MET Collection
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/499559
Offering a panorama of American life throughout the 1920s, America Today is a room-sized mural comprising ten canvas panels. Missouri native Thomas Hart Benton painted America Today to adorn a boardroom on the third floor of the New School for Social Research, a center of progressive thought and education in Greenwich Village, New York. The mural was commissioned in 1930 by the New School's director Alvin Johnson.
Benton finished it very early in 1931, when the school opened a new building designed by architect Joseph Urban.
Although the artist received no fee for his work on commission, he was "paid" with free eggs, the yolks from which he created the egg tempera paint.
Eight of the America Today panels depict life in different regions of the United States: the South, the Midwest,
the West, and New York.
In the 1920s, Benton traveled throughout these areas of the country, creating a body of studies from life, mostly in pencil, on which he based many of the details in America Today.
Instruments of Power
The largest America Today panel, Instruments of Power, is filled with enormous machines that embody modern industrial might. Benton created America Today in a dynamic, restlessly figurative style that reflects his study of sixteenth-century European painting, especially the style known as Mannerism (see MMA 1972.171).
But the exaggerated, pantomimed gestures and expressions of the figures he painted also recall early twentieth-century film, among other popular sources.
Also stage-like in character is Benton's depiction of architecture, particularly the dam in Instruments of Power,
a facade that suggests his response to Italian painter
Giorgio de Chirico (MMA 1996.403.10).
Among the mural's most distinctive features are
the aluminum-leaf wood moldings,
which not only frame the entire work but also create inventive spatial breaks within each large composition.
When America Today was installed in the New School, these moldings echoed Art Deco details in Urban's building design.
But the exaggerated, pantomimed gestures and expressions of the figures he painted also recall early twentieth-century film, among other popular sources.
Also stage-like in character is Benton's depiction of architecture, particularly the dam in Instruments of Power,
a facade that suggests his response to Italian painter
Giorgio de Chirico (MMA 1996.403.10).
Among the mural's most distinctive features are
the aluminum-leaf wood moldings,
which not only frame the entire work but also create inventive spatial breaks within each large composition.
When America Today was installed in the New School, these moldings echoed Art Deco details in Urban's building design.
‘Changing West’
'Steel'
Jackson Pollock, Benton's student at the Art Students League at the time, modeled for other workers, including the large figure in the panel Steel. In the 1940s,
Pollock became a leader of the
Abstract Expressionist movement.
Pollock became a leader of the
Abstract Expressionist movement.
‘City Building’
The bawdiness of Benton's scenes of urban life connects them to the work of his friend Reginald Marsh (MMA 32.81.2), who recalled modeling for the figure of the African American construction worker in the City Building panel
of America Today.
of America Today.
‘Midwest’
‘Deep South’
‘Cotton Pickers, Georgia’ Benton painted
Cotton Pickers, Georgia (MMA 33.144.2)
from the studies that he made during a trip through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia in the summer and fall of 1926. The artist returned to this same group of studies in conceiving and executing Deep South, the first panel in America Today's geographical and chronological sweep.
Cotton Pickers, Georgia (MMA 33.144.2)
from the studies that he made during a trip through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia in the summer and fall of 1926. The artist returned to this same group of studies in conceiving and executing Deep South, the first panel in America Today's geographical and chronological sweep.
‘Coal’
‘City Activities with Dance Hall’
In contrast to these dramatic scenes of labor and struggle, Benton depicted in City Activities with Dance Hall
and City Activities with Subway popular leisure-time activities during Prohibition (1920–33), particularly
dancing (to jazz music) and drinking (illegal at the time).
and City Activities with Subway popular leisure-time activities during Prohibition (1920–33), particularly
dancing (to jazz music) and drinking (illegal at the time).
‘City Activities with Subway’
‘Outreaching Hands’ (over-door)
The last and smallest panel, Outreaching Hands, shows only hands reaching for bread and other hands holding money, allusions to the economic despair and inequity caused by the Great Depression, which began in 1929.
Despite references to the Depression, Benton's mural powerfully promotes the idea of "progress," as he perceived it, predicated on modern technology. Benton's mural reveals the artist's belief that the foundational technological and mechanical strength on which progress relied was, in turn, dependent on manual and industrial labor.
Consequently, bodies of large, heroic workers fill many of the mural's panels. Workers and labor fascinated many artists and photographers throughout the 1920s,
including Lewis Hine (MMA 1987.1100.119)
and James Lesesne Wells (MMA 1999.529.173).
Despite references to the Depression, Benton's mural powerfully promotes the idea of "progress," as he perceived it, predicated on modern technology. Benton's mural reveals the artist's belief that the foundational technological and mechanical strength on which progress relied was, in turn, dependent on manual and industrial labor.
Consequently, bodies of large, heroic workers fill many of the mural's panels. Workers and labor fascinated many artists and photographers throughout the 1920s,
including Lewis Hine (MMA 1987.1100.119)
and James Lesesne Wells (MMA 1999.529.173).
After appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1934, Benton left New York and settled in Kansas City, Missouri the following year. Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s,
he became closely associated with a movement known as Regionalism, which included John Steuart Curry (MMA 42.154) and Grant Wood (MMA 50.117), artists who exalted rural America and tended to regard
contemporary abstract art as un-American.
During this period, Benton painted July Hay (MMA 43.159.1), a work that reflects his admiration for the sixteenth-century Netherlandish artist Pieter Bruegel (MMA 19.164).
he became closely associated with a movement known as Regionalism, which included John Steuart Curry (MMA 42.154) and Grant Wood (MMA 50.117), artists who exalted rural America and tended to regard
contemporary abstract art as un-American.
During this period, Benton painted July Hay (MMA 43.159.1), a work that reflects his admiration for the sixteenth-century Netherlandish artist Pieter Bruegel (MMA 19.164).
‘July Hay’
After residing for more than fifty years in the boardroom of the New School, America Today proved difficult for the school to maintain in perpetuity. In 1982, the school announced the sale of the mural, with the condition that it would not be resold outside the United States or as individual panels.
But the work was a great challenge to sell as a whole, increasing the likelihood that the panels would be dispersed.
America Today was acquired by AXA (then Equitable Life) in 1984, in support of efforts on the part of then-mayor Edward I. Koch and others to keep it intact and in New York City. Two years later, after extensive cleaning and restoration,
America Today was unveiled to critical acclaim in AXA's new headquarters at 787 Seventh Avenue.
When the company moved its corporate headquarters again in 1996, to 1290 Avenue of the Americas,
America Today was put on display in the lobby.
There it remained until January 2012, when the company was asked to remove it to make way for a renovation.
The removal triggered AXA's decision to place the historic work in a museum collection, and in December 2012, AXA donated the mural to The Met.
But the work was a great challenge to sell as a whole, increasing the likelihood that the panels would be dispersed.
America Today was acquired by AXA (then Equitable Life) in 1984, in support of efforts on the part of then-mayor Edward I. Koch and others to keep it intact and in New York City. Two years later, after extensive cleaning and restoration,
America Today was unveiled to critical acclaim in AXA's new headquarters at 787 Seventh Avenue.
When the company moved its corporate headquarters again in 1996, to 1290 Avenue of the Americas,
America Today was put on display in the lobby.
There it remained until January 2012, when the company was asked to remove it to make way for a renovation.
The removal triggered AXA's decision to place the historic work in a museum collection, and in December 2012, AXA donated the mural to The Met.
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection.
Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Video about the mural and it’s installation at the MET:
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection.
Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Video about the mural and it’s installation at the MET:
Video about Benton’s life and career:
Thomas Hart Benton 1970
Self Portrait
RSS Feed