Thomas Hart Benton

Art © Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/VAGA for ARS, New York, NY, New…
Thomas Hart Benton
Art © Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/VAGA for ARS, New York, NY, New York, NY. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or publication.

Thomas Hart Benton

American painter, illustrator, and lithographer, 1889–1975
Schoolregionalist
BiographyThomas Hart Benton was an American regionalist painter. Born into a political family, Benton received support for his artistic ambitions from his mother. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before heading to the Académie Julian in Paris, where he met modernist painters Diego Rivera and Stanton Macdonald-Wright. In 1913, when he settled in New York, Benton was making colorful, modern paintings inspired by Macdonald-Wright's movement, Synchromism. During World War I Benton served in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was tasked with drawing images of daily life and working with the camouflage unit—work that he said profoundly influenced his mature style. In the 1920s he turned away from modern abstraction and found his subjects in daily life, in New York and in the Midwest where he was raised. Benton developed a singular style, defining his figures with undulating lines and bright colors. His style translated effectively into mural painting and he would become a master muralist.
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
  • artists
  • male