Saturday 29 October 2011

Thomas Hart Benton - part 4 WWII

This is part four of a four-part post on the works of American 'Regionalist' artist Thomas Hart Benton. For biographical notes on Benton see part one.

US Navy Art Collection:
Benton was deeply moved by the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, and shortly thereafter he completed "The Year of Peril," a series of grim and powerful war paintings financed by Abbott Laboratories. In 1943 he collaborated with Georges Schreiber in producing the Abbott Collection of Submarine Paintings, a project largely executed aboard the American submarine Dorado, which was later lost in action with all hands.

Later in the war, classified as a "camoufleur," Benton had to draw camouflaged ships that came into Norfolk harbour. His work was required for several reasons: to ensure that U.S. ship painters were correctly applying the camouflage schemes, to aid in identifying U.S. ships that might later be lost, and to have records of the ship camouflage of other Allied navies. Benton later said that his work for the Navy "was the most important thing, so far, I had ever done for myself as an artist."


(not dated) Barroom 
pen and ink with brown wash

1942 WWII Shipping Out

1943 Down the Lower Mississippi 
pen and ink wash

1943 Score Another for the Subs 
oil on board

c1943 All Work 
pen and ink wash

c1943 Loading the LST 
pen and ink wash

c1943 Look Out Below 
pen and ink wash

c1943 Preliminary Shake Down, New Orleans 
pen and ink wash

c1943 Salt and Steel 
pen and ink wash

c1943 This Way In 
pen and ink wash

1944 She's Off 
watercolour

1944 Stow Her Away Mates 
pen and ink wash

1944 WWII Back Him Up

c1944 War Isn't All Mechanised 
pen and ink

c1944 Battle Stations Submerged 
ink wash

c1944 Bow Up 
pen and ink wash

c1944 Coffee and Chow 
pen and ink wash

c1944 Note Well 
pen and ink wash

c1944 On the Old Ohio 
pen and ink wash

c1944 (Unknown) 
pen and ink wash

c1944 Slumber Deep 
watercolour

c1944 Stern Task 
pen and ink wash

c1944 This Way Out 
pen and ink wash

c1944 Up Periscope 
oil on canvas

c1944 Up the Hatch 
oil on pressboard

Thursday 27 October 2011

Thomas Hart Benton - part 3 lithographs

This is part three of a four-part post on the works of American 'Regionalist' artist Thomas Hart Benton. For biographical notes see part one. During the 1930's Benton began to produce signed, limited edition lithographs which were sold at $5.00 each through the Associated American Artists galleries. He continued to make lithographs for the rest of his life. Part four will look at Benton's work during WWII.  
Note: sizes where given have been rounded up or down to the nearest whole centimetre:


1934 Minstrel Show 
23 x 30 cm

1936 Huckleberry Finn 
43 x 56 cm

1936 Jesse James 
42 x 56 cm

1937 A Drink of Water 
26 x 37 cm

1937 Going Home

1938 Approaching Storm

1938 Distress

1938 Edge of Town 
23 x 28 cm

1938 Haystack 
26 x 32 cm

1938 In the Ozarks 
26 x 33 cm

1938 Rainy Day 
22 x 34 cm

1938 The Poet 
23 x 31 cm

1939 Departure of the Joads 
33 x 47 cm

1939 Down the River (The Young Fisherman) 
32 x 25 cm

1939 Frisky Day 
20 x 30 cm

1939 Planting (Spring Plowing) 
25 x 32 cm

1939 Prodigal Son 
26 x 33 cm

1939 Shallow Creek 
36 x 24 cm

c1940 (Scene) 
24 x 32 cm

1941 Aaron 
33 x 24 cm

1941 Slow Train Through Arkansas 
25 x 32 cm

1942 The Race 
23 x 34 cm

1943 Letter from Overseas 
25 x 33 cm

1945 Island Hay 
25 x 32 cm

1946 Gate-side Conversation 
25 x 35 cm

1967 Ten Pound Hammer 
35 x 25 cm

1967 The Little Fisherman 
36 x 25 cm

1969 Discussion 
25 x 30 cm

1972 Forward Pass 
46 x 63 cm