The Sun Treader (Portrait of Carl Ruggles)

Artist Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889 - 1975)

Dateca. 1934

MediumTempera with oil on canvas; mounted on panel

DimensionsUnframed: 45 × 38 inches (114.3 × 96.52 cm)
Framed: 50 1/4 × 43 1/4 inches (127.64 × 109.86 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Friends of Art

Object number36-4

SignedSigned lower right: Benton

On View

Not on view

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionFull-length portrait of a man, left profile view with head bowed and turned slightly to spectator, seated on a draped bench and playing on a grand piano; wears white shirt and green trousers; sheets of music on piano.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Thomas Hart Benton, Ferargil Galleries, New York, April 1–14, 1935, no. 12.

The 1935 International Exhibition of Paintings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, October 17–December 8, 1935, no. 75.

Paintings and Drawings by Thomas Hart Benton, Kansas City Art Institute, Mo., January 1936, no cat.

Third Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Artists West of the Mississippi, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, July 15–August 31, 1937, no. 29 (as Portrait of Charles Ruggles).

Contemporary American Artists as Picked by Museum Directors and Critics—Look Magazine Poll, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Okla., October 5–November 2, 1948, no cat.

Benton Retrospective, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Neb., November 14–December 30, 1951, unnumbered (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Third Fine Arts Festival, Coe College, Iowa, December 22–27, 1954, unnumbered.

Paintings Loaned by the Friends of Art Collection, Wichita Art Museum, Kans., William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum, Kansas City, April 22–May 6, 1956, no cat.

[“25 Oil Paintings by American Artists”], Hackley Art Gallery, Muskegon, Mich., September 18–November 3, 1956, no cat.

Thomas Hart Benton, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence, April 12–May 18, 1958, no. 20 (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

The Forgotten Forties, Kansas City Art Institute, Mo., February 1962, no cat.

Iowa, Mid-America in the Thirties: The Regionalist Art of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood, Des Moines Art Center, December 10, 1965–January 16, 1966, no. 9.

Biennial Institute Music Festival, Carl Ruggles, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., January 22–23, 1966, no cat.

Thomas Hart Benton, Madison Art Center, Wisc., March 22–April 12, 1970, unnumbered (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Thomas Hart Benton: A Personal Commemorative, Spiva Art Center, Missouri Southern State College, Joplin, March 24– April 27, 1973, unnumbered.

100 Artists, 100 Years, Art Institute of Chicago, November 23, 1979–January 20, 1980, no. 13.

The 1930s Remembered, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, September 25–December 5, 1982, unnumbered.

Thomas Hart Benton: Chronicler of America’s Folk Heritage, Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., November 3, 1984–July 6, 1985 (traveled), unnumbered.

Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., April 16, 1989– July 22, 1990 (traveled), no. 35.

Town and Country: In Pursuit of Life’s Pleasures, Nassau County Museum of Art, Rosyln Harbor, N.Y., May 12–August 11, 1996, unnumbered.

Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., February 5–July 31, 2005, no cat.

Origins: Collecting to Create the Nelson-Atkins, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 14, 2021-March 6, 2022.

Gallery Label

Thomas Hart Benton and composer Carl Ruggles (1876-1971) developed a friendship based, in part, on their shared interests in folk art and music. Benton visited Ruggles at his home in Arlington, Vermont, in 1933, and sketched the pianist as he performed chords of music by Richard Wagner. Based on these sketches, The Sun Treader evokes the flair of Ruggles' performance through its rapid spatial recession and tipped perspective. Benton derived the portrait's unusual title from Ruggles' best known composition, which was named after a line in "Pauline" (1833), Robert Browning's elegy to fellow poet Percy Shelley: "Sun-treader, life and light be thine forever." The painter considered this portrait, the first work by Benton to enter the Museum's collection, to be one of his best.

Provenance

To (Walker Galleries, New York);

to the Friends of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 1936;

to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1936.

Published References

Edward Alden Jewell, “Growth of Benton Seen in Art Show,” New York Times, April 3, 1935, 21.

L. E., “Thomas Benton, Ferargil Galleries,” Art News 33 (April 6, 1935), 14.

Edward Alden Jewell, “In the Realm of Art,” New York Times, April 7, 1935, sec. 9, 8.

“From the Brush of Thomas Hart Benton,” Kansas City Star, June 23, 1935, 6.

Grace V. Kelly, “International Art Exhibit Opens on Grandest Scale; Critic Deplores the Prizes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 20, 1935, 13.

M. K. P., “Art,” Kansas City Times, November 11, 1935, 14.

M. K. P., “In Gallery and Studio: News and Views of the Week in Art,” Kansas City Star, November 29, 1935, 14.

Edward Alden Jewell, “Carnegie International,” Parnassus 7 (November 1935), 3–6.

Musical Bulletin, December 1935, Scrapbook, NAMA Archives (as Carl Ruggles).

Thomas Hart Benton, exh. cat. (New York: Ferargil Galleries, 1935), unpaginated.

The 1935 International Exhibition of Paintings, exh. cat. (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1935), unpaginated.

“Art Strides Ahead in This Important Art Center,” Kansas City Star, January 5, 1936, 11A (as The Sun-Treader).

“U.S. History in Panels,” Kansas City Times, January 6, 1936, 9.

“Benton Work to Stay,” Kansas City Times, January 13, 1936, 8 (as The Sun-Treader).

“The Friends of Art Decide,” Kansas City Times, January 14, 1936, 16 (as The Sun-Treader).

News Flashes (William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 2 (January 16–31, 1936), unpaginated (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

“Benton Painting Bought for the Nelson Gallery,” New York Herald Tribune, January 17, 1936, 19.

“Works of Thomas Hart Benton: January Exhibition,” Bulletin of the Kansas City Art Institute, January 1936, unpaginated.

“Painting by Benton Given to Kansas City,” Art Digest 10 (February 15, 1936), 13.

“Friends of Art,” News Flashes (William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 2 (March 1–15, 1936), 4.

“Friends of Art,” News Flashes (William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 2 (March, 15–31 1936), 3.

Karl Freund, “Thomas Hart Benton, Realist,” Ringmaster 1 (November 1936), 36, 45 (as The Sun-Treader).

“Art News,” Kansas City Journal-Post, December 27, 1936, 2B.

“Important Steps toward Becoming Art Center by Kansas City in 1936,” December 27, 1936, Scrapbook, NAMA Archives.

“Friends of Art to Meet,” Kansas City Times, January 21, 1937, 6 (as Sun-Treader).

“Painting Draws Interest,” Denver Post, [1937], 16, clipping, NAMA curatorial files.

“William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art,” Shoppers’ Guide, October 19, 1937, Scrapbook, NAMA Archives.

“Western Art (in Colorado),” London Studio 14 (November 1937), 265 (as Portrait of Charles Ruggles).

The Third Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Artists West of the Mississippi, exh. cat. (Colorado Springs: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1937), unpaginated (as Portrait of Charles Ruggles).

H[enry] C. H[askell], “The Friends of Art Present a Portrait to the Gallery,” Kansas City Star, December 29, 1939, 6.

H[enry] C. H[askell], “The Friends of Art Acquire an American Scene by Marsh,” Kansas City Star, December 20, 1940, unpaginated.

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2^nd ed. (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 149, 158, 166.

Thomas H. Benton (New York: American Artists Group, 1945), unpaginated (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Musical Digest 27 (July 1946), cover.

Winifred Shields, “A Special Collection of Works Is Growing at Nelson Gallery,” Kansas City Star, May 19, 1950, 28.

Benton Retrospective, exh. cat. (Omaha, Neb.: Joslyn Art Museum, 1951), unpaginated (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

“Modern Art Group on Exhibit,” Wichita (Kans.) Beacon, April 22, 1956, 12C.

“Museum Features Exhibit of American Art,” Wichita (Kans.) Beacon, April 29, 1956, 4B.

“Two Art Exhibits Currently Offered at Art Museum,” Wichita (Kans.) Eagle, April 29, 1956, 4E.

Lloyd Goodrich, “Thomas Hart Benton,” in New Art in America: Fifty Painters of the 20th Century, ed. John Baur (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1957), 129.

“A Hectic Time as Benton Prepares for Big Show,” Kansas City Star, April 4, 1958, 10 (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Thomas Hart Benton, exh. cat. (Lawrence: University of Kansas Museum of Art, 1958), unpaginated (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4^th ed. (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 255.

Robert K. Sanford, “Behold ‘The Forgotten 40s,’” Kansas City Star, February 25, 1962, 2D (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Robert K. Sanford, “Tom Benton’s Art Show Recalls Stormy Career,” Kansas City Star, June 23, 1963, 1D.

Mid-America in the Thirties: The Regionalist Art of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood, exh. cat. (Des Moines, Iowa: Des Moines Art Center, 1965), unpaginated.

Allan Kemler, “‘Sun Treader’ in U.S. Premiere,” Christian Science Monitor, February 3, 1966, 6.

Donald L. Hoffmann, “For Friends of Art: Four Lively Paintings,” Kansas City Star, May 1, 1966, 1F.

John Kirkpatrick, “The Evolution of Carl Ruggles,” Perspectives of New Music 4 (Spring/Summer 1968), 162 (as Sun-treader).

Thomas Hart Benton, An American in Art: A Professional and Technical Autobiography (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1969), 103 (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Thomas Hart Benton, exh. cat. ( Madison, Wisc.: Madison Art Center, 1970), unpaginated (as Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

“When Art Inspires Art,” Washington Post, January 31, 1971, E1.

Paul Hume, “A Note from Thomas Hart Benton,” Washington Post, February 9, 1971, B14.

Thomas Hart Benton, “Intimate Story,” typescript, 1971–75, Benton Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee, 20–21.

Thomas Hart Benton: A Personal Commemorative, exh. cat. (Joplin: Spiva Art Center, Missouri Southern State College, 1973), 75.

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5^th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 205.

Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 10, 109.

John Doohan, “Forty Years Ago,” Kansas City Star, January 13, 1976, 12B (as Sun-Treader).

Donald Hoffmann, “Tracing the Ups and Downs of the Friends of Art,” Kansas City Star, September 19, 1976, 1E.

100 Years, 100 Artists, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1979), 10.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the Buffalo Philharmonic, The Complete Music of Carl Ruggles, LP album, CBS M2 34591, record album cover.

Nicholas S. Pickard, “The Friends of Art of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum: A History,” typescript, 1981, Spencer Art Reference Library, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, B6, Appendix II-1 (as The Sun Treader portrait of Sam Ruggles).

The 1930s Remembered, exh. cat. (Cincinnati: Taft Museum, 1982), 6, 7.

Donald Hoffmann, “Just Friends for 50 Years,” Kansas City Star, December 9, 1984, 9F (as The Sun-Treader).

Thomas Hart Benton: Chronicler of America’s Folk Heritage, exh. cat. (Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Bard College, 1984), 78.

Lee Pentecost, “50 Years of Collecting: The Friends of Art at the Nelson, a Retrospective Exhibition,” typescript, 1984, NAMA curatorial files, 2–3.

Keyboard Classics, July–August 1988, cover.

Bob Priddy, Only the Rivers Are Peaceful: Thomas Hart Benton’s Missouri Mural (Independence, Mo.: Independence Press/Herald Publishing House, 1989), 234–35 (as Suntreader).

Henry Adams, Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, exh. cat. (New York: Knopf, 1989), 210.

Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1989), 12.

Henry Adams, Thomas Hart Benton: Drawing from Life, exh. cat. (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), 23.

Henry Adams, Handbook of American Paintings in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1991), 192.

Stewart Buettner and Reinhard Pauly, Great Composers, Great Artists, Portraits (Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1992), 134–35.

Alan Neidle and Margaret Freeman, “Music against Gravity,” Wilson Quarterly 19 (Spring 1995), 102–14.

Bryan Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure (New York: Schirmer Books, 1996), 304 (as The Sun-Treader—Portrait of Carl Ruggles).

Gail Levin and Judith Tick, Aaron Copeland’s America: A Cultural Perspective (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000), 54 (as “The Sun Treader” [Portrait of Carl Ruggles]).

Scott Kerr and R. H. Dick, An American Art Colony: The Art and Artists of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, 1930–1940 (St. Louis: McCaughen & Burr Press, 2004), 168–69, 181.

Randall R. Griffey, “Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse,” American Art Review 17 (April 2005), 95, 97.

Margaret C. Conrads, ed. The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: American Paintings to 1945 (Kansas City, Mo.: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 1: 15, 82-85 (repro.), 2: 29-31 (repro.).

Leo Mazow, Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012), 80, 82-86 (repro.), 166n90, 166n100.

Michael Tilson Thomas et al., The Complete Music of Carl Ruggles, two-CD set, Other Minds Records OM 1021/2-2, 2012, record album cover.

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